PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Monday, March 4, 2019

Monday’s PiRate Ratings Spreads

Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Syracuse	111.3	3.0	Virginia	121.3	-7.0
North Florida	99.0	2.5	North Alabama	92.8	8.7
Liberty	106.5	3.0	Jacksonville	94.5	15.0
Florida Gulf Coast	97.1	3.0	NJIT	99.1	1.0
Maryland Eastern Shore	81.0	2.5	Morgan St.	89.0	-5.5
Delaware St.	79.1	2.5	Norfolk St.	95.3	-13.7
Lipscomb	110.1	3.0	Kennesaw St.	86.5	26.6
Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.3	2.5	Jackson St.	89.7	3.1
Mississippi Valley St.	83.8	2.5	Grambling	93.2	-6.9
Alabama A&M	85.3	2.5	Texas Southern	98.0	-10.2
Texas Tech	117.7	2.5	Texas	112.8	7.4
TCU	109.8	3.0	Kansas St.	111.9	0.9
Alabama St.	90.6	2.5	Prairie View A&M	95.2	-2.1
Montana	102.6	3.0	Northern Arizona	91.1	14.5
Montana St.	95.4	2.5	Southern Utah	92.9	5.0
Idaho St.	90.7	2.5	Weber St.	97.6	-4.4

 

The PiRate Ratings (1-353)

