Bracket Gurus 68 Team Field

The Gurus Have Reached A Verdict

In New York, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee by now has agreed on 68 teams and only a little moving in the seed lines is yet to come.  After last night’s games, especially after the Oregon win over Washington in the Pac-12 Championship Game, it basically came down to about 70 teams competing for 68 spots.

The Gurus met via conference this morning and quickly eliminated all but four of the teams on the Bubble for three spots in the field.  By the end of the coffee talk, we had agreed to eliminate one team, leaving three teams for the final two spots.  There’s the rub; at this point, we had a hung jury.

In the Committee room, they break for ice cream at this point.  The Bracket Gurus share something in common with each other but totally opposite of the Committee.  All 12 Gurus are into the Keto-Paleo-Bulletproof way of life.  We not only didn’t break for ice cream, none of us consumed more than our upgraded coffee.

Unfortunately, it was an early Sunday morning funeral that broke up the meeting and allowed the Gurus to step away from the numbers, which was ironic to the max.  The dearly departed friend of the Captain had been a certified public accountant as well as a sports fanatic.

The Gurus reconvened via cyberspace while consuming mass quantities of healthy fat and good quality animal protein (sorry Vegan friends).  Once satiated, the 12 Gurus realized that in all but one city where we reside, it is too beautiful to be indoors.  So, we quickly agreed on that 68th team as well as which team is sadly number 69.

To borrow from the great Jim Nantz, “Friends,” here are the 68 teams we have selected to represent the NCAA Tournament Field.  They are presented in alphabetical order.  The seeding will come in our final installment to be published as we have a Big Ten Tournament Champion.  If the game is a blowout, the seeding will appear before the conclusion of the game.  If the game is close, then expect the seeding to be on this site within 5 minutes of the conclusion of the game.  It will be marked as our “Final Selection.”

The following 68 teams as voted 12-0 by our gurus are:

(3 One-Bid Tournaments to be decided today)

Abilene Christian

Arizona St.

Atlantic 10:  Winner of St. Bonaventure vs. Saint Louis

Auburn

Baylor

Bradley

Buffalo

Cincinnati

Colgate

Duke

Fairleigh-Dickinson

Florida

Florida St.

Gardner-Webb

Gonzaga

Houston

Iona

Iowa

Iowa St.

Ivy: Winner of Harvard vs. Yale

Kansas

Kansas St.

Kentucky

Liberty

Louisville

LSU

Marquette

Maryland

Michigan

Michigan St.

Minnesota

Mississippi St.

Montana

Murray St.

North Carolina Central

Nevada

New Mexico St.

North Carolina

North Dakota St.

Northeastern

Northern Kentucky

Ohio St.

Oklahoma

Old Dominion

Ole Miss

Oregon

Prairie View A&M

Purdue

Saint Mary’s

Seton Hall

St. John’s

Sun Belt: Winner of Georgia State vs. Texas-Arlington

Syracuse

TCU

Temple

Tennessee

Texas Tech

UC-Irvine

UCF

Utah St.

VCU

Vermont

Villanova

Virginia

Virginia Tech

Washington

Wisconsin

Wofford

 

It came down to Arizona State versus North Carolina State.  The Sun Devils won out due to a better strength of schedule and better results in the 1st and 2nd Quadrant.

Bracket Gurus Breakfast Meeting

The Bubble Has Deflated

Good Morning PiRate Supporters.

This is the Captain writing this morning, as our sleepy Bracket Gurus try to wipe the sleep out of our eyes and begin perusing all the numbers.

One good thing about sleeping 3-4 hours a night for almost a fortnight is there isn’t much time to develop the junk that one must wipe out of his or her eyes.

If you have been following PiRate Ratings Bracketology prior to today, what you saw on this website was one person’s (moi) prediction as to what the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee would choose for the final bracket.

Beginning this morning, I step aside as sole Bracketologist to become one of multiple Bracket Gurus.  I have selected an excellent group of qualified experts to help interpret the criteria used by the Selection Committee to attempt to replicate what the actual Committee has been doing for the last five days.

