College basketball is well underway this season and we are now in the stretch run of the conference season. Many will play the role of Bracketologist predicting the field of 68. Tim Krueger, co-host of the Bluejay Banter radio show, is one such fan. Krueger has conducted his own bracket projections for years, even before ESPN’s Joe Lunardi gave such a practice the term Bracketology.
Leading up to Selection Sunday, Krueger will provide White & Blue Review his updated bracket predictions. Bluejay Banter can be heard every Monday from 6-7 PM on 590 AM, Omaha’s ESPN Radio, with podcasts of the show available via www.am590espnradio.com and the Bluejay Underground A/V room
The bracket as of 1/29/2012:
| EAST | SOUTH | |
| 1-Syracuse* | 1-Michigan St. | |
| 16-Stony Brook/Tex-Arlington** | 16-LIU/Miss Valley St** | |
| Pittsburgh, PA. (Mar. 15-17) | Columbus, OH (Mar. 16-18) | |
| 8-Memphis | 8-Southern Mississippi* | |
| 9-Xavier | 9-Seton Hall | |
| 4-Wisconsin | 4-Gonzaga | |
| 13-Middle Tennessee St* | 13-Umass* | |
| Portland, OR (Mar. 15-17) | Portland, OR (Mar. 15-17) | |
| 5-St Marys* | 5-Creighton* | |
| 12-Long Beach St* | 12-Nevada* | |
| 3-Kansas* | 3-UNLV* | |
| 14-Akron* | 14-Weber St* | |
| Omaha, NE (Mar. 16-18) | Albuquerque, NM (Mar. 15-17) | |
| 6-Vanderbilt | 6-Kansas St | |
| 11-Wichita St | 11-Notre Dame | |
| 7-Louisville | 7-Mississippi St | |
| 10-Minnesota | 10-St Louis | |
| Greensboro, NC (Mar. 16-18) | Greensboro, NC (Mar. 16-18) | |
| 2-North Carolina | 2-Duke* | |
| 15-Bucknell* | 15-George Mason* | |
| MIDWEST | WEST | |
| 1-Kentucky* | 1-Baylor | |
| Mercer* | 16-UNC Ashville* | |
| Louisville,KY (Mar. 15-17) | Albuquerque, NM (Mar. 15-17) | |
| 8-Murray St* | 8-Colorado St | |
| 9-Virginia | 9-California* | |
| 4-Indiana | 4-West Virginia | |
| 13-Oral Roberts* | 13-Harvard* | |
| Columbus, OH (Mar. 16-18) | Pittsburgh, PA (Mar. 15-17) | |
| 5-Uconn | 5-Michigan | |
| 12-Iowa St/ Mississippi | 12-Arkansas/BYU | |
| 3-Georgetown | 3-Marquette | |
| 14-Davidson* | 14-Cleveland St* | |
| Nashville, TN (Mar. 16-18) | Omaha, NE (Mar. 16-18) | |
| 6-Temple | 6-Florida | |
| 11-Alabama | 11-Purdue | |
| 7-Florida St | 7-San Diego St | |
| 10-Illinois | 10-Dayton | |
| Nashville, TN (Mar. 16-18) | Louisville,KY (Mar. 15-17) | |
| 2-Missouri | 2-Ohio St* | |
| 15-Loyola-MD* | 15-Norfolk St* |
**Donotes Automatic Bid
Krueger’s Notes About the Bracket:
Last four in: Arkansas. BYU, Mississippi, Iowa St
First four out: New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Northwestern
Next four out: Cinncinati, Iona, Oklahoma, Stanford
Frankly this is the weakest bubble field in years–maybe ever. You can find a lot more reasons to leave teams out instead of adding them to the field. But, there has to be 68 teams in the field so some who don’t deserve to be are in the field.
There is a drop off after the first 8 to 10 teams-then a group of about to 10 to 15 teams who are solidly in the field.
As far as the Jays go, they are a solid #5 seed right now. I don’t ever remember a time when a team with a SOS of over 100 received a top four seed. So if the Jays want to move up they have to keep winning–plus improve their SOS-which they should do in the next few weeks with tougher competition.
The next bracket will be released on 2/5/11