Rk	Team	PiRate	Conf
1	Duke	124.7	ACC
2	Gonzaga	124.5	West Coast
3	Virginia	121.3	ACC
4	North Carolina	121.2	ACC
5	Michigan St.	120.5	Big Ten
6	Tennessee	118.7	SEC
7	Michigan	118.4	Big Ten
8	Kentucky	117.9	SEC
9	Texas Tech	117.7	Big 12
10	Purdue	117.6	Big Ten
11	Virginia Tech	115.7	ACC
12	Buffalo	115.1	Mid-Amer
13	Kansas	115.1	Big 12
14	Wisconsin	114.7	Big Ten
15	Iowa St.	114.7	Big 12
16	Auburn	114.7	SEC
17	Florida St.	114.4	ACC
18	LSU	114.3	SEC
19	Houston	114.2	AAC
20	Nevada	113.8	Mtn West
21	Mississippi St.	113.6	SEC
22	Maryland	113.4	Big Ten
23	Louisville	113.4	ACC
24	Wofford	113.1	SoCon
25	Texas	112.8	Big 12
26	Marquette	112.8	Big East
27	Villanova	112.0	Big East
28	Kansas St.	111.9	Big 12
29	North Carolina St.	111.8	ACC
30	Clemson	111.6	ACC
31	Syracuse	111.3	ACC
32	Florida	111.1	SEC
33	Iowa	111.1	Big Ten
34	Utah St.	110.9	Mtn West
35	Oklahoma	110.9	Big 12
36	Baylor	110.8	Big 12
37	Cincinnati	110.8	AAC
38	Ohio St.	110.5	Big Ten
39	Central Florida	110.5	AAC
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4	Atl 10
41	Penn St.	110.3	Big Ten
42	Mississippi	110.3	SEC
43	Saint Mary’s	110.3	West Coast
44	Washington	110.1	Pac-12
45	Lipscomb	110.1	Atl Sun
46	TCU	109.8	Big 12
47	Nebraska	109.7	Big Ten
48	Minnesota	109.6	Big Ten
49	Belmont	109.3	OH Valley
50	Creighton	109.3	Big East
51	Indiana	109.2	Big Ten
52	Murray St.	108.6	OH Valley
53	Furman	108.6	SoCon
54	Toledo	108.5	Mid-Amer
55	Alabama	108.3	SEC
56	New Mexico St.	108.1	WAC
57	Arkansas	107.8	SEC
58	Oregon	107.8	Pac-12
59	San Francisco	107.6	West Coast
60	Illinois	107.6	Big Ten
61	Arizona St.	107.5	Pac-12
62	Seton Hall	107.5	Big East
63	Butler	107.5	Big East
64	Memphis	107.4	AAC
65	St. John’s	107.3	Big East
66	Dayton	107.0	Atl 10
67	East Tennessee St.	106.9	SoCon
68	Rutgers	106.6	Big Ten
69	Liberty	106.5	Atl Sun
70	Fresno St.	106.5	Mtn West
71	Georgetown	106.4	Big East
72	BYU	106.4	West Coast
73	Miami (Fla)	106.3	ACC
74	Colorado	106.3	Pac-12
75	Temple	106.2	AAC
76	Xavier	106.2	Big East
77	Northwestern	106.0	Big Ten
78	Texas A&M	105.8	SEC
79	Davidson	105.7	Atl 10
80	Yale	105.6	Ivy
81	South Dakota St.	105.6	Summit
82	Hofstra	105.6	Colonial
83	Providence	105.5	Big East
84	Oregon St.	105.4	Pac-12
85	UNC Greensboro	105.4	SoCon
86	USC	105.4	Pac-12
87	Grand Canyon	105.4	WAC
88	South Carolina	105.4	SEC
89	Arizona	105.3	Pac-12
90	Vermont	105.2	Amer East
91	Notre Dame	105.2	ACC
92	Northeastern	105.2	Colonial
93	UC Irvine	105.1	Big West
94	Missouri	105.1	SEC
95	UCLA	105.1	Pac-12
96	Georgia Southern	105.1	Sun Belt
97	Connecticut	104.9	AAC
98	Pittsburgh	104.8	ACC
99	Utah Valley	104.8	WAC
100	Bowling Green	104.7	Mid-Amer
101	Boston College	104.7	ACC
102	Georgia	104.6	SEC
103	Wichita St.	104.6	AAC
104	Stanford	104.5	Pac-12
105	Old Dominion	104.3	CUSA
106	Northern Kentucky	104.3	Horizon
107	South Florida	104.2	AAC
108	Oklahoma St.	104.2	Big 12
109	San Diego	104.0	West Coast
110	DePaul	103.7	Big East
111	Georgia Tech	103.6	ACC
112	Harvard	103.6	Ivy
113	Jacksonville St.	103.5	OH Valley
114	West Virginia	103.4	Big 12
115	Utah	103.4	Pac-12
116	Texas St.	103.4	Sun Belt
117	Radford	103.4	Big South
118	Charleston	103.3	Colonial
119	Central Michigan	103.2	Mid-Amer
120	Akron	103.2	Mid-Amer
121	Ball St.	103.1	Mid-Amer
122	Western Kentucky	103.1	CUSA
123	Southern Miss	103.0	CUSA
124	Tulsa	102.9	AAC
125	Georgia St.	102.8	Sun Belt
126	Penn	102.8	Ivy
127	Wright St.	102.7	Horizon
128	Drake	102.7	Mo Valley
129	Colgate	102.7	Patriot
130	San Diego St.	102.7	Mtn West
131	St. Bonaventure	102.7	Atl 10
132	Austin Peay	102.7	OH Valley
133	Loyola (Chi)	102.6	Mo Valley
134	Saint Louis	102.6	Atl 10
135	Miami (O)	102.6	Mid-Amer
136	Montana	102.6	Big Sky
137	SMU	102.6	AAC
138	Vanderbilt	102.5	SEC
139	Loyola Marymount	102.4	West Coast
140	UTSA	102.0	CUSA
141	Kent St.	101.7	Mid-Amer
142	Louisiana Tech	101.7	CUSA
143	George Mason	101.4	Atl 10
144	Brown	101.3	Ivy
145	Southern Illinois	101.2	Mo Valley
146	Boise St.	101.2	Mtn West
147	Northern Illinois	101.1	Mid-Amer
148	Bucknell	101.1	Patriot
149	Coastal Carolina	101.1	Sun Belt
150	Samford	101.0	SoCon
151	Louisiana Monroe	100.9	Sun Belt
152	Rhode Island	100.9	Atl 10
153	Eastern Michigan	100.9	Mid-Amer
154	North Texas	100.8	CUSA
155	Florida Atlantic	100.8	CUSA
156	Abilene Christian	100.7	Sthland
157	UT Arlington	100.6	Sun Belt
158	Omaha	100.3	Summit
159	Princeton	100.2	Ivy
160	Sam Houston St.	100.1	Sthland
161	UAB	100.1	CUSA
162	Lehigh	100.1	Patriot
163	Stony Brook	100.0	Amer East
164	UNLV	99.9	Mtn West
165	Duquesne	99.9	Atl 10
166	UC Santa Barbara	99.9	Big West
167	Pepperdine	99.9	West Coast
168	Winthrop	99.7	Big South
169	Charleston Southern	99.5	Big South
170	UT Rio Grande Valley	99.5	WAC
171	Colorado St.	99.5	Mtn West
172	Northern Colorado	99.5	Big Sky
173	Missouri St.	99.4	Mo Valley
174	Bradley	99.4	Mo Valley
175	Santa Clara	99.3	West Coast
176	NJIT	99.1	Atl Sun
177	Northern Iowa	99.1	Mo Valley
178	Campbell	99.1	Big South
179	Hartford	99.0	Amer East
180	North Florida	99.0	Atl Sun
181	New Mexico	99.0	Mtn West
182	Marshall	98.9	CUSA
183	Louisiana	98.9	Sun Belt
184	Seattle	98.8	WAC
185	Cal St. Fullerton	98.7	Big West
186	Ohio	98.6	Mid-Amer
187	Hampton	98.6	Big South
188	Saint Joseph’s	98.6	Atl 10
189	Wake Forest	98.6	ACC
190	Oakland	98.6	Horizon
191	American	98.5	Patriot
192	IUPUI	98.3	Horizon
193	Presbyterian	98.3	Big South
194	Gardner Webb	98.2	Big South
195	Mercer	98.2	SoCon
196	Richmond	98.0	Atl 10
197	Indiana St.	98.0	Mo Valley
198	Texas Southern	98.0	SWAC
199	Illinois St.	97.9	Mo Valley
200	California Baptist	97.9	WAC
201	Florida Int’l.	97.8	CUSA
202	Appalachian St.	97.8	Sun Belt
203	Illinois Chicago	97.8	Horizon
204	Washington St.	97.6	Pac-12
205	Weber St.	97.6	Big Sky
206	Purdue Fort Wayne	97.5	Summit
207	Dartmouth	97.5	Ivy
208	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.4	WAC
209	Green Bay	97.4	Horizon
210	Pacific	97.2	West Coast
211	William & Mary	97.2	Colonial
212	Little Rock	97.2	Sun Belt
213	North Dakota St.	97.1	Summit
214	Hawaii	97.1	Big West
215	Florida Gulf Coast	97.1	Atl Sun
216	South Dakota	97.0	Summit
217	La Salle	97.0	Atl 10
218	Rider	97.0	Metro Atl
219	South Alabama	96.9	Sun Belt
220	Columbia	96.9	Ivy
221	Lamar	96.8	Sthland
222	Iona	96.8	Metro Atl
223	High Point	96.7	Big South
224	Evansville	96.5	Mo Valley
225	Quinnipiac	96.5	Metro Atl
226	Maryland Baltimore Co.	96.3	Amer East
227	Valparaiso	96.2	Mo Valley
228	Fairleigh Dickinson	96.2	Northeast
229	Massachusetts	96.2	Atl 10
230	Boston University	96.1	Patriot
231	Long Beach St.	96.0	Big West
232	Sacred Heart	95.9	Northeast
233	Air Force	95.9	Mtn West
234	UC Davis	95.8	Big West
235	Missouri Kansas City	95.8	WAC
236	Cornell	95.7	Ivy
237	Holy Cross	95.6	Patriot
238	Southeastern Louisiana	95.5	Sthland
239	Detroit	95.5	Horizon
240	Rice	95.5	CUSA
241	Montana St.	95.4	Big Sky
242	Siena	95.3	Metro Atl
243	Norfolk St.	95.3	MEAC
244	Army	95.3	Patriot
245	Prairie View A&M	95.2	SWAC
246	The Citadel	95.1	SoCon
247	St. Francis (PA)	95.1	Northeast
248	Drexel	95.1	Colonial
249	Fordham	95.0	Atl 10
250	Morehead St.	95.0	OH Valley
251	New Orleans	94.9	Sthland
252	UMass Lowell	94.9	Amer East
253	Middle Tennessee	94.8	CUSA
254	Western Michigan	94.8	Mid-Amer
255	Eastern Kentucky	94.7	OH Valley
256	Arkansas St.	94.7	Sun Belt
257	California	94.5	Pac-12
258	Jacksonville	94.5	Atl Sun
259	Chattanooga	94.4	SoCon
260	Robert Morris	94.3	Northeast
261	Delaware	94.3	Colonial
262	Youngstown St.	94.3	Horizon
263	Cal St. Northridge	94.2	Big West
264	Loyola (MD)	94.2	Patriot
265	Troy	94.2	Sun Belt
266	Marist	94.2	Metro Atl
267	Long Island	94.1	Northeast
268	East Carolina	94.0	AAC
269	Western Carolina	94.0	SoCon
270	Texas A&M CC	93.9	Sthland
271	UNC Wilmington	93.9	Colonial
272	North Dakota	93.8	Summit
273	Canisius	93.8	Metro Atl
274	St. Francis (Bklyn)	93.7	Northeast
275	Eastern Washington	93.6	Big Sky
276	Sacramento St.	93.5	Big Sky
277	James Madison	93.5	Colonial
278	Towson	93.4	Colonial
279	Houston Baptist	93.3	Sthland
280	Grambling St.	93.2	SWAC
281	George Washington	93.1	Atl 10
282	Longwood	93.0	Big South
283	Albany	93.0	Amer East
284	Cleveland St.	93.0	Horizon
285	Oral Roberts	93.0	Summit
286	UTEP	93.0	CUSA
287	Southern Utah	92.9	Big Sky
288	Navy	92.8	Patriot
289	North Alabama	92.8	Atl Sun
290	Charlotte	92.6	CUSA
291	Fairfield	92.5	Metro Atl
292	Lafayette	92.5	Patriot
293	Milwaukee	92.5	Horizon
294	Wagner	92.4	Northeast
295	North Carolina Central	92.4	MEAC
296	Bethune Cookman	92.4	MEAC
297	Monmouth	92.4	Metro Atl
298	VMI	92.3	SoCon
299	Portland St.	92.3	Big Sky
300	Tennessee St.	92.1	OH Valley
301	UT Martin	92.1	OH Valley
302	Elon	91.9	Colonial
303	Tulane	91.9	AAC
304	Western Illinois	91.8	Summit
305	North Carolina A&T	91.8	MEAC
306	Eastern Illinois	91.8	OH Valley
307	Stephen F. Austin	91.6	Sthland
308	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3	OH Valley
309	Denver	91.2	Summit
310	Northern Arizona	91.1	Big Sky
311	Saint Peter’s	91.1	Metro Atl
312	Howard	90.8	MEAC
313	Niagara	90.7	Metro Atl
314	Idaho St.	90.7	Big Sky
315	Alabama St.	90.6	SWAC
316	Central Arkansas	90.5	Sthland
317	Manhattan	90.5	Metro Atl
318	UC Riverside	90.4	Big West
319	Nicholls St.	90.4	Sthland
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.3	SWAC
321	Florida A&M	90.3	MEAC
322	Mount St. Mary’s	90.0	Northeast
323	Wyoming	90.0	Mtn West
324	Central Connecticut	89.9	Northeast
325	McNeese St.	89.8	Sthland
326	Portland	89.7	West Coast
327	Jackson St.	89.7	SWAC
328	Tennessee Tech	89.4	OH Valley
329	Bryant	89.4	Northeast
330	Binghamton	89.3	Amer East
331	Cal Poly	89.2	Big West
332	Stetson	89.1	Atl Sun
333	Morgan St.	89.0	MEAC
334	Maine	88.4	Amer East
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.3	OH Valley
336	USC Upstate	87.5	Big South
337	South Carolina St.	87.5	MEAC
338	Northwestern St.	87.3	Sthland
339	Southern	87.2	SWAC
340	Kennesaw St.	86.5	Atl Sun
341	San Jose St.	86.3	Mtn West
342	UNC Asheville	85.7	Big South
343	Savannah St.	85.5	MEAC
344	Incarnate Word	85.4	Sthland
345	Alabama A&M	85.3	SWAC
346	New Hampshire	84.8	Amer East
347	Alcorn St.	84.6	SWAC
348	Idaho	84.2	Big Sky
349	Coppin St.	84.1	MEAC
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.8	SWAC
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.0	MEAC
352	Chicago St.	80.7	WAC
353	Delaware St.	79.1	MEAC