Our Gurus include members of the sports media, a couple with former basketball coaching experience, a mathematics professor, a sports handicapper, and a basketball savant that can tell you exactly how many points Charlie Scott scored in the three games when North Carolina won the December 1967 Far West Classic.

Our Gurus have done an incredible job already this morning.  They have culled the field down to 69 teams.  Basically, three teams remain in consideration for the final two spots in the field.  Early this afternoon, we will reveal our 68 teams that we predict will make the field, and then following the Big Ten Championship Game (or earlier if the game is no longer in doubt), we will reveal our final Bracketology seeding.

Check back around 2PM Eastern Time today for our Final 68, and then sneak a peak here once the Michigan State-Michigan winner is known to see our final prediction.

 

Bracketnomics in Less Than 36 Hours

Once the field of 68 is announced, we begin perusing all the stats from all 68 teams.  We look at each school’s official athletic site to get their official cumulative box for the season, and then we add our own touches to help you select your brackets for your pools.

Our system is unique, and we have back-tested data that helps us isolate the contenders from the pretenders.  If you haven’t taken a look, here is the primer that will help you earn your online Bachelor of Madness Degree.

https://piratings.wordpress.com/2019/03/16/bracketnomics-2019/

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Thursday, March 14, 2019

March 14, 2019
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Virginia	Gonzaga	Kentucky	North Carolina
2	Duke	Michigan St.	Tennessee	LSU
3	Michigan	Texas Tech	Houston	Purdue
4	Florida St.	Wisconsin	Kansas	Kansas St.
5	Virginia Tech	Maryland	Mississippi St.	Nevada
6	Buffalo	Villanova	Marquette	Auburn
7	Wofford	Louisville	Cincinnati	Iowa St.
8	Baylor	VCU	Iowa	Ole Miss
9	Syracuse	Washington	Central Florida	Oklahoma
10	Minnesota	Seton Hall	TCU	Utah St.
11	Temple	Arizona St.	North Carolina St.	Ohio St./St. John’s
12	Florida/Creighton	Saint Mary’s	Murray St.	New Mexico St.
13	Liberty	Vermont	UC-Irvine	Old Dominion
14	Montana	Northeastern	Northern Kentucky	Georgia St.
15	Yale	Bradley	Colgate	Gardner-Webb
16	Sam Houston St.	Prairie View	Iona/Fairleigh-Dickinson	North Dakota St./Norfolk St.

Last 4 Bye	TCU	Temple	Arizona St.	North Carolina St.
Last 4 In	Ohio St.	St. John’s	Clemson	Florida

 

First 4 Out	Creighton	Indiana	Georgetown	Texas
Next 4 Out	Alabama	Belmont	Nebraska	UNC Greensboro

 

Conference	Bids
ACC	8
Big Ten	8
Big 12	7
SEC	7
Big East	5
AAC	4
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
West Coast	2
One-Bid Leagues	23

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Wednesday, March 13, 2019

March 13, 2019
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Virginia	Gonzaga	Kentucky	North Carolina
2	Duke	Michigan St.	Tennessee	LSU
3	Michigan	Texas Tech	Houston	Purdue
4	Florida St.	Wisconsin	Kansas	Kansas St.
5	Virginia Tech	Maryland	Mississippi St.	Nevada
6	Buffalo	Villanova	Marquette	Auburn
7	Wofford	Cincinnati	Louisville	Iowa St.
8	Baylor	VCU	Iowa	Ole Miss
9	Syracuse	Washington	Central Florida	Oklahoma
10	Minnesota	Seton Hall	Utah St.	TCU
11	Temple	Arizona St.	North Carolina St.	Ohio St./St. John’s
12	Florida/Clemson	Saint Mary’s	Murray St.	New Mexico St.
13	Liberty	Vermont	Old Dominion	UC-Irvine
14	Montana	Northeastern	Northern Kentucky	Georgia St.
15	Yale	Bradley	Bucknell	Gardner-Webb
16	Sam Houston St.	Prairie View	Iona/Fairleigh-Dickinson	North Dakota St./Norfolk St.

