2009 SJ.COM bubble predictions challenge

There are automatic bids and a number of locks according to ESPN.

Locks/Automatic Bids: Florida State, Boston College, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, Clemson, UCONN, Pitt, Lousville, West Virginia, Syracuse, Villanova, Marquette, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, Ohio State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, USC, UCLA, Washington, Arizona State, Cal, LSU, (SEC WINNER UT/MISS STATE), BYU, UTAH, BUTLER, XAVIER, Radford, Morehead State, Cornell, Northern Iowa, Gonzaga, East Tennessee State, Sienna, North Dakota State, Virginia Commonwealth, Cleveland State, Western Kentucky, Robert Morris, Portland State, Binghamton, Memphis, American, Temple, Akron, Morgan State, Alabama State, Utah State, Cal State Northridge, Chattanooga, Stephen F Austin/That team they are playing right now.

That's 55 teams: Since 65 enter (play in-game) that leaves 8 open spots for bubble teams.

Which 8 teams do you let in the tournament and why?



That leaves spots for bubble teams? Who would you put in and in what order?

Feel free to denote which teams would be what seeds if you would like.

BIG NAME BUBBLE TEAMS TO CHOOSE FROM: (JUST TO GET YOU STARTED) Texas A & M, Dayton, Davidson, St. Mary's, Creighton, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Penn State, San Diego State, Auburn, South Carolina, Florida, Arizona, Providence, Maryland, VT, Miami, Kentucky....

The poster who gets the most right is the 2009 SportsJournalists.com bubble prediction champion.

 

1. Michigan - 12 SOS, 43 RPI, Big wins.
2. Dayton Solid mid major, I love to see mid majors. IMO, better than Creighton and St. Mary's.
3. Minnesota - worthy of a spot, beat Lousville. Had enough conference wins.
4. Texas A & M - Decent team from a good conference
5. Wisconsin - Better than their record shows.
6. Maryland - Deserving of an NCAA bid
7. Penn State - bad numbers in terms of SOS, but they do have some solid wins in a deep conference
8. South Carolina - You can't only have two teams from the SEC.
9. Providence - 10-8 in conference. Why not.
10. St. Mary's - Better than Creighton and better than San Diego State, although I don't see this one happening.

I may have screwed up my order a bit.

 

Yeah I just sorta threw them on there, a couple of those teams like Miami, stand no chance. At least in my opinion.

 

I am sick of these ESPN heads debating a team that does not have a winning conference record making the tourney.

A .500 conference record should never, ever make the tournament.

Arizona played OSU, Oregon and WSU six times and could not pull off a winning record?

 

So who would you put in over them?

 

Shit, I would put VMI in over them.

 

1) Michigan -- The Wolverines are pretty safe.

2) Maryland -- In like Flynn

3) Dayton -- The Flyers are an interesting case but the NCAA occasionally rewards teams for little things...like being the host school of that god awful play-in game.

4) Wisconsin -- In for a one-round knockout

5) Penn State -- See Wisconsin

6) Providence -- Winning record in best conference, victory over No. 1 seed. Book 'em.

7) St. Mary's -- Just for the hell of it.

8) South Carolina -- The SEC will get three in, maybe four...

9) Auburn -- If Mississippi State loses, the Tigers might sneak in. They pass the tournament "eye" test being a senior-dominated team that played good basketball in the final third of the season.

10) Minnesota -- With the final four being in Detroit, the more Big 10+1 teams the better.

 

Your list of "locks" omits Southern Conference champion Chattanooga and the Southland champion (Texas-San Antonio or Stephen F. Austin). So there are really only eight spots left.
Those eight, as I see it, would be:
Maryland
Texas A&M
Michigan
Wisconsin
Minnesota
San Diego State
Saint Mary's
Dayton
(If Mississippi State beats Tennessee, the SEC gets three with Mississippi State, Tennessee and LSU and Daytona would fall out). Creighton, Auburn, Arizona and Penn State are my last four out.

 

Ahhh nice catch. I knew about Chattanooga and forgot to type them.

So 8 teams left.

I'd have to omit South Carolina and Penn State.

 

Problem is a lot of the mediocre teams on my list that are BCS schools have major wins that Mid majors don't have.

Michigan beat Duke.
Minnesota beat Louisville and so on.