January 18, 2010

The picture's starting to clear a little bit with conference play beginning, but there's still a lot of bubble teams in the consideration list. Eventually, it will get tougher to separate the "deserving" from the "less deserving".

SOUTH REGION (Houston)
#1 Texas (16-0) vs. #16 Winner of South Dakota (9-8)/Jackson State (6-10)
#8 UAB (15-2) vs. #9 Louisville (12-6)
#5 Clemson (15-3) vs. #12 Arizona State (14-5)
#4 Purdue (14-3) vs. #13 Charleston (11-6)
#6 Baylor (14-2) vs. #11 Marshall (15-2)
#3 Michigan State (15-3) vs. #14 Pacific (10-6)
#7 St. Mary's (16-3) vs. #10 Richmond (14-5)
#2 Pittsburgh (15-2) vs. #15 Coastal Carolina (17-3)

EAST REGION (Syracuse)
#1 Villanova (16-1) vs. #16 Quinnipiac (11-6)
#8 Siena (14-4) vs. #9 Missouri (14-4)
#5 Tennessee (14-2) vs. #12 Virginia (11-4)
#4 Xavier (12-5) vs. #13 Washington (12-5)
#6 BYU (18-1) vs. #11 Ohio State (13-5)
#3 Georgetown (13-3) vs. #14 Vermont (13-5)
#7 Rhode Island (14-2) vs. #10 Cornell (15-3)
#2 Kansas (16-1) vs. #15 Morgan State (11-7)

MIDWEST REGION (St. Louis)
#1 Kentucky (18-0) vs. #16 Campbell (11-5)
#8 Georgia Tech (13-4) vs. #9 Dayton (13-4)
#5 Wisconsin (14-4) vs. #12 St. John's (12-5)
#4 Northern Iowa (16-1) vs. #13 Oakland (13-7)
#6 Butler (14-4) vs. #11 Oklahoma State (13-4)
#3 Temple (14-3) vs. #14 Murray State (16-3)
#7 William & Mary (14-3) vs. #10 Mississippi (13-4)
#2 Syracuse (17-1) vs. #15 Lafayette (12-6)

WEST REGION (Salt Lake City)
#1 Duke (15-2) vs. #16 Texas A&M-CC (8-8)
#8 California (11-6) vs. #9 Mississippi State (15-3)
#5 New Mexico (16-3) vs. #12 Louisiana Tech (17-2)
#4 West Virginia (13-3) vs. #13 Buffalo (10-4)
#6 Vanderbilt (14-3) vs. #11 Cincinnati (12-6)
#3 Gonzaga (14-3) vs. #14 Weber State (11-7)
#7 Wake Forest (12-4) vs. #10 UNLV (14-4)
#2 Kansas State (15-2) vs. #15 Arkansas State (10-7)

Conference Breakdown:
Big East - 8
Big 12 - 6
Atlantic 10, ACC, SEC - 5
Big Ten - 4
Mountain West, Pac-10 - 3
Conference USA, West Coast - 2
America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Great West, Horizon, Ivy, MAAC,
Mid-American, MEAC, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, SWAC, Summit, Sun Belt, WAC - 1

Bubble Watch: Charlotte (12-5), St. Louis (11-6), Maryland (11-5), Florida State (14-4), Virginia Tech (13-3), North Carolina (12-6), Miami (15-3), Texas A&M (12-5), Texas Tech (12-5), Notre Dame (14-4), Connecticut (11-6), Marquette (11-6), Northern Colorado (16-4), Illinois (12-6), Michigan (10-7), Minnesota (12-6), Northwestern (13-4), Old Dominion (14-5), VCU (12-4), Tulsa (14-3), Memphis (13-4), Green Bay (13-6), Harvard (12-3), Akron (12-5), Western Michigan (10-6), Bethune-Cookman (10-7), Wichita State (16-3), Illinois State (13-5), Missouri State (13-5), Colorado State (11-6), San Diego State (13-5), Washington State (13-5), Arizona (9-9), South Carolina (11-6), Florida (12-5), Alabama (11-6), Western Carolina (14-3), IUPUI (13-7), Western Kentucky (11-5)

Next bracket: February 1