 

Last 4 Byes

TCU

Temple

Arizona St.

North Carolina St.

 

Last 4 In

Ohio St.

St. John’s

Clemson

Florida

 

First 4 Out

Creighton

Indiana

Georgetown

Texas

Next 4 Out

Alabama

Belmont

Nebraska

UNC Greensboro

 

Bids By Conference

Conference	Bids
ACC	9
Big Ten	8
Big 12	7
SEC	7
Big East	4
AAC	4
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
West Coast	2
One-Bid Leagues	23

 

Automatic Bids To Date

Team	Conf	W-L
Liberty	Atlantic Sun	28-6
Gardner-Webb	Big South	23-11
Murray St.	Ohio Valley	27-4
Bradley	Missouri Valley	20-14
Wofford	Southern	29-4
Iona	Metro Atlantic	17-15
Fairleigh-Dickinson	Northeast	20-13
Northern Kentucky	Horizon	26-8
Northeastern	Colonial	23-10
Saint Mary’s	West Coast	22-11
North Dakota St.	Summit	18-15

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Monday, March 11, 2019

March 11, 2019

Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Gonzaga	Virginia	Kentucky	North Carolina
2	Duke	Michigan St.	Tennessee	LSU
3	Michigan	Texas Tech	Houston	Purdue
4	Florida St.	Wisconsin	Kansas	Kansas St.
5	Virginia Tech	Maryland	Mississippi St.	Nevada
6	Buffalo	Villanova	Marquette	Auburn
7	Wofford	Cincinnati	Louisville	Iowa St.
8	Baylor	VCU	Iowa	Ole Miss
9	Syracuse	Washington	Central Florida	Oklahoma
10	Minnesota	Seton Hall	Utah St.	TCU
11	Temple	Arizona St.	North Carolina St.	St. John’s
12	Ohio St./Clemson	Florida/Creighton	Murray St.	New Mexico St.
13	Liberty	Vermont	Hofstra	Old Dominion
14	UC-Irvine	Montana	Yale	Georgia St.
15	Bradley	Bucknell	Sam Houston St.	Wright St.
16	Omaha	Gardner-Webb	Norfolk St./St. Francis (PA)	Iona/Prairie View

 

 

 

Last 4 Bye	Temple	Arizona St.	North Carolina St.	St. John’s
Last 4 In	Ohio St.	Clemson	Florida	Creighton

 

 

First 4 Out	Indiana	Georgetown	Texas	Alabama
Next 4 Out	UNC Greensboro	Belmont	Nebraska	Saint Mary’s

 

 

Bids By Conference	Bids
ACC	9
Big Ten	8
Big 12	7
SEC	7
Big East	5
AAC	4
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
One-Bid Leagues	24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Sunday, March 10, 2019

Today’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Lipscomb	109.0	3.0	Liberty	105.9	6.1
Radford	102.7	2.5	Gardner-Webb	99.3	5.9
Hofstra	106.5	0.0	James Madison	93.8	12.7
William & Mary	97.6	0.0	Delaware	94.7	2.9
Northeastern	105.6	0.0	UNC Wilmington	94.7	10.9
Charleston	103.4	1.0	Drexel	95.2	9.2
Siena	95.4	2.5	Iona	97.7	0.2
Canisius	95.1	0.0	Monmouth	93.3	1.8
Northern Iowa	99.1	0.0	Bradley	99.5	-0.4
Colgate	102.1	2.5	Navy	92.8	11.8
Bucknell	101.4	2.5	Lehigh	100.3	3.6
Wofford	112.9	0.0	East Tennessee St.	106.6	6.3
UNC Greensboro	105.5	0.0	Furman	107.9	-2.4
North Dakota St.	97.5	0.0	Oral Roberts	92.8	4.7
South Dakota	97.4	1.0	Purdue Fort Wayne	98.7	-0.3
Cincinnati	111.8	3.0	Houston	114.5	0.3
Penn St.	109.9	2.5	Illinois	106.5	5.9
Indiana	110.4	3.0	Rutgers	106.3	7.1
East Carolina	93.7	2.5	Connecticut	105.2	-9.0
Nebraska	110.5	3.0	Iowa	110.8	2.7
South Florida	103.5	3.0	SMU	103.8	2.7
Ohio St.	110.3	3.0	Wisconsin	115.5	-2.2

