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We're really getting into the tight season of college basketball. Teams have already clinched no worse than NIT bids by winning their conferences, and by this time next week half a dozen conference tournaments will be underway. In the meantime, there are about four dozen teams trying to solidify seeding or at-large resumes in the two and a half weeks left between now and Selection Sunday.
The s-curve:
The | KenPom s-curve | 2/25 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | KENTUCKY | ARIZONA | VIRGINIA | GONZAGA |
2 | Duke | Utah | WISCONSIN | VILLANOVA |
3 | OKLAHOMA | Kansas | WICHITA ST. | Northern Iowa |
4 | North Carolina | Ohio St. | Baylor | Iowa St. |
5 | Michigan St. | Georgetown | Notre Dame | Louisville |
6 | Butler | SMU | Texas | West Virginia |
7 | SAN DIEGO ST. | Xavier | Iowa | VCU |
8 | Oklahoma St. | North Carolina St. | Arkansas | LSU |
9 | BYU | Mississippi | Maryland | Davidson |
10 | Stanford | Georgia | St. John's | Providence |
11 | Texas A&M | Purdue | UCLA | Boise St. |
12 | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | Arizona St. | Cincinnati | Indiana |
12 | BUFFALO | VALPARAISO | ||
13 | HARVARD | MURRAY ST. | OLD DOMINION | GEORGIA ST. |
14 | UC DAVIS | WOFFORD | IONA | NEW MEXICO ST. |
15 | SOUTH DAKOTA ST. | WILLIAM & MARY | NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL | VERMONT |
16 | NORTH FLORIDA | EASTERN WASHINGTON | ST. FRANCIS NY | COASTAL CAROLINA |
16 | COLGATE | TEXAS SOUTHERN | ||
First 4 out | Florida | Vanderbilt | Alabama | Rhode Island |
Next 4 out | TCU | Dayton | Miami FL | Richmond |
The bracket:
No dream matchup against Dayton here for Xavier, largely because my other dream - Dayton missing the tournament entirely - is being realized. Xavier rides in on that seven line for KenPom, but the real world isn't nearly as kind. The only remaining must-not-lose game is @Creighton; I think if the Muskies get that one and either their home date against Nova or their first-round Big East Tournament game, they're in when Selection Sunday rolls around.
In other interesting news, the Mountain West picks up a second KenPom bid with Boise St. making it to the field via at-large consideration. They're currently one of the last four in, but even that play-in game earns you a nice bonus check from the NCAA. Congratulations to Broncos, who I'm assuming play on an all blue home floor. They're in only about a dozen of the 93 brackets on the Bracket Matrix, so - like Xavier - they're getting a KenPom boost that isn't likely to carry them in real life.