 

PiRate Ratings (Alphabetical)

Rk	Team	PiRate	Conf
156	Abilene Christian	100.7	Sthland
233	Air Force	95.9	Mtn West
120	Akron	103.2	Mid-Amer
55	Alabama	108.3	SEC
345	Alabama A&M	85.3	SWAC
315	Alabama St.	90.6	SWAC
283	Albany	93.0	Amer East
347	Alcorn St.	84.6	SWAC
191	American	98.5	Patriot
202	Appalachian St.	97.8	Sun Belt
89	Arizona	105.3	Pac-12
61	Arizona St.	107.5	Pac-12
57	Arkansas	107.8	SEC
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.3	SWAC
256	Arkansas St.	94.7	Sun Belt
244	Army	95.3	Patriot
16	Auburn	114.7	SEC
132	Austin Peay	102.7	OH Valley
121	Ball St.	103.1	Mid-Amer
36	Baylor	110.8	Big 12
49	Belmont	109.3	OH Valley
296	Bethune Cookman	92.4	MEAC
330	Binghamton	89.3	Amer East
146	Boise St.	101.2	Mtn West
101	Boston College	104.7	ACC
230	Boston University	96.1	Patriot
100	Bowling Green	104.7	Mid-Amer
174	Bradley	99.4	Mo Valley
144	Brown	101.3	Ivy
329	Bryant	89.4	Northeast
148	Bucknell	101.1	Patriot
12	Buffalo	115.1	Mid-Amer
63	Butler	107.5	Big East
72	BYU	106.4	West Coast
331	Cal Poly	89.2	Big West
208	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.4	WAC
185	Cal St. Fullerton	98.7	Big West
263	Cal St. Northridge	94.2	Big West
257	California	94.5	Pac-12
200	California Baptist	97.9	WAC
178	Campbell	99.1	Big South
273	Canisius	93.8	Metro Atl
316	Central Arkansas	90.5	Sthland
324	Central Connecticut	89.9	Northeast
39	Central Florida	110.5	AAC
119	Central Michigan	103.2	Mid-Amer
118	Charleston	103.3	Colonial
169	Charleston Southern	99.5	Big South
290	Charlotte	92.6	CUSA
259	Chattanooga	94.4	SoCon
352	Chicago St.	80.7	WAC
37	Cincinnati	110.8	AAC
30	Clemson	111.6	ACC
284	Cleveland St.	93.0	Horizon
149	Coastal Carolina	101.1	Sun Belt
129	Colgate	102.7	Patriot
74	Colorado	106.3	Pac-12
171	Colorado St.	99.5	Mtn West
220	Columbia	96.9	Ivy
97	Connecticut	104.9	AAC
349	Coppin St.	84.1	MEAC
236	Cornell	95.7	Ivy
50	Creighton	109.3	Big East
207	Dartmouth	97.5	Ivy
79	Davidson	105.7	Atl 10
66	Dayton	107.0	Atl 10
261	Delaware	94.3	Colonial
353	Delaware St.	79.1	MEAC
309	Denver	91.2	Summit
110	DePaul	103.7	Big East
239	Detroit	95.5	Horizon
128	Drake	102.7	Mo Valley
248	Drexel	95.1	Colonial
1	Duke	124.7	ACC
165	Duquesne	99.9	Atl 10
268	East Carolina	94.0	AAC
67	East Tennessee St.	106.9	SoCon
306	Eastern Illinois	91.8	OH Valley
255	Eastern Kentucky	94.7	OH Valley
153	Eastern Michigan	100.9	Mid-Amer
275	Eastern Washington	93.6	Big Sky
302	Elon	91.9	Colonial
224	Evansville	96.5	Mo Valley
291	Fairfield	92.5	Metro Atl
228	Fairleigh Dickinson	96.2	Northeast
32	Florida	111.1	SEC
321	Florida A&M	90.3	MEAC
155	Florida Atlantic	100.8	CUSA
215	Florida Gulf Coast	97.1	Atl Sun
201	Florida Int’l.	97.8	CUSA
17	Florida St.	114.4	ACC
249	Fordham	95.0	Atl 10
70	Fresno St.	106.5	Mtn West
53	Furman	108.6	SoCon
194	Gardner Webb	98.2	Big South
143	George Mason	101.4	Atl 10
281	George Washington	93.1	Atl 10
71	Georgetown	106.4	Big East
102	Georgia	104.6	SEC
96	Georgia Southern	105.1	Sun Belt
125	Georgia St.	102.8	Sun Belt
111	Georgia Tech	103.6	ACC
2	Gonzaga	124.5	West Coast
280	Grambling St.	93.2	SWAC
87	Grand Canyon	105.4	WAC
209	Green Bay	97.4	Horizon
187	Hampton	98.6	Big South
179	Hartford	99.0	Amer East
112	Harvard	103.6	Ivy
214	Hawaii	97.1	Big West
223	High Point	96.7	Big South
82	Hofstra	105.6	Colonial
237	Holy Cross	95.6	Patriot
19	Houston	114.2	AAC
279	Houston Baptist	93.3	Sthland
312	Howard	90.8	MEAC
348	Idaho	84.2	Big Sky
314	Idaho St.	90.7	Big Sky
60	Illinois	107.6	Big Ten
203	Illinois Chicago	97.8	Horizon
199	Illinois St.	97.9	Mo Valley
344	Incarnate Word	85.4	Sthland
51	Indiana	109.2	Big Ten
197	Indiana St.	98.0	Mo Valley
222	Iona	96.8	Metro Atl
33	Iowa	111.1	Big Ten
15	Iowa St.	114.7	Big 12
192	IUPUI	98.3	Horizon
327	Jackson St.	89.7	SWAC
258	Jacksonville	94.5	Atl Sun
113	Jacksonville St.	103.5	OH Valley
277	James Madison	93.5	Colonial
13	Kansas	115.1	Big 12
28	Kansas St.	111.9	Big 12
340	Kennesaw St.	86.5	Atl Sun
141	Kent St.	101.7	Mid-Amer
8	Kentucky	117.9	SEC
217	La Salle	97.0	Atl 10
292	Lafayette	92.5	Patriot
221	Lamar	96.8	Sthland
162	Lehigh	100.1	Patriot
69	Liberty	106.5	Atl Sun
45	Lipscomb	110.1	Atl Sun
212	Little Rock	97.2	Sun Belt
231	Long Beach St.	96.0	Big West
267	Long Island	94.1	Northeast
282	Longwood	93.0	Big South
183	Louisiana	98.9	Sun Belt
151	Louisiana Monroe	100.9	Sun Belt
142	Louisiana Tech	101.7	CUSA
23	Louisville	113.4	ACC
133	Loyola (Chi)	102.6	Mo Valley
264	Loyola (MD)	94.2	Patriot
139	Loyola Marymount	102.4	West Coast
18	LSU	114.3	SEC
334	Maine	88.4	Amer East
317	Manhattan	90.5	Metro Atl
266	Marist	94.2	Metro Atl
26	Marquette	112.8	Big East
182	Marshall	98.9	CUSA
22	Maryland	113.4	Big Ten
226	Maryland Baltimore Co.	96.3	Amer East
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.0	MEAC
229	Massachusetts	96.2	Atl 10
325	McNeese St.	89.8	Sthland
64	Memphis	107.4	AAC
195	Mercer	98.2	SoCon
73	Miami (Fla)	106.3	ACC
135	Miami (O)	102.6	Mid-Amer
7	Michigan	118.4	Big Ten
5	Michigan St.	120.5	Big Ten
253	Middle Tennessee	94.8	CUSA
293	Milwaukee	92.5	Horizon
48	Minnesota	109.6	Big Ten
42	Mississippi	110.3	SEC
21	Mississippi St.	113.6	SEC
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.8	SWAC