Conference Tournaments Update

America East Conference
All games at home floor of higher seeds
Quarterfinals–Saturday, March 9
Md.-Baltimore Co.	62	Albany	54
Vermont	73	Maine	57
Binghamton	73	Stony Brook	71
Hartford	78	UMass Lowell	70

 

Semifinals–Tuesday, March 12
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Vermont (25-6)	7	Binghamton (10-22)
3	Maryland-Baltimore Co. (20-12)	4	Hartford (18-14)

 

 

Atlantic Sun Conference

*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 ***
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Lipscomb (25-6)	2	Liberty (27-6)

 

 

Big South Conference

*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 (at Radford) ***
Seed	Home Team	Seed	Visitors
2	Radford (22-10)	4	Gardner-Webb (22-11)

 

 

Colonial Athletic Association
Site: North Charleston Coliseum, North Charleston, SC
First Round–Saturday, March 9
James Madison	74	Towson	73
UNC Wilmington	93	Elon	86

Quarterfinals–Sunday, March 10
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Hofstra (25-6)	8	James Madison (14-18)
4	William & Mary (14-16)	5	Delaware (16-15)
2	Northeastern (20-10)	10	UNC Wilmington (10-22)
3	Charleston (23-8)	6	Drexel (13-18)

 

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Site: Times Union Center, Albany, NY (Siena)

Quarterfinals–Saturday, March 9
Monmouth	98	Quinnipiac	92
Siena	87	Rider	81

 

Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Iona (15-15)	5	Siena (17-15)
2	Canisius (15-16)	6	Monmouth (13-20)

 

 

Missouri Valley Conference (Arch Madness)
Site: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO
Semifinals–Saturday, March 9
Bradley	53	Loyola (Chi)	51
Northern Iowa	60	Drake	58

*** Championship Game–Sunday, March 10 ***
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
6	Northern Iowa (16-17)	5	Bradley (19-14)

 

Northeast Conference
All games at home floor of higher seeds
Semifinals–Saturday, March 9
St. Francis (PA)	72	Long Island	64
Fairleigh-Dickinson	66	Robert Morris	62

 

Championship Game–Tuesday, March 12
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	St. Francis (PA) (18-13)	2	Fairleigh-Dickinson (19-13)

 

 

Ohio Valley Conference
*** Championship Game–Saturday, March 9 ***
Murray St.	77	Belmont	65

Champion:  Murray St.  27-4

 

 

 

Patriot League

All games at home floor of higher seeds

Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Colgate (22-10)	5	Navy (12-18)
2	Bucknell (20-10)	3	Lehigh (20-10)

 

 

Southern Conference
Site: US Cellular Center, Asheville, NC
Quarterfinals–Saturday, March 9
Wofford	99	VMI	72
East Tennessee St.	68	Chattanooga	64
UNC Greensboro	77	Samford	70
Furman	85	Mercer	74

 

Semifinals–Sunday, March 10
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Wofford (27-4)	4/5	East Tennessee St. (24-8)
2	UNC Greensboro (27-5)	3	Furman (25-6)

 

 

Summit League
Site: Denny Sanford Premier Center, Sioux Falls, SD
Quarterfinals–Saturday, March 9
Western Illinois	79	South Dakota St.	76
Omaha	81	North Dakota	76

 

