UPDATE, 12:38pm: a friend of mine just pointed out that Ole Miss lost last night...had them mixed up with Alabama...thought they had beaten Florida...my bad. The bracket now replaces Ole Miss with Virginia Tech. For now.
Quite a bit of movement yesterday, as teams that were safe (Baylor) became unsafe, teams that were unsafe (Florida, UAB) became D.O.A., and teams that were off the bubble (Ole Miss, St. Joe's) got decent wins.
Before we get to the bracket...
Last 8 In
South Alabama
Villanova
Baylor
Ohio State
Arizona
Oregon
Illinois State
Virginia Tech
In the end, I doubt Arizona and Oregon both get in, but somebody's going to have to seize one of those spots, and nobody has yet. VT and St. Joe's are the most likely candidates (VT plays Miami-FL, St. Joe's plays Xavier), and it's hard to get a read on what the committee would think of VCU.
First 8 Out
St. Joseph's
VCU
Syracuse
New Mexico
Florida State
Arizona State
Florida
Ole Miss
Bubbles are being burst left and right, and because of that, teams like Syracuse might still think they have a chance of getting in. It will be interesting to see what the committee thinks about the Big East getting 8 teams in. It will also be interesting to see the spread between major conferences and mid-majors. Teams like New Mexico and VCU screwed themselves, but they still have as good or better resumes than major conference teams like Ohio State, Oregon, or Arizona. I'm going on the "tie goes to the major conference" theory with this, and we could end up with few mid-majors getting in outside of the three from the WCC and the two from the Sun Belt (and probably two from MVC).
Click 'Full Story' for the bracket.
HOUSTON REGIONAL
1 Tennessee vs 16 Mt. St. Mary's/Alabama State
8 Miami-FL vs 9 Texas A&M
(in Birmingham)
5 Indiana vs 12 Illinois State
4 UConn vs 13 Oral Roberts
(in Washington DC)
6 Purdue vs 11 South Alabama
3 Stanford vs 14 UCSB
(in Anaheim)
7 Clemson vs 10 Kansas STate
2 Georgetown vs 15 UMBC
(in Washington DC)
PHOENIX REGIONAL
1 UCLA vs 16 Portland State
8 Oklahoma vs 9 Kent State
(in Anaheim)
5 Michigan State vs 12 Virginia Tech
4 Notre Dame vs 13 Utah STate
(in N. Little Rock)
6 Vanderbilt vs 11 Villanova
3 Xavier vs 14 Siena
(in Birmingham)
7 Gonzaga vs 10 Baylor
2 Duke vs 15 Winthrop
(in Raleigh)
CHARLOTTE REGIONAL
1 North Carolina vs 16 American
8 UNLV vs 9 St. Mary's
(in Raleigh)
5 Marquette vs 12 Oregon
4 Butler vs 13 Western Kentucky
(in Tampa)
6 Pittsburgh vs 11 Arizona
3 Wisconsin vs 14 Cornell
(in Omaha)
7 Mississippi State vs 10 Davidson
2 Texas vs 15 Belmont
(in Denver)
DETROIT REGIONAL
1 Memphis vs 16 Morgan State
8 West Virginia vs 9 Arkansas (WV gets screwed by location)
(in N. Little Rock)
5 Washington State vs 12 Stephen F. Austin
4 Drake vs 13 George Mason
(in Denver)
6 USC vs 11 Ohio State
3 Louisville vs 14 San Diego
(in Tampa)
7 BYU vs 10 Kentucky
2 Kansas vs 15 Austin Peay
(in Omaha)
The hot teams and cold teams are pretty evenly distributed here, and the region with the weakest upper half (Detroit) is also the region with the strongest lower half.