94	Missouri	105.1	SEC
235	Missouri Kansas City	95.8	WAC
173	Missouri St.	99.4	Mo Valley
297	Monmouth	92.4	Metro Atl
136	Montana	102.6	Big Sky
241	Montana St.	95.4	Big Sky
250	Morehead St.	95.0	OH Valley
333	Morgan St.	89.0	MEAC
322	Mount St. Mary’s	90.0	Northeast
52	Murray St.	108.6	OH Valley
288	Navy	92.8	Patriot
47	Nebraska	109.7	Big Ten
20	Nevada	113.8	Mtn West
346	New Hampshire	84.8	Amer East
181	New Mexico	99.0	Mtn West
56	New Mexico St.	108.1	WAC
251	New Orleans	94.9	Sthland
313	Niagara	90.7	Metro Atl
319	Nicholls St.	90.4	Sthland
176	NJIT	99.1	Atl Sun
243	Norfolk St.	95.3	MEAC
289	North Alabama	92.8	Atl Sun
4	North Carolina	121.2	ACC
305	North Carolina A&T	91.8	MEAC
295	North Carolina Central	92.4	MEAC
29	North Carolina St.	111.8	ACC
272	North Dakota	93.8	Summit
213	North Dakota St.	97.1	Summit
180	North Florida	99.0	Atl Sun
154	North Texas	100.8	CUSA
92	Northeastern	105.2	Colonial
310	Northern Arizona	91.1	Big Sky
172	Northern Colorado	99.5	Big Sky
147	Northern Illinois	101.1	Mid-Amer
177	Northern Iowa	99.1	Mo Valley
106	Northern Kentucky	104.3	Horizon
77	Northwestern	106.0	Big Ten
338	Northwestern St.	87.3	Sthland
91	Notre Dame	105.2	ACC
190	Oakland	98.6	Horizon
186	Ohio	98.6	Mid-Amer
38	Ohio St.	110.5	Big Ten
35	Oklahoma	110.9	Big 12
108	Oklahoma St.	104.2	Big 12
105	Old Dominion	104.3	CUSA
158	Omaha	100.3	Summit
285	Oral Roberts	93.0	Summit
58	Oregon	107.8	Pac-12
84	Oregon St.	105.4	Pac-12
210	Pacific	97.2	West Coast
126	Penn	102.8	Ivy
41	Penn St.	110.3	Big Ten
167	Pepperdine	99.9	West Coast
98	Pittsburgh	104.8	ACC
326	Portland	89.7	West Coast
299	Portland St.	92.3	Big Sky
245	Prairie View A&M	95.2	SWAC
193	Presbyterian	98.3	Big South
159	Princeton	100.2	Ivy
83	Providence	105.5	Big East
10	Purdue	117.6	Big Ten
206	Purdue Fort Wayne	97.5	Summit
225	Quinnipiac	96.5	Metro Atl
117	Radford	103.4	Big South
152	Rhode Island	100.9	Atl 10
240	Rice	95.5	CUSA
196	Richmond	98.0	Atl 10
218	Rider	97.0	Metro Atl
260	Robert Morris	94.3	Northeast
68	Rutgers	106.6	Big Ten
276	Sacramento St.	93.5	Big Sky
232	Sacred Heart	95.9	Northeast
188	Saint Joseph’s	98.6	Atl 10
134	Saint Louis	102.6	Atl 10
43	Saint Mary’s	110.3	West Coast
311	Saint Peter’s	91.1	Metro Atl
160	Sam Houston St.	100.1	Sthland
150	Samford	101.0	SoCon
109	San Diego	104.0	West Coast
130	San Diego St.	102.7	Mtn West
59	San Francisco	107.6	West Coast
341	San Jose St.	86.3	Mtn West
175	Santa Clara	99.3	West Coast
343	Savannah St.	85.5	MEAC
184	Seattle	98.8	WAC
62	Seton Hall	107.5	Big East
242	Siena	95.3	Metro Atl
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.3	OH Valley
137	SMU	102.6	AAC
219	South Alabama	96.9	Sun Belt
88	South Carolina	105.4	SEC
337	South Carolina St.	87.5	MEAC
216	South Dakota	97.0	Summit
81	South Dakota St.	105.6	Summit
107	South Florida	104.2	AAC
308	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3	OH Valley
238	Southeastern Louisiana	95.5	Sthland
339	Southern	87.2	SWAC
145	Southern Illinois	101.2	Mo Valley
123	Southern Miss	103.0	CUSA
287	Southern Utah	92.9	Big Sky
131	St. Bonaventure	102.7	Atl 10
274	St. Francis (Bklyn)	93.7	Northeast
247	St. Francis (PA)	95.1	Northeast
65	St. John’s	107.3	Big East
104	Stanford	104.5	Pac-12
307	Stephen F. Austin	91.6	Sthland
332	Stetson	89.1	Atl Sun
163	Stony Brook	100.0	Amer East
31	Syracuse	111.3	ACC
46	TCU	109.8	Big 12
75	Temple	106.2	AAC
6	Tennessee	118.7	SEC
300	Tennessee St.	92.1	OH Valley
328	Tennessee Tech	89.4	OH Valley
25	Texas	112.8	Big 12
78	Texas A&M	105.8	SEC
270	Texas A&M CC	93.9	Sthland
198	Texas Southern	98.0	SWAC
116	Texas St.	103.4	Sun Belt
9	Texas Tech	117.7	Big 12
246	The Citadel	95.1	SoCon
54	Toledo	108.5	Mid-Amer
278	Towson	93.4	Colonial
265	Troy	94.2	Sun Belt
303	Tulane	91.9	AAC
124	Tulsa	102.9	AAC
161	UAB	100.1	CUSA
234	UC Davis	95.8	Big West
93	UC Irvine	105.1	Big West
318	UC Riverside	90.4	Big West
166	UC Santa Barbara	99.9	Big West
95	UCLA	105.1	Pac-12
252	UMass Lowell	94.9	Amer East
342	UNC Asheville	85.7	Big South
85	UNC Greensboro	105.4	SoCon
271	UNC Wilmington	93.9	Colonial
164	UNLV	99.9	Mtn West
86	USC	105.4	Pac-12
336	USC Upstate	87.5	Big South
157	UT Arlington	100.6	Sun Belt
301	UT Martin	92.1	OH Valley
170	UT Rio Grande Valley	99.5	WAC
115	Utah	103.4	Pac-12
34	Utah St.	110.9	Mtn West
99	Utah Valley	104.8	WAC
286	UTEP	93.0	CUSA
140	UTSA	102.0	CUSA
227	Valparaiso	96.2	Mo Valley
138	Vanderbilt	102.5	SEC
90	Vermont	105.2	Amer East
27	Villanova	112.0	Big East
3	Virginia	121.3	ACC
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4	Atl 10
11	Virginia Tech	115.7	ACC
298	VMI	92.3	SoCon
294	Wagner	92.4	Northeast
189	Wake Forest	98.6	ACC
44	Washington	110.1	Pac-12
204	Washington St.	97.6	Pac-12
205	Weber St.	97.6	Big Sky
114	West Virginia	103.4	Big 12
269	Western Carolina	94.0	SoCon
304	Western Illinois	91.8	Summit
122	Western Kentucky	103.1	CUSA
254	Western Michigan	94.8	Mid-Amer
103	Wichita St.	104.6	AAC
211	William & Mary	97.2	Colonial
168	Winthrop	99.7	Big South
14	Wisconsin	114.7	Big Ten
24	Wofford	113.1	SoCon
127	Wright St.	102.7	Horizon
323	Wyoming	90.0	Mtn West
76	Xavier	106.2	Big East
80	Yale	105.6	Ivy
262	Youngstown St.	94.3	Horizon