Quarterfinals–Sunday, March 10
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
4	Purdue Fort Wayne (17-14)	5	South Dakota (13-16)
3	North Dakota St. (15-15)	6	Oral Roberts (11-20)

 

 

West Coast Conference
Site: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV
Quarterfinals–Saturday, March 9
San Diego	80	BYU	57
Pepperdine	89	San Francisco	72

 

Semifinals–Monday, March 11
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
2	Saint Mary’s (20-11)	6	San Diego (21-13)
1	Gonzaga (29-2)	8	Pepperdine (16-17)

 

Teams In The Big Dance

Murray St.  (OVC)  27-4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Saturday, March 9, 2019

March 9, 2019

Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Gonzaga	Duke	Virginia	Kentucky
2	Tennessee	Michigan	North Carolina	Michigan St.
3	LSU	Houston	Purdue	Texas Tech
4	Florida St.	Kansas	Wisconsin	Kansas St.
5	Virginia Tech	Marquette	Maryland	Mississippi St.
6	Villanova	Nevada	Buffalo	Cincinnati
7	Iowa St.	Louisville	Wofford	Auburn
8	Baylor	Syracuse	Iowa	Washington
9	Ole Miss	Central Florida	Oklahoma	St. John’s
10	Virginia Commonwealth	Florida	Minnesota	Ohio St.
11	Texas	Utah St.	Seton Hall	Temple
12	North Carolina St./TCU	Arizona St./Alabama	Belmont	Lipscomb
13	New Mexico St.	Old Dominion	Vermont	Hofstra
14	UC-irvine	South Dakota St.	Montana	Drake
15	Yale	Texas St.	Bucknell	Wright St.
16	Radford	Sam Houston St.	Norfolk St./St. Francis (PA)	Iona/Texas Southern

 

Last 4 Byes

Texas

Utah St.

Seton Hall

Temple

 

Last 4 In

North Carolina St.

Arizona St.

TCU

Alabama

 

First 4 Out

Clemson

Indiana

Furman

Georgetown

 

Next 4 Out

Murray St.

Nebraska

UNC Greensboro

Saint Mary’s

 

Bids By Conference	Bids
ACC	8
Big Ten	8
Big 12	8
SEC	8
AAC	4
Big East	4
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
One-Bid Leagues	24

 

Potential Bid Stealer Tonight

Belmont plays Murray State in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship Game tonight, and the winner will receive the first automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  This should be a must-watch game for you if you go mad over March Madness.

Both teams enter this game sporting 26-4 records, and both teams have a star player that will make this game worth watching.  Murray’s Ja Morant is an NBA Lottery Pick.  The 6 foot 3 inch sophomore point guard has moved ahead of the injured Darius Garland as the top point guard on the draft board.  Morant averages 24.2 points per game with a John Stockton-like 10.3 assists per game.  He doesn’t just jack up a ton of shots every night either; he takes sensible shots rarely off-balance, and he can put a team on his back and win in the postseason, as last night’s nip and tuck semifinal game with Jacksonville State proved.  The Gamecocks made a furious second half comeback to take the lead late in the game, before Morant took over and put JSU away with a key three-point play the old-fashioned way.  He then supplied enough tight defense to force JSU’s last chance shot to be a low-percentage one.

Belmont is led by their swingman guard/forward.  Dylan Windler is a multi-tooled 6 foot 8 inch senior that has continued to improve during his four year stay in Nashville.  Windler put  up Elgin Baylor type numbers last night in Belmont’s semifinal win over Austin Peay.  The Governors actually led this game for a good part of the first half, but Windler was on fire while also being a beast on the boards.  When is the last time, a wing player scored 32 points and grabbed 21 rebounds in a Division 1 game?  Might it have been the Hall of Famer from Seattle University that starred for the Lakers for a dozen years?  Windler averages 21.5 points and 10.7 rebounds per game for Belmont.

