Monday, January 15, 2007

Field of 65--version 3

Field of 65—Version 3
(16 days have passed since last version)
1)
UCLA (15-1); Florida (16-2); North Carolina (15-2); Wisconsin (17-1)
*Bo Ryan is one hell of a coach, and Alando Tucker may have been the best player in the nation during the first half of the season.
2)
Kansas (15-2); Oregon (16-1); Ohio State (14-3); Clemson (17-1)
*6 Pac-10 teams get bids right now, and make no mistake—the Pac-10 is for real. Washington and California are pretty talented as well, giving the conference 8 competitive teams. Did Ernie Kent steal Lorenzo Romar’s coaching powers?
3)
Arizona (13-3); Duke (14-3); Oklahoma State (15-2); Pittsburgh (16-2)
*Oklahoma State and All-American candidate Mario Boggan were rolling along until the embarrassing 30-point loss at Kansas. I’m not entirely sure they will regain their swagger after that one.
4)
Tennessee (13-4); Butler (15-2); Notre Dame (15-2); Alabama (14-2)
*Yes, Butler has lost to Indiana State and Illinois-Chicago, but I’m standing by them. They’ve beaten some very good teams as well (Notre Dame, Indiana, Tennessee, Gonzaga, and Purdue—all teams in the field of 65). The Crimson Tide’s 27-point loss at Arkansas makes me wonder how good Alabama really is.
5)
Maryland (15-3); Texas A&M (15-2); Memphis (13-3); Washington State (15-3)
*Texas A&M is still looking for something resembling a signature win. Considering how bad Conference-USA is, I am predicting that Memphis will rack up enough wins to be a top 3 seed by the end of the season.
6)
Air Force (17-1); Nevada (16-1); LSU (12-4); Kentucky (14-3)
*Air Force’s only loss is to Duke.
7)
Texas (13-3); Marquette (15-4); Indiana (12-4); West Virginia (13-3)
The Hoosiers charge into the Field of 65 with 20-point victories over Michigan State and Purdue. If Indiana could figure out how to play consistently on the offensive end of the floor, they could end up being a very good team. They’re as solid defensively as anyone I’ve seen.
8)
Georgetown (11-5); Virginia Tech (13-4); Boston College (12-4); Connecticut (13-3)
*Somehow Virginia Tech has managed to beat Duke and UNC but has lost to Western Michigan and Marshall.
9)
Stanford (11-4); Syracuse (14-4); Michigan State (15-4); UNLV (14-4)
*Just so everyone knows, last season I predicted that Stanford would win the National Championship. They failed to even make the tournament.
10)
Gonzaga (12-6); Georgia Tech (13-4); USC (13-5); Missouri State (13-4)
*Perhaps the weakest Gonzaga team in recent memory.
11)
Arkansas (12-5); Purdue (13-5); Xavier (12-5); Southern Illinois (13-4)
*Purdue is kind of a tease this year—some nights they look very good; other nights, not so much.
12)
VCU (14-3); Texas Tech (13-5); Florida State (12-5); Davidson (15-3)
*Right now the Red Raiders are probably the 5th best team in the Big 12. If Mizzou doesn’t find some consistency, Tech might luck into the tourney, because the committee is not going to limit the Big 12 to 4 teams. Iowa State is showing some fight as well. Florida State is the 8th ACC team I have in the field. No, I don’t think 8 of 12 teams in any conference deserve to make it to the Big Dance, but conference schedules will straighten things out shortly.
13)
Western Kentucky (14-5); Winthrop (13-4); Northern Iowa (13-4); Ohio U (11-5)
*Northern Iowa is my last at-large bid, giving the MVC 3 teams in the field of 65. However, I am willing to admit that I've overestimated the MVC this season.
14)
Vermont (12-5); Long Beach State (11-5); Marist (12-4); Oral Roberts (11-7)
*I remember being a little freaked out by the Oral Roberts infomercials on Sunday mornings when I was a kid.
15)
Holy Cross (12-6); Belmont (12-6); Texas A&M-Corpus Christie (11-4); Weber State (12-7)
*Idaho State will probably take Weber State's spot in the next installment. Oh wait, no one cares.
16)
Pennsylvania (9-6); Samford (9-8); Jackson State (10-8); Fairleigh Dickinson (8-6);
Florida A&M (9-8)
*Honestly, what the hell can I say here?

IN: Arkansas; Drexel; Georgia Tech; Indiana; Long Beach State; Ohio U; Pennsylvania; Samford; Stanford; Texas A&M-Corpus Christie; Texas Tech; VCU; Vermont; Virginia Tech; Weber State; Xavier
OUT: Akron; Albany; Cal State Fullerton; Dayton; Eastern Kentucky; Illinois; Michigan; Missouri; Northern Iowa; Oklahoma; Portland State; Princeton; Sam Houston State; Villanova; Washington; Wichita State

1 Comments:

Blogger Runs With Two Horses said...

It's funny that you picked Fairleigh Dickinson to make it as a 16th seed...because that's exactly what a fag would predict. Are you queer or something?

January 16, 2007 at 1:55 PM  

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