 

PiRate Ratings (Conference)

#	America East	PiRate
90	Vermont	105.2
163	Stony Brook	100.0
179	Hartford	99.0
226	Maryland Baltimore Co.	96.3
252	UMass Lowell	94.9
283	Albany	93.0
330	Binghamton	89.3
334	Maine	88.4
346	New Hampshire	84.8

#	American Athletic	PiRate
19	Houston	114.2
37	Cincinnati	110.8
39	Central Florida	110.5
64	Memphis	107.4
75	Temple	106.2
97	Connecticut	104.9
103	Wichita St.	104.6
107	South Florida	104.2
124	Tulsa	102.9
137	SMU	102.6
268	East Carolina	94.0
303	Tulane	91.9

#	Atlantic 10	PiRate
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4
66	Dayton	107.0
79	Davidson	105.7
131	St. Bonaventure	102.7
134	Saint Louis	102.6
143	George Mason	101.4
152	Rhode Island	100.9
165	Duquesne	99.9
188	Saint Joseph’s	98.6
196	Richmond	98.0
217	La Salle	97.0
229	Massachusetts	96.2
249	Fordham	95.0
281	George Washington	93.1

#	Atlantic Coast	PiRate
1	Duke	124.7
3	Virginia	121.3
4	North Carolina	121.2
11	Virginia Tech	115.7
17	Florida St.	114.4
23	Louisville	113.4
29	North Carolina St.	111.8
30	Clemson	111.6
31	Syracuse	111.3
73	Miami (Fla)	106.3
91	Notre Dame	105.2
98	Pittsburgh	104.8
101	Boston College	104.7
111	Georgia Tech	103.6
189	Wake Forest	98.6

#	Atlantic Sun	PiRate
45	Lipscomb	110.1
69	Liberty	106.5
176	NJIT	99.1
180	North Florida	99.0
215	Florida Gulf Coast	97.1
258	Jacksonville	94.5
289	North Alabama	92.8
332	Stetson	89.1
340	Kennesaw St.	86.5

#	Big 12	PiRate
9	Texas Tech	117.7
13	Kansas	115.1
15	Iowa St.	114.7
25	Texas	112.8
28	Kansas St.	111.9
35	Oklahoma	110.9
36	Baylor	110.8
46	TCU	109.8
108	Oklahoma St.	104.2
114	West Virginia	103.4

#	Big East	PiRate
26	Marquette	112.8
27	Villanova	112.0
50	Creighton	109.3
62	Seton Hall	107.5
63	Butler	107.5
65	St. John’s	107.3
71	Georgetown	106.4
76	Xavier	106.2
83	Providence	105.5
110	DePaul	103.7

#	Big Sky	PiRate
136	Montana	102.6
172	Northern Colorado	99.5
205	Weber St.	97.6
241	Montana St.	95.4
275	Eastern Washington	93.6
276	Sacramento St.	93.5
287	Southern Utah	92.9
299	Portland St.	92.3
310	Northern Arizona	91.1
314	Idaho St.	90.7
348	Idaho	84.2