Magic Johnson has been front and center at this tournament, and when he saw Windler play last night, he no doubt thought about his former rival with Indiana State and the Boston Celtics, as Windler drained eight three-pointers.  Windler, by the way, hails from the Sycamore State.  He projects as a D-League prospect at the present time, but he could work his way into a second-round selection with a couple more excellent outings on the national stage.

Which brings us to this:  Obviously, one of these two stars will be sad tonight after the other flashes a big smile knowing he is headed to the Big Dance.  Is there a chance that the loser might steal an at-large bid?

Belmont must be given some consideration if the Bruins lose a close game tonight.  At 26-4, they are currently sitting at #41 in the Net Ratings.  The Bruins are 13-3 away from the Curb Events Center, and they have two wins over rival Lipscomb plus a win at UCLA.  Among their four losses is a game at Purdue, where Belmont was in the game most of the day.  Purely mechanical, this Belmont team is probably better than Bubble teams like Arizona State, Alabama, Clemson, and TCU.  If Lipscomb holds off Liberty tomorrow in the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship; if Purdue wins the Big Ten Conference Tournament; and if UCLA advances to the Semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament, Belmont’s resume might be good enough to sneak into the Dance with a trip to Dayton in the First Four.

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Friday, March 8, 2019

March 8, 2019
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Gonzaga	Duke	Virginia	Kentucky
2	Tennessee	Michigan	North Carolina	Michigan St.
3	LSU	Houston	Purdue	Texas Tech
4	Florida St.	Kansas	Wisconsin	Kansas St.
5	Marquette	Virginia Tech	Mississippi St.	Maryland
6	Villanova	Nevada	Iowa St.	Cincinnati
7	Buffalo	Louisville	Wofford	Auburn
8	Baylor	Syracuse	Iowa	Washington
9	Ole Miss	Central Florida	Oklahoma	St. John’s
10	Virginia Commonwealth	Florida	Minnesota	Ohio St.
11	Texas	Utah St.	Seton Hall	Temple
12	North Carolina St./TCU	Arizona St./Alabama	Belmont	Lipscomb
13	New Mexico St.	Old Dominion	Vermont	Hofstra
14	UC-irvine	Yale	South Dakota St.	Montana
15	Texas St.	Bucknell	Drake	Wright St.
16	Campbell	Sam Houston St.	Norfolk St./St. Francis (PA)	Iona/Texas Southern
Last 4 In	North Carolina St.	Arizona St.	TCU	Alabama
Last 4 Bye	Texas	Utah St.	Seton Hall	Temple
First 4 Out	Clemson	Indiana	Furman	Georgetown
Next 4 Out	Murray St.	Nebraska	UNC Greensboro	Saint Mary’s
		Bids By Conference	Bids
		ACC	8
		Big Ten	8
		Big 12	8
		SEC	8
		AAC	4
		Big East	4
		MWC	2
		Pac-12	2
		One-Bid Leagues	24

 

*** Bracketnomics 2019 Is 10 days away! ***

The Pirates Have Gathered in the Crow’s Nest to see what we can see, and we are beginning to compile the information that will go into our annual Bracketnomics Report on Monday, March 18.

Please note that our Bracketnomics change a little or a lot every year.  For some reason, readers here have been linking past Bracketnomics reports for others to read, and while we appreciate this, please note that the 2015 and 2014 reports are not the same as our current report.

If you are looking at an archived Bracketnomics report, you are not up to date with our latest research.  Make sure you read the 2019 version when it comes out.

