Road to Selection Sunday: A Very Merry "Field of 68" Projection

[GopherHole Staff]

Road to Selection Sunday: A Very Merry "Field of 68" Projection
By SelectionSunda

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/126413?referrer_id=331171

NORTH POLE, U.S.A. -- Despite an injury to the Gophers' best player, beastly forward Trevor Mbakwe, Gopher basketball fans cannot be displeased with how Jolly Saint Nick treated the Gophers this holiday season. Expected in some parts to collapse after Mbakwe's season-ending knee injury, the Gophers have responded with six consecutive wins to finish the nonconference portion of their schedule with a 12-1 record. That 12-1 mark, which includes one win over a RPI top-50 opponent (#47 Indiana State) and five others vs. top-100 opponents (#58 Virginia Tech, #66 Fairfield, #71 Bucknell, #72 South Dakota State and #78 North Dakota State), has the Gophers in our Christmas Day NCAA Tournament "Field of 68" projection.

Quite astonishingly, the Gophers hold the B1G's best RPI at #18 and are joined by eight of their conference brethren, setting up a B1G free-for-all that begins Tuesday when the Gophers visit Illinois (6:30/BTN) and Wisconsin travels to Lincoln (8:00/ESPN2) to begin Nebraska's maiden voyage in the B1G. Will the B1G hold 9 bids when the pairings are announced March 11? Highly unlikely. However, in large part because of its stellar performance in November and December, don't be surprised if 7 or 8 B1G teams hear their name called by Greg Gumbel on Selection Sunday.

So here's where we're at this Merry Christmas Day, as Santa begins resting up for Christmas 2012. This projection is based on results to this point in the season. It does not project future results. RPI is noted in parentheses, and an * denotes the current leader/best RPI in a multi-bid conference. Joy to the World if the Gophers are anywhere near this position two months from now.

Very Merry Field of 68 (December 25, 2011)
America East (1): Maine (153)

ACC (5): *Duke (2), North Carolina (14), Virginia (31), Florida State (49), Virginia Tech (58)
Atlantic Sun (1): Belmont (91)

Atlantic 10 (5): *Saint Joseph's (21), Temple (25), Dayton (48), Saint Louis (50), Xavier (63)

Big East (7): *Syracuse (1), UConn (4), Louisville (6), Seton Hall (8), Marquette (10), West Virginia (37), Georgetown (51)

Big Sky (1): Weber State (103)

Big South (1): Charleston Southern (96)

B1G (9): *GOPHERS (18), Michigan State (20), Ohio State (22), Wisconsin (26), Northwestern (36), Illinois (44), Michigan (46), Indiana (53), Purdue (70)

Big 12 (5): *Baylor (11), Kansas State (24), Kansas (28), Oklahoma (35), Missouri (52)

Big West (1): Long Beach State (7)

Colonial (1): VCU (75)

Conference USA (2): *Southern Miss (3), Marshall (38)

Horizon (1): Cleveland State (54)

Ivy (1): Harvard (27)

Metro Atlantic (1): Iona (19)

MAC (1): Ohio (16)

MEAC (1): Norfolk State (42)

Missouri Valley (4): *Northern Iowa (5), Creighton (15), Wichita State (29), Indiana State (47)

Mountain West (2): *UNLV (9), San Diego State (56)

Northeast (1): Robert Morris (80)

Ohio Valley (1): Murray State (17)

Pac 12 (2): *Arizona (55), Cal (65)

Patriot (1): Bucknell (71)

SEC (5): *Alabama (13), Kentucky (23), Florida (32), Vanderbilt (39), Mississippi State (60)

Southern (1): Davidson (33)

Southland (1): Lamar (34)

SWAC (1): Mississippi Valley State (155)

Summit (1): South Dakota State (72)

Sun Belt (1): Denver (30)

West Coast (2): *Gonzaga (12), St. Mary's (41)

WAC (1): New Mexico State (86)

Last 4 In: Oklahoma (35), Marshall (38), Florida State (49), Virginia Tech (58)

First 4 Out: College of Charleston (40), BYU (61), Pitt (69), New Mexico (77)

Non-BCS At-Larges (10): Creighton (15), Temple (25), Wichita State (29), Marshall (38), St. Mary's (41), Indiana State (47), Dayton (48), Saint Louis (50), San Diego State (56), Xavier (63)

Next "Field of 68" Projection: Monday, January 16

 

[Dr.Don]

Thanks for that info, SS. In the past you have been pretty darn good at calling this list early in the season.

Keep up the good work.

Go Gophers!!!

 

[Lincoln gopher]

Going to the Wisconsin/Nebraska game tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see how the fans react to BIG basketball. Over the holidays, the Huskers had like their 4th smallest crowd ever at a game, little over 4000 for the Central Michigan game, which they barely won. I would say Husker fans might be watching Doc's last season as their coach. Will come home and watch the DVR of the Gopher game.

 

[SelectionSunday]

For what it's worth, the biggest dufus on the BTN (Tim Doyle) guaranteed on "The Pulse" that Nebraska will beat either Wisconsin or Michigan State during its season-opening 2-game homestand. Certainly could happen.

 

[Madman]

I would never defend Tim Doyle's Dufus-ness. He needs to own that, but I think his takes are usually pretty good.

 

[station19]

Tim Doyle is totally embarrassing and nauseating.

Please make him go away.

 

[gopher_alum_2005]

Andy Glockner had the Gophers as a 6 seed as of yesterday:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...cket.Watch/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t13_a2

 

[Monty519]

Andy Glockner had the Gophers as a 6 seed as of yesterday:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...cket.Watch/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_t13_a2

6 is definitely high, but I'm guessing he's a numbers guy, and with their RPI as high as it was, he probably figured they trend near there. We'll see about that, yesterday was encouraging to see them battle, but they definitely still got some big time work to do in being more consistent on the offensive end.

 

[Dr.Don]

6 is definitely high, but I'm guessing he's a numbers guy, and with their RPI as high as it was, he probably figured they trend near there. We'll see about that, yesterday was encouraging to see them battle, but they definitely still got some big time work to do in being more consistent on the offensive end.

The key word on a contradiction of a statement, within a statement.

Between if and but nothing makes sense to me. What do I know? Not a damned thing.