#	Big South	PiRate
117	Radford	103.4
168	Winthrop	99.7
169	Charleston Southern	99.5
178	Campbell	99.1
187	Hampton	98.6
193	Presbyterian	98.3
194	Gardner Webb	98.2
223	High Point	96.7
282	Longwood	93.0
336	USC Upstate	87.5
342	UNC Asheville	85.7

#	Big Ten	PiRate
5	Michigan St.	120.5
7	Michigan	118.4
10	Purdue	117.6
14	Wisconsin	114.7
22	Maryland	113.4
33	Iowa	111.1
38	Ohio St.	110.5
41	Penn St.	110.3
47	Nebraska	109.7
48	Minnesota	109.6
51	Indiana	109.2
60	Illinois	107.6
68	Rutgers	106.6
77	Northwestern	106.0

#	Big West	PiRate
93	UC Irvine	105.1
166	UC Santa Barbara	99.9
185	Cal St. Fullerton	98.7
214	Hawaii	97.1
231	Long Beach St.	96.0
234	UC Davis	95.8
263	Cal St. Northridge	94.2
318	UC Riverside	90.4
331	Cal Poly	89.2

#	Colonial Athletic	PiRate
82	Hofstra	105.6
92	Northeastern	105.2
118	Charleston	103.3
211	William & Mary	97.2
248	Drexel	95.1
261	Delaware	94.3
271	UNC Wilmington	93.9
277	James Madison	93.5
278	Towson	93.4
302	Elon	91.9

#	Conference USA	PiRate
105	Old Dominion	104.3
122	Western Kentucky	103.1
123	Southern Miss	103.0
140	UTSA	102.0
142	Louisiana Tech	101.7
154	North Texas	100.8
155	Florida Atlantic	100.8
161	UAB	100.1
182	Marshall	98.9
201	Florida Int’l.	97.8
240	Rice	95.5
253	Middle Tennessee	94.8
286	UTEP	93.0
290	Charlotte	92.6

#	Horizon	PiRate
106	Northern Kentucky	104.3
127	Wright St.	102.7
190	Oakland	98.6
192	IUPUI	98.3
203	Illinois Chicago	97.8
209	Green Bay	97.4
239	Detroit	95.5
262	Youngstown St.	94.3
284	Cleveland St.	93.0
293	Milwaukee	92.5

#	Ivy	PiRate
80	Yale	105.6
112	Harvard	103.6
126	Penn	102.8
144	Brown	101.3
159	Princeton	100.2
207	Dartmouth	97.5
220	Columbia	96.9
236	Cornell	95.7

#	Metro Atlantic	PiRate
218	Rider	97.0
222	Iona	96.8
225	Quinnipiac	96.5
242	Siena	95.3
266	Marist	94.2
273	Canisius	93.8
291	Fairfield	92.5
297	Monmouth	92.4
311	Saint Peter’s	91.1
313	Niagara	90.7
317	Manhattan	90.5

#	Mid-American	PiRate
12	Buffalo	115.1
54	Toledo	108.5
100	Bowling Green	104.7
119	Central Michigan	103.2
120	Akron	103.2
121	Ball St.	103.1
135	Miami (O)	102.6
141	Kent St.	101.7
147	Northern Illinois	101.1
153	Eastern Michigan	100.9
186	Ohio	98.6
254	Western Michigan	94.8

#	Mideastern Athletic	PiRate
243	Norfolk St.	95.3
295	North Carolina Central	92.4
296	Bethune Cookman	92.4
305	North Carolina A&T	91.8
312	Howard	90.8
321	Florida A&M	90.3
333	Morgan St.	89.0
337	South Carolina St.	87.5
343	Savannah St.	85.5
349	Coppin St.	84.1
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	81.0
353	Delaware St.	79.1

#	Missouri Valley	PiRate
128	Drake	102.7
133	Loyola (Chi)	102.6
145	Southern Illinois	101.2
173	Missouri St.	99.4
174	Bradley	99.4
177	Northern Iowa	99.1
197	Indiana St.	98.0
199	Illinois St.	97.9
224	Evansville	96.5
227	Valparaiso	96.2

#	Mountain West	PiRate
20	Nevada	113.8
34	Utah St.	110.9
70	Fresno St.	106.5
130	San Diego St.	102.7
146	Boise St.	101.2
164	UNLV	99.9
171	Colorado St.	99.5
181	New Mexico	99.0
233	Air Force	95.9
323	Wyoming	90.0
341	San Jose St.	86.3

#	Northeast	PiRate
228	Fairleigh Dickinson	96.2
232	Sacred Heart	95.9
247	St. Francis (PA)	95.1
260	Robert Morris	94.3
267	Long Island	94.1
274	St. Francis (Bklyn)	93.7
294	Wagner	92.4
322	Mount St. Mary’s	90.0
324	Central Connecticut	89.9
329	Bryant	89.4

#	Ohio Valley	PiRate
49	Belmont	109.3
52	Murray St.	108.6
113	Jacksonville St.	103.5
132	Austin Peay	102.7
250	Morehead St.	95.0
255	Eastern Kentucky	94.7
300	Tennessee St.	92.1
301	UT Martin	92.1
306	Eastern Illinois	91.8
308	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3
328	Tennessee Tech	89.4
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.3

#	Pac-12	PiRate
44	Washington	110.1
58	Oregon	107.8
61	Arizona St.	107.5
74	Colorado	106.3
84	Oregon St.	105.4
86	USC	105.4
89	Arizona	105.3
95	UCLA	105.1
104	Stanford	104.5
115	Utah	103.4
204	Washington St.	97.6
257	California	94.5

#	Patriot	PiRate
129	Colgate	102.7
148	Bucknell	101.1
162	Lehigh	100.1
191	American	98.5
230	Boston University	96.1
237	Holy Cross	95.6
244	Army	95.3
264	Loyola (MD)	94.2
288	Navy	92.8
292	Lafayette	92.5

#	Southeastern	PiRate
6	Tennessee	118.7
8	Kentucky	117.9
16	Auburn	114.7
18	LSU	114.3
21	Mississippi St.	113.6
32	Florida	111.1
42	Mississippi	110.3
55	Alabama	108.3
57	Arkansas	107.8
78	Texas A&M	105.8
88	South Carolina	105.4
94	Missouri	105.1
102	Georgia	104.6
138	Vanderbilt	102.5

#	Southern	PiRate
24	Wofford	113.1
53	Furman	108.6
67	East Tennessee St.	106.9
85	UNC Greensboro	105.4
150	Samford	101.0
195	Mercer	98.2
246	The Citadel	95.1
259	Chattanooga	94.4
269	Western Carolina	94.0
298	VMI	92.3

#	Southland	PiRate
156	Abilene Christian	100.7
160	Sam Houston St.	100.1
221	Lamar	96.8
238	Southeastern Louisiana	95.5
251	New Orleans	94.9
270	Texas A&M CC	93.9
279	Houston Baptist	93.3
307	Stephen F. Austin	91.6
316	Central Arkansas	90.5
319	Nicholls St.	90.4
325	McNeese St.	89.8
338	Northwestern St.	87.3
344	Incarnate Word	85.4

