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
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Arizona St.
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Atlantic 10: Winner of St. Bonaventure vs. Saint Louis
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Auburn
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Baylor
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Bradley
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Buffalo
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Cincinnati
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Colgate
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Duke
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Fairleigh-Dickinson
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Florida
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Florida St.
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Gardner-Webb
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Gonzaga
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Houston
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Iona
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Iowa
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Iowa St.
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Ivy: Winner of Harvard vs. Yale
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Kansas
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Kansas St.
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Kentucky
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Liberty
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Louisville
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LSU
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Marquette
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Maryland
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Michigan
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Michigan St.
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Minnesota
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Mississippi St.
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Montana
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Murray St.
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North Carolina Central
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Nevada
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New Mexico St.
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North Carolina
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North Dakota St.
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Northeastern
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Northern Kentucky
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Ohio St.
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Oklahoma
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Old Dominion
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Ole Miss
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Oregon
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Prairie View A&M
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Purdue
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Saint Mary’s
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Seton Hall
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St. John’s
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Sun Belt: Winner of Georgia State vs. Texas-Arlington
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Syracuse
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TCU
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Temple
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Tennessee
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Texas Tech
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UC-Irvine
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UCF
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Utah St.
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VCU
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Vermont
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Villanova
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Virginia
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Virginia Tech
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Washington
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Wisconsin
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Wofford
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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.
The Pi-Rate Ratings 