BracketBusters 2009

[Indy_BB]

St Mary's is both ranked in the Top 25 and highest in home RPI. If it stays that way, Butler will be playing in CA.

We get this every year. 2 years ago, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to have George Mason vs Butler, because ESPN "loved" GM. They sent #1 RPI Southern Illinois. Last year, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to send Creighton because ESPN loves a "big name." They sent #1 RPI Drake. This year people will swear up and down that ESPN is going to set up Davidson because the LOVE Curry. They will send Butler to the best RPI.

[MacabreMob]

St Mary's is both ranked in the Top 25 and highest in home RPI. If it stays that way, Butler will be playing in CA.

We get this every year. 2 years ago, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to have George Mason vs Butler, because ESPN "loved" GM. They sent #1 RPI Southern Illinois. Last year, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to send Creighton because ESPN loves a "big name." They sent #1 RPI Drake. This year people will swear up and down that ESPN is going to set up Davidson because the LOVE Curry. They will send Butler to the best RPI.

I believe you are right. The top game is usually the top RPI teams. I went with the "attractive" matchup instead of following my belief that the top game is top RPI teams. I also didn't know St Mary's was ranked in one of the polls.

[MacabreMob]

St Mary's is both ranked in the Top 25 and highest in home RPI. If it stays that way, Butler will be playing in CA.

We get this every year. 2 years ago, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to have George Mason vs Butler, because ESPN "loved" GM. They sent #1 RPI Southern Illinois. Last year, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to send Creighton because ESPN loves a "big name." They sent #1 RPI Drake. This year people will swear up and down that ESPN is going to set up Davidson because the LOVE Curry. They will send Butler to the best RPI.

Also, for the record....

2 years ago I was calling for SIU/Butler.

Last year I was calling for St Mary's/Kent and Butler/Drake.

[Rusty 54]

St Mary's is both ranked in the Top 25 and highest in home RPI. If it stays that way, Butler will be playing in CA.

We get this every year. 2 years ago, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to have George Mason vs Butler, because ESPN "loved" GM. They sent #1 RPI Southern Illinois. Last year, people SWORE up and down ESPN was going to send Creighton because ESPN loves a "big name." They sent #1 RPI Drake. This year people will swear up and down that ESPN is going to set up Davidson because the LOVE Curry. They will send Butler to the best RPI.

Wait, so the RPI matters after all?

[MacabreMob]

Updated after games played thru Sunday Jan 18th.

HOME TEAMS
29 Siena
31 Davidson
51 St Mary's
57 Evansville
77 Fairfield
78 Creighton
90 Niagara
94 Drexel
104 UW Milwaukee
105 Drake
106 Long Beach St
109 Nevada
130 San Diego
131 Wright St
132 Portland St
137 James Madison
139 Vermont
142 Georgia So
150 Loyola
152 UT-MArtin
157 UIC
170 Rider
177 New Mexico St
183 Murray St
190 San Jose St
191 Kent
195 UC-Santa Barbara
196 Wichita St
199 Towson
200 Bowling Green
207 Ball St
211 Idaho
213 E Kentucky
217 Boston
221 ODU
222 Marist
225 Indiana St
239 Hawaii
242 William & Mary
245 Valpo
249 W Michigan
254 Winthrop
257 UC-Davis
274 Bucknell
284 Youngstown St
289 UNC-Wilmington
299 C Michigan
303 Tennessee St
313 Cal Poly
323 E Michigan
329 SEMO

ROAD TEAMS
9 Butler
36 Miami (Oh)
45 Utah St
48 George Mason
50 Illinois St
55 Boise St
62 VCU
71 UW Green Bay
72 Cleveland St
75 Bradley
79 Northeastern
82 Buffalo
88 N Iowa
95 Ohio
107 Austin Peay
111 Hofstra
120 SIU
125 Liberty
133 ND St
134 Akron
145 Missouri St
155 Iona
158 Pacific
168 Montana St
173 Morgan St
179 Morehead St
180 Loyola (Md)
188 CS Northridge
193 Gardner-Webb
194 Louisiana Tech
208 UMBC
212 Manhattan
214 Jacksonville St
215 CS Fullerton
233 Canisius
236 Deleware
237 Hartford
246 UC-Riverside
250 Fresno St
264 S Dakota St
266 UC-Irvine
269 Tenn Tech
272 Appalachian St
276 Detroit
283 Georgia St
288 Elon
295 E Illinois
302 Toledo
305 St Peter's
319 Fairleigh Dickinson
325 N Illinois

[TheAsianSensation]

So, this is what I have now:

Butler @ Davidson
Northern Iowa @ Siena
Utah St @ St Mary's
George Mason @ Evansville
VCU @ Creighton
MiamiOH @ Fairfield
Illinois St @ Niagara
Boise St @ Drexel
Bradley @ Nevada
UW-Green Bay or Cleveland St @ Long Beach St

[MacabreMob]

So, this is what I have now:

Butler @ Davidson
Northern Iowa @ Siena
Utah St @ St Mary's
George Mason @ Evansville
VCU @ Creighton
MiamiOH @ Fairfield
Illinois St @ Niagara
Boise St @ Drexel
Bradley @ Nevada
UW-Green Bay or Cleveland St @ Long Beach St

[MacabreMob]

So, this is what I have now:

Butler @ Davidson
Northern Iowa @ Siena

What's wrong with the picture TAS?

