Ramblings from the Ultimate Sports Sentimentalist

Well… the day has finally arrived!  Our Christmas presents will be revealed for us tonight at 6:00.  Here is my the final seedings I assigned the NCAA tourney field.  I will publish a full bracket with seedings, sites, and game times later this afternoon, but I thought I would go ahead and just post the seeds so that my vote can go ahead and be counted on Bracket Project.  Any discrepancies between these seeds and the ones published later today will be a result of bracketing principles and procedures which forced me to move a particular team up or down a seed. 

The teams below are displayed below on an S-curve, so they are ranked from left to right within each seeding line.   The bolded teams have already won an auto bid to either the NCAA or NIT tournament.  Please note the two asteriks I have marked on this list.  These are included to indicate what will happen if Mississippi State and Minnesota win their conference tourney games tomorrow afternoon.   If Mississippi State wins, then they will take Wake Forest’s tourney spot, and if Minnesota wins, then they will take the spot from conference rival Illinois.  For my NIT seedings, the meaning of the asterik is simply reversed as Wake will take Miss. State’s spot if the Bulldogs beat the Cats and Illinois will get Minnesota’s spot if the Gophers win the Big 10.  On a personal note, I find it highly ironic that I may need the team I’ve loved since I was a kid (Kentucky) to win to put my Deacons in the dance.  I have never cheered harder for Kentucky, and especially Ohio State, than I will this afternoon.

NCAA Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, West Virginia

2-seeds: Duke, Kansas State, Ohio State, Villanova

3-seeds: Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Tennessee, Pittsburgh 

4-seeds: Purdue, Temple, Georgetown, New Mexico

5-seeds: Baylor, Wisconsin, Texas A & M, Maryland 

6-seeds:  Butler, Richmond, Xavier, Brigham Young

7-seeds:  Marquette, Gonzaga, Louisville, Oklahoma State

8-seeds: Texas, Missouri, California, Florida State

9-seeds: Northern Iowa, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame

10-seeds: San Diego State, UNLV, Saint Mary’s, Old Dominion

11-seeds: Washington, Siena, Cornell, UTEP

12-seeds: Utah State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Minnesota

13-seeds: New Mexico State, Murray State, Oakland, Wofford

14-seeds:  Sam Houston State, Houston, Ohio, Montana

15-seeds: UC Santa Barbara, Morgan State, North Texas, Vermont

16-seeds: East Tennessee State, Robert Morris, Lehigh, Winthrop, Arkansas Pine-Bluff

NIT Tourney Field:

1-seeds: Mississippi State*, Minnesota*, Florida, Ole Miss

2-seeds: Rhode Island, Seton Hall, Dayton, Memphis

3-seeds: Arizona State, South Florida, UAB, Wichita State

4-seeds: Saint Louis, Cincinnati, Tulsa, Marshall

5-seeds: Connecticut, William & Mary, St. John’s, VCU

6-seeds: Kent State, Northeastern, NC State, Miami-FL

7-seeds: Charlotte, Weber State, Troy, Quinnipiac

8-seeds: Coastal Carolina, Stony Brook, Jackson State, Lipscomb

First 5 out of NIT: Northwestern, Texas Tech, Alabama, Nevada, Illinois State