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Thursday, March 7, 2019

Today’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Radford	103.4	0.0	Presbyterian	98.3	5.1
Winthrop	99.7	0.0	Charleston Southern	99.5	0.2
Campbell	99.1	2.5	Hampton	98.6	3.0
Gardner-Webb	98.2	0.0	High Point	96.7	1.5
Lipscomb	110.1	3.0	NJIT	99.1	14.0
Liberty	106.5	3.0	North Florida	99.0	10.5
Marist	94.2	0.0	Saint Peter’s	91.1	3.1
Manhattan	90.5	0.0	Fairfield	92.5	-2.0
Monmouth	92.4	0.0	Niagara	90.7	1.7
Indiana St.	98.0	0.0	Valparaiso	96.2	1.8
Illinois St.	97.9	0.0	Evansville	96.5	1.4
Austin Peay	102.7	0.0	Morehead St.	95.0	7.7
Jacksonville St.	103.5	0.0	UT-Martin	92.1	11.4
Colgate	102.7	3.0	Boston U	96.1	9.6
Bucknell	101.1	3.0	Holy Cross	95.6	8.5
Lehigh	100.1	2.5	Army	95.3	7.3
American	98.5	2.5	Navy	92.8	8.2
San Diego	104.0	0.0	Portland	89.7	14.3
Pepperdine	99.9	0.0	Pacific	97.2	2.7
Appalachian St.	97.8	2.5	Troy	94.2	6.1
Little Rock	97.2	2.5	Louisiana	98.9	0.8
Central Florida	110.5	3.0	Cincinnati	110.8	2.7
Coastal Carolina	101.1	2.5	South Alabama	96.9	6.7
Connecticut	104.9	3.0	Temple	106.2	1.7
Florida A&M	90.3	2.5	Bethune-Cookman	92.4	0.4
Maryland Eastern Shore	81.0	2.5	Delaware St.	79.1	4.4
Morgan St.	89.0	2.5	Coppin St.	84.1	7.4
North Carolina A&T	91.8	2.5	North Carolina Central	92.4	1.9
South Carolina St.	87.5	2.5	Savannah St.	85.5	4.5
Wisconsin	114.7	3.0	Iowa	111.1	6.6
Arkansas St.	94.7	3.0	Louisiana Monroe	100.9	-3.2
Grambling	93.2	2.5	Alabama St.	90.6	5.1
Illinois	107.6	3.0	Indiana	109.2	1.4
Jackson St.	89.7	2.5	Alabama A&M	85.3	6.9
Norfolk St.	95.3	2.5	Howard	90.8	7.0
Prairie View	95.2	2.5	Southern	87.2	10.5
Southern Utah	92.9	2.5	Northern Colorado	99.5	-4.1
UT Rio Grande Valley	99.5	2.5	California Baptist	97.9	4.1
Texas Southern	98.0	2.5	Alcorn St.	84.6	15.9
Colorado	106.3	3.0	UCLA	105.1	4.2
Houston	114.2	2.5	SMU	102.6	14.1
Idaho St.	90.7	2.5	Eastern Washington	93.6	-0.4
Utah Valley	104.8	2.5	Grand Canyon	105.4	1.9
Weber St.	97.6	2.5	Idaho	84.2	15.9
Cal Poly	89.2	2.5	UC-Irvine	105.1	-13.4
Cal St. Northridge	94.2	2.5	UC Santa Barbara	99.9	-3.2
UC-Davis	95.8	3.5	Hawaii	97.1	2.2
Portland St.	92.3	2.5	Montana	102.6	-7.8
Sacramento St.	93.5	2.5	Montana St.	95.4	0.6
Seattle	98.8	2.5	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.4	3.9
Utah	103.4	3.0	USC	105.4	1.0
Stanford	104.5	1.5	California	94.5	11.5

 

Conference Tournaments Update

Atlantic Sun Conference

Both Games Played at Higher Seed

Semifinals–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Lipscomb (24-6)	5	NJIT (21-11)
2	Liberty (26-6)	3	North Florida (16-16)

 

Big South Conference

At Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC

Quarterfinals–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
2	Radford (20-10)	7	Presbyterian (18-14)
3	Winthrop (18-11)	6	Charleston Southern (16-14)
1	Campbell (19-11)	8	Hampton (15-15)
4	Gardner-Webb (20-11)	5	High Point (16-14)

Horizon League  (Motor City Madness)