#	Southwestern Athletic	PiRate
198	Texas Southern	98.0
245	Prairie View A&M	95.2
280	Grambling St.	93.2
315	Alabama St.	90.6
320	Arkansas Pine Bluff	90.3
327	Jackson St.	89.7
339	Southern	87.2
345	Alabama A&M	85.3
347	Alcorn St.	84.6
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.8

#	Summit	PiRate
81	South Dakota St.	105.6
158	Omaha	100.3
206	Purdue Fort Wayne	97.5
213	North Dakota St.	97.1
216	South Dakota	97.0
272	North Dakota	93.8
285	Oral Roberts	93.0
304	Western Illinois	91.8
309	Denver	91.2

#	Sun Belt	PiRate
96	Georgia Southern	105.1
116	Texas St.	103.4
125	Georgia St.	102.8
149	Coastal Carolina	101.1
151	Louisiana Monroe	100.9
157	UT Arlington	100.6
183	Louisiana	98.9
202	Appalachian St.	97.8
212	Little Rock	97.2
219	South Alabama	96.9
256	Arkansas St.	94.7
265	Troy	94.2

#	West Coast	PiRate
2	Gonzaga	124.5
43	Saint Mary’s	110.3
59	San Francisco	107.6
72	BYU	106.4
109	San Diego	104.0
139	Loyola Marymount	102.4
167	Pepperdine	99.9
175	Santa Clara	99.3
210	Pacific	97.2
326	Portland	89.7

#	Western Athletic	PiRate
56	New Mexico St.	108.1
87	Grand Canyon	105.4
99	Utah Valley	104.8
170	UT Rio Grande Valley	99.5
184	Seattle	98.8
200	California Baptist	97.9
208	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.4
235	Missouri Kansas City	95.8
352	Chicago St.	80.7

#	League		PiRate Avg.
1	Big Ten		111.8
2	Atlantic Coast		111.2
3	Big 12		111.1
4	Southeastern		110.0
5	Big East		107.8
6	American Athletic		104.5
7	Pac-12		104.4
8	West Coast		104.1
9	Mid-American		103.1
10	Southern		100.9
11	Atlantic 10		100.6
12	Mountain West		100.5
13	Ivy		100.4
14	Sun Belt		99.5
15	Missouri Valley		99.3
16	Conference USA		99.2
17	Western Athletic		98.7
18	Horizon		97.4
19	Colonial Athletic		97.3
20	Atlantic Sun		97.2
21	Patriot		96.9
22	Ohio Valley		96.6
23	Summit		96.4
24	Big South		96.3
25	Big West		96.3
26	America East		94.6
27	Big Sky		93.9
28	Metro Atlantic		93.7
29	Northeast		93.1
30	Southland		93.1
31	Southwestern Athletic		89.8
32	Mideastern Athletic		88.3

 

Today’s Conference Tournament Schedule

 

Atlantic Sun Conference

All Games Played on the home floor of the higher-seeded team.

Quarterfinals–Monday, March 4
Seed	Home	Seed	Visitor
1	Lipscomb (23-6)	8	Kennesaw St. (6-25)
2	Liberty (25-6)	7	Jacksonville (12-19)
3	North Florida (15-16)	6	North Alabama (10-21)
4	Florida Gulf Coast (14-17)	5	NJIT (20-11)

 

Coming Later Today: Updated Bracketology

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings College Basketball For Friday, February 22, 2019

PiRate Ratings Spreads

For Major Conferences and Top 25 Teams

Games Scheduled for:			Saturday
Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
Louisville	114.1	3.0	Virginia	122.0	-4.9
Clemson	111.4	3.0	Boston College	104.2	10.2
Miami (Fla)	107.3	2.5	Georgia Tech	104.4	5.4
North Carolina	120.4	3.0	Florida St.	114.9	8.5
Notre Dame	105.5	3.0	Virginia Tech	116.0	-7.5
Syracuse	111.3	3.0	Duke	124.1	-9.8
Temple	106.8	3.0	Tulsa	103.2	6.6
Houston	114.4	3.0	South Florida	103.5	13.9
Tulane	92.3	2.0	East Carolina	93.9	0.4
Wichita St.	104.5	3.0	Memphis	106.2	1.3
Oklahoma	111.4	3.0	Texas	112.2	2.2
Baylor	111.0	3.0	West Virginia	103.9	10.1
TCU	110.3	3.0	Iowa St.	115.3	-2.0
Kansas St.	111.8	3.0	Oklahoma St.	104.5	10.3
Texas Tech	116.7	3.0	Kansas	115.5	4.2
Providence	106.2	2.5	Marquette	112.9	-4.2
Creighton	109.3	3.0	Georgetown	106.8	5.5
St. John’s	108.9	2.0	Seton Hall	108.1	2.8
Illinois	107.2	2.5	Penn St.	108.6	1.1
Maryland	113.7	3.0	Ohio St.	111.2	5.5
Nebraska	110.9	3.0	Purdue	116.4	-2.5
Northwestern	107.1	2.0	Wisconsin	115.3	-6.2
Nevada	115.3	2.5	Fresno St.	107.2	10.6
USC	106.3	3.0	Oregon St.	106.0	3.3
Washington St.	98.7	3.0	Utah	103.5	-1.8
UCLA	105.2	3.0	Oregon	107.6	0.6
Washington	110.6	3.0	Colorado	106.3	7.3
LSU	113.1	3.0	Tennessee	118.2	-2.1
Kentucky	118.2	3.0	Auburn	116.2	5.0
Ole Miss	109.9	3.0	Georgia	103.5	9.4
Florida	112.2	3.0	Missouri	104.6	10.6
Mississippi St.	112.9	3.0	South Carolina	106.1	9.8
Alabama	108.1	3.0	Vanderbilt	103.3	7.8
Arkansas	107.2	3.0	Texas A&M	105.4	4.8
Gonzaga	123.8	3.0	BYU	106.1	20.7

 

Games Scheduled for:			Sunday
Home	Rating	HCA	Visitor	Rating	Spread
North Carolina St.	112.6	2.5	Wake Forest	99.8	15.3
Central Florida	108.8	3.0	SMU	105.0	6.8
Connectucut	105.5	3.0	Cincinnati	112.0	-3.5
Xavier	105.5	3.0	Villanova	113.5	-5.0
Michigan	117.4	1.5	Michigan St.	120.2	-1.3
Rutgers	105.4	2.5	Minnesota	108.5	-0.6
Arizona St.	108.8	3.0	California	93.6	18.2
Arizona	106.2	3.0	Stanford	104.0	5.2

 

Current PiRate Ratings (1-353)

