1. North Carolina, Connecticut, Memphis, Louisville
2. Pittsburgh, Duke, Gonzaga, Michigan State
3. Missouri, West Virginia, Kansas, Purdue
4. UCLA, Oklahoma, Syracuse, Wake Forest
5. Arizona State, Washington, Villanova, BYU
6. Clemson, Marquette, Illinois, Xavier
7. Utah, California, Texas, Ohio State
8. USC, Florida State, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State
9. Tennessee, San Diego State, Butler, Minnesota
10. Arizona, Michigan, LSU, Utah State
11. Texas A&M, Maryland, Temple, Siena
12. Va. Commonwealth, Mississippi State, Cleveland State, Dayton
13. North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Western Kentucky, Akron
14. Stephen F Austin, Cornell, American, CSU Northridge
15. Portland State, E. Tennessee State, Robert Morris, Morgan State
16. Binghamton, Radford, Morehead State, Alabama State, Chattanooga
Play In: Alabama State vs Chattanooga
Obviously, teams could shift up and down as needed to make the regions work: conference mates should not meet before a regional final (Elite Eight), and BYU cannot play on Sundays.
As you noticed, I replaced Boston College with San Diego State. Of the aforementioned at-large bubble teams, BC is probably the most grossly underqualified.
Of course, as I mentioned before, if I had my way I would actually have LSU play Texas A&M in Dayton for the last at-large spot and a 10 seed matchup with the best 7 seed possible. I would just let all the bottom teams in since they all have winning records. I would bump Maryland entirely.
I decided to toy with the Sagarin ratings to create a different bracket for fun with the following rules:
ReplyDelete- There will be 64 teams instead of 65, with no Play-In game and one fewer at-large team.
- Every at-large team must have a winning record in their conference to qualify.
- Avoid the possibility of conference foes meeting until the regional final, unless necessary to maintain balance.
- Do not move any team farther than one seed above or below where they should be seeded.
- Place every team with as proper a Geographic region as possible. Don't place Eastern Seaboard teams in the West, Great Lakes teams in the South or Pacific Coast teams in the East.
This is the bracket I composed using the Sagarin ratings. This is based purely on ratings and ignores any logistic strength of schedule or conference hierarchy arguments:
WEST
(1) Duke vs (16) Radford
(8) BYU vs (9) St Mary's
(4) Washington vs (13) Stephen F Austin
(5) Oklahoma State vs (12) North Dakota State
(3) Gonzaga vs (14) Portland State
(6) Marquette vs (11) Kansas State
(7) USC vs (10) Utah
(2) Oklahoma vs (15) Morgan State
SOUTH
(1) North Carolina vs (16) Alabama State
(8) LSU vs (9) San Diego State
(4) Arizona State vs (13) Western Kentucky
(5) Texas vs (12) Mississippi State
(3) Kansas vs (14) CSU Northridge
(6) West Virginia vs (11) Davidson
(7) California vs (10) Florida
(2) Memphis vs (15) E. Tennessee State
MIDWEST
(1) Pittsburgh vs (16) Chattanooga
(8) Florida State vs (9) Texas A&M
(4) Purdue vs (13) Northern Iowa
(5) Villanova vs (12) Cleveland State
(3) UCLA vs (14) American
(6) Clemson vs (11) Dayton
(7) Illinois vs (10) Utah State
(2) Missouri vs (15) Robert Morris
EAST
(1) Connecticut vs (16) Morehead State
(8) Ohio State vs (9) Butler
(4) Michigan State vs (13) Akron
(5) Wake Forest vs (12) VCU
(3) Syracuse vs (14) Cornell
(6) Xavier-Ohio vs (11) Siena
(7) Wisconsin vs (10) Tennessee
(2) Louisville vs (15) Binghamton
Per the above, the NIT would be composed as follows, with a bit more flexibility to team placement. Brackets can be reshuffled to ensure parity, that conference foes don't meet before the quarterfinals, etc.
ReplyDeleteTennessee-Martin at Arizona
New Mexico at Auburn
UNLV at Stanford
Weber State at Baylor
Jacksonville at Miami-Fla
Virginia Tech at Penn State
Tulsa at Kentucky
Cincinnati at Georgetown
Bowling Green at Notre Dame
Creighton at UAB
Northwestern at Washington State
Nebraska at Minnesota
Buffalo at Michigan
Rhode Island at Boston College
South Carolina at Temple
Vermont at Maryland