Wednesday’s Games Played At Higher Seeds

Quarterfinals–Wednesday, March 6

Oakland	88	Youngstown St.	84
Northern Kentucky	99	Detroit	88

Site: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, MI

Semifinals–Friday, March 15
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
1	Wright St. (20-12)	4	Green Bay 17-15
2	Northern Kentucky (24-8)	3/6	Oakland (16-16)

 

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference

Site: Times Union Center, Albany, NY (Siena)

First Round–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
8	Marist (12-18)	9	Saint Peter’s (9-21)
7	Manhattan (10-20)	10	Fairfield (9-21)
6	Monmouth (11-20)	11	Niagara (13-18)

 

Missouri Valley Conference  (Arch Madness)

Site: Enterprise Center, St. Louis, MO

First Round–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
8	Indiana St. (15-15)	9	Valparaiso (14-17)
7	Illinois St. (16-15)	10	Evansville (11-20)

 

Northeast Conference

All games at home floor of higher seeds

Quarterfinals–Wednesday, March 6

St. Francis (PA)	67	Bryant	63
Fairleigh-Dickinson	84	Wagner	46
Long Island	71	Sacred Heart	62
Robert Morris	69	St. Francis (Bklyn)	65 ot

 

Semifinals–Saturday, March 9
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	St. Francis (PA) (17-13)	6	Long Island (16-15)
2	Fairleigh-Dickinson (18-13)	4	Robert Morris (17-15)

 

Ohio Valley Conference

Site: Ford Center, Evansville, IN

Morehead St.	72	SIU Edwardsville	68
UT-Martin	78	Eastern Illinois	71

 

Quarterfinals–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Team	Seed	Team
4	Austin Peay (21-10)	5	Morehead St. (13-19)
3	Jacksonville St. (23-8)	7	UT-Martin (12-18)

 

Patriot League

All games at home floor of higher seeds

Quarterfinals–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Colgate (21-10)	8	Boston U (15-17)
2	Bucknell (19-10)	10	Holy Cross (16-16)
3	Lehigh (19-10)	6	Army (13-18)
4	American (15-14)	5	Navy (11-18)

 

West Coast Conference

Site: Orleans Arena, Las Vegas, NV

First Round–Thursday, March 7
Seed	Home Team	Seed	Visitors
7	San Diego (18-13)	10	Portland (7-24)
8	Pepperdine (13-17)	9	Pacific (14-17)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Tuesday, March 5, 2019

March 5, 2019

Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Duke	Gonzaga	Virginia	Kentucky
2	Tennessee	Michigan	North Carolina	Michigan St.
3	Houston	LSU	Purdue	Texas Tech
4	Kansas	Marquette	Wisconsin	Florida St.
5	Kansas St.	Virginia Tech	Nevada	Iowa St.
6	Maryland	Mississippi St.	Cincinnati	Villanova
7	Buffalo	Louisville	Baylor	Iowa
8	Auburn	Wofford	Syracuse	Washington
9	Ole Miss	Virginia Commonwealth	Florida	St. John’s
10	Central Florida	Ohio St.	Alabama	Ohio St.
11	Texas	TCU	Minnesota	Seton Hall
12	North Carolina St./Temple	Arizona St./Utah St.	Belmont	Lipscomb
13	New Mexico St.	Old Dominion	Vermont	Hofstra
14	UC-irvine	Yale	South Dakota St.	Texas St.
15	Montana	Colgate	Drake	Wright St.
16	Campbell	Sam Houston St.	Norfolk St./St. Francis (PA)	Siena/Texas Southern

Last 4 In

North Carolina St.

Arizona St.

Utah St.

Temple

Last 4 Bye

Texas

TCU

Minnesota

Seton Hall

First 4 Out

Clemson

Indiana

Georgetown

Furman

Next 4 Out

Murray St.

Nebraska

Xavier

Saint Mary’s

Bids By Conference	Bids
ACC	8
Big Ten	8
Big 12	8
SEC	8
AAC	4
Big East	4
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
One-Bid Leagues	24