I think he is leaning more on the "Leader of Conference vs Leader of Conference" instead of being completely governed by RPI.

Though TAS is a big boy, I'm sure he can defend himself.

[TheAsianSensation]

Conference leader vs. conference leader.

UNI leads the conference, therefore they get the more marquee game. Simple as that.

Obviously, there's plenty of time left and the conference lead can and probably will change. That spot vs. Siena is going to be ISU's if they take care of business. Remember, the projection is assuming that the games are selected today and have to be played in 3 weeks.

When you're talking about the top 3-4 games, you don't lean on RPI alone.


I actually really like St Mary's as a potential opponent of the Valley leader too, but the WAC may get in the way.

[TheAsianSensation]

And ESPN exes are having wet dreams about the possibility of Butler/Davidson. One of those teams would have to completely tank in order for ESPN not to will that matchup together.

[MacabreMob]

He can lean anyway he wants to. But I think in this instance he might be incorrect.

Siena with an RPI of 29 is going to play UNI with an RPI of 87 instead of ISU with an RPI of 50. That's a 37 spot swing in the RPI. I think not.

Same with ISU. They are going to play Niagara with an RPI of 90 instead of Siena with an RPI of 29. That's 61 spots as well.

Siena (29) vs. ISU (50)
and
Niagara (90) vs. UNI (87)

Make much more sense.


I look forward to that.

Well - Making projections right now are a little early. Jumping on projections as incorrect are just as bad as the projections.

IMO, the BracketBuster by name is to help showcase teams expected to make the NCAA Bracket... and maybe bust people's bracket picks.

So pairing up Conference Leaders right now makes more sense than RPI. If UNI is in 1st place in 2 weeks, their RPI is gonna be better than what it is now... and the matchup will look better to those expecting RPI to determine matchups.

So hang in there CPac. When ISU is in 1st, they will get the top MEAC team in TAS's projections.

[TheAsianSensation]

They aren't going to go conference leader vs. conference leader just for the sake of doing it. And I believe the history of the bracket buster proves this to be true as well.

And yes MM is still pretty early for this. I doubt TAS would use bias making his selections but when He has UNI jumping 37 spots to overtake ISU for a match-up with a#29 Siena team and in the meantime he has ISU dropping down to play #90 Niagara is the process, I think it might be a good idea to ask him his thought process.

Much like I did when Lunardi had BU in as the At-Large last week....

BU was the autobid last week.

The reason I had ISU drop that far was because after Siena....who's left? The next best team was 77 Fairfield.

And they do have a history of doing conference leader vs. conference leader. I'm too lazy to pull up the old matchups but I might do it later to see who's right

[MacabreMob]

Ok... it's too early. But I did this for CPac. Here's my EARLY prediction:

Davidson vs Butler
Siena vs Miami (Oh)
St Mary's vs Utah St
Long Beach St vs George Mason
Creighton vs Boise St
Fairfield vs Illinois St
Niagara vs VCU
Evansville vs Cleveland St
Drexel vs UW Green Bay
Nevada vs Bradley
UW Milwaukee vs N Iowa
Drake vs Northeastern
San Diego vs Pacific
Portland St vs ND St

[MacabreMob]

Updated with RPI after games played on Wednesday Jan 21st.

HOME TEAM
26 Siena
40 Davidson
52 St Mary's
61 Creighton
75 Evansville
76 Fairfield
94 Niagara
96 Drexel
102 UW Milwaukee
103 Nevada
116 Long Beach St
121 Drake
127 Portland St
128 Wright St
132 Vermont
135 San Diego
142 James Madison
149 UT-Martin
152 Loyola
161 UIC
168 Georgia So
171 Rider
172 Wichita St
179 Murray St
183 New Mexico St
186 E Kentucky
188 UC-Santa Barbara
189 San Jose St
190 Kent
197 Ball St
199 Boston
206 Towson
218 ODU
219 Idaho
224 Marist
233 Bowling Green
235 Hawaii
239 William & Mary
242 Indiana St
243 Valpo
250 Winthrop
253 W Michigan
256 UC-Davis
264 Bucknell
282 Youngstown St
292 UNC-Wilmington
298 Tennessee St
306 Cal Poly
309 C Michigan
329 E Michigan
331 SEMO

ROAD TEAM
9 Butler
35 Miami (Oh)
47 Utah St
51 George Mason
56 Illinois St
58 Boise St
66 Northeastern
70 VCU
74 Cleveland St
79 Bradley
83 UW Green Bay
84 N Iowa
88 Buffalo
93 Ohio
112 Austin Peay
115 Hofstra
117 SIU
129 ND St
136 Liberty
140 Akron
141 Missouri St
157 Iona
160 Pacific
170 Montana St
175 Loyola (Md)
177 Morehead St
177 Morgan St
187 Louisiana Tech
191 Gardner-Webb
201 CS Fullerton
202 Manhattan
203 Jacksonville St
207 UMBC
213 CS Northridge
227 Canisius
234 Deleware
236 Hartford
245 UC-Riverside
247 Fresno St
261 Appalachian St
265 UC-Irvine
270 S Dakota St
274 Tenn Tech
279 Georgia St
283 Detroit
286 Elon
293 E Illinois
300 St Peter's
301 Toledo
318 Fairleigh Dickinson
321 N Illinois

[TheAsianSensation]

If UNI maintains their lead, there is no question they'll jump Bradley and ISU for a marquee game. No question.