Rk	Team	PiRate	Conf
1	Duke	124.1	ACC
2	Gonzaga	123.8	West Coast
3	Virginia	122.0	ACC
4	North Carolina	120.4	ACC
5	Michigan St.	120.2	Big Ten
6	Kentucky	118.2	SEC
7	Tennessee	118.2	SEC
8	Michigan	117.4	Big Ten
9	Texas Tech	116.7	Big 12
10	Purdue	116.4	Big Ten
11	Auburn	116.2	SEC
12	Virginia Tech	116.0	ACC
13	Kansas	115.5	Big 12
14	Nevada	115.3	Mtn West
15	Wisconsin	115.3	Big Ten
16	Iowa St.	115.3	Big 12
17	Florida St.	114.9	ACC
18	Houston	114.4	AAC
19	Louisville	114.1	ACC
20	Buffalo	113.9	Mid-Amer
21	Maryland	113.7	Big Ten
22	Villanova	113.5	Big East
23	LSU	113.1	SEC
24	Marquette	112.9	Big East
25	Mississippi St.	112.9	SEC
26	North Carolina St.	112.6	ACC
27	Iowa	112.3	Big Ten
28	Florida	112.2	SEC
29	Texas	112.2	Big 12
30	Cincinnati	112.0	AAC
31	Wofford	111.9	SoCon
32	Kansas St.	111.8	Big 12
33	Oklahoma	111.4	Big 12
34	Clemson	111.4	ACC
35	Syracuse	111.3	ACC
36	Ohio St.	111.2	Big Ten
37	Baylor	111.0	Big 12
38	Nebraska	110.9	Big Ten
39	Washington	110.6	Pac-12
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4	Atl 10
41	TCU	110.3	Big 12
42	Saint Mary’s	110.0	West Coast
43	Mississippi	109.9	SEC
44	Utah St.	109.6	Mtn West
45	Lipscomb	109.5	Atl Sun
46	Indiana	109.4	Big Ten
47	Creighton	109.3	Big East
48	Butler	109.1	Big East
49	St. John’s	108.9	Big East
50	Arizona St.	108.8	Pac-12
51	Central Florida	108.8	AAC
52	San Francisco	108.7	West Coast
53	Penn St.	108.6	Big Ten
54	Minnesota	108.5	Big Ten
55	Belmont	108.2	OH Valley
56	Alabama	108.1	SEC
57	Seton Hall	108.1	Big East
58	Murray St.	107.9	OH Valley
59	Furman	107.7	SoCon
60	Oregon	107.6	Pac-12
61	Dayton	107.5	Atl 10
62	Toledo	107.4	Mid-Amer
63	New Mexico St.	107.3	WAC
64	Miami (Fla)	107.3	ACC
65	Illinois	107.2	Big Ten
66	Arkansas	107.2	SEC
67	Fresno St.	107.2	Mtn West
68	Northwestern	107.1	Big Ten
69	East Tennessee St.	106.9	SoCon
70	Georgetown	106.8	Big East
71	Temple	106.8	AAC
72	Hofstra	106.6	Colonial
73	Vermont	106.6	Am East
74	Liberty	106.5	Atl Sun
75	South Dakota St.	106.3	Summit
76	USC	106.3	Pac-12
77	Colorado	106.3	Pac-12
78	Memphis	106.2	AAC
79	Providence	106.2	Big East
80	Yale	106.2	Ivy
81	Arizona	106.2	Pac-12
82	BYU	106.1	West Coast
83	South Carolina	106.1	SEC
84	Oregon St.	106.0	Pac-12
85	Davidson	106.0	Atl 10
86	Pittsburgh	105.7	ACC
87	Grand Canyon	105.7	WAC
88	Notre Dame	105.5	ACC
89	Xavier	105.5	Big East
90	Connecticut	105.5	AAC
91	Texas A&M	105.4	SEC
92	Rutgers	105.4	Big Ten
93	UCLA	105.2	Pac-12
94	SMU	105.0	AAC
95	Northern Kentucky	105.0	Horizon
96	San Diego	104.9	West Coast
97	UNC Greensboro	104.8	SoCon
98	Northeastern	104.7	Colonial
99	Missouri	104.6	SEC
100	Wichita St.	104.5	AAC
101	Oklahoma St.	104.5	Big 12
102	Old Dominion	104.5	CUSA
103	Georgia Tech	104.4	ACC
104	UC Irvine	104.4	Big West
105	Bowling Green	104.3	Mid-Amer
106	Georgia Southern	104.2	Sun Belt
107	Boston College	104.2	ACC
108	San Diego St.	104.2	Mtn West
109	Ball St.	104.1	Mid-Amer
110	Stanford	104.0	Pac-12
111	West Virginia	103.9	Big 12
112	Montana	103.9	Big Sky
113	Loyola (Chi)	103.9	Mo Valley
114	Texas St.	103.8	Sun Belt
115	DePaul	103.8	Big East
116	Akron	103.6	Mid-Amer
117	Harvard	103.6	Ivy
118	South Florida	103.5	AAC
119	Utah	103.5	Pac-12
120	Austin Peay	103.5	OH Valley
121	Georgia St.	103.5	Sun Belt
122	Georgia	103.5	SEC
123	Utah Valley	103.4	WAC
124	Vanderbilt	103.3	SEC
125	Charleston	103.3	Colonial
126	Tulsa	103.2	AAC
127	Jacksonville St.	103.2	OH Valley
128	Saint Louis	103.2	Atl 10
129	Penn	103.1	Ivy
130	Western Kentucky	103.1	CUSA
131	Boise St.	102.7	Mtn West
132	Southern Miss	102.6	CUSA
133	Radford	102.5	Big South
134	North Texas	102.3	CUSA
135	Wright St.	102.3	Horizon
136	Drake	102.3	Mo Valley
137	Louisiana Tech	102.1	CUSA
138	St. Bonaventure	101.9	Atl 10
139	Loyola Marymount	101.8	West Coast
140	Central Michigan	101.7	Mid-Amer
141	George Mason	101.7	Atl 10
142	Bucknell	101.6	Patriot
143	Colgate	101.5	Patriot
144	Miami (O)	101.4	Mid-Amer
145	Louisiana Monroe	101.3	Sun Belt
146	Kent St.	101.3	Mid-Amer
147	Southern Illinois	101.3	Mo Valley
148	Rhode Island	101.2	Atl 10
149	UC Santa Barbara	101.2	Big West
150	Brown	101.1	Ivy
151	Lehigh	100.9	Patriot
152	UNLV	100.8	Mtn West
153	Northern Illinois	100.7	Mid-Amer
154	Abilene Christian	100.6	Sthland
155	Duquesne	100.6	Atl 10
156	Samford	100.6	SoCon
157	Coastal Carolina	100.5	Sun Belt
158	Missouri St.	100.4	Mo Valley
159	Cal St. Fullerton	100.3	Big West
160	Winthrop	100.3	Big South
161	Eastern Michigan	100.3	Mid-Amer
162	UTSA	100.2	CUSA
163	Pepperdine	100.0	West Coast
164	Stony Brook	100.0	Am East
165	Omaha	99.9	Summit
166	New Mexico	99.9	Mtn West
167	Northern Colorado	99.8	Big Sky
168	Wake Forest	99.8	ACC
169	Princeton	99.8	Ivy
170	UAB	99.6	CUSA
171	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.6	Summit
172	Mercer	99.6	SoCon
173	Weber St.	99.5	Big Sky
174	Northern Iowa	99.4	Mo Valley
175	Sam Houston St.	99.3	Sthland
176	Bradley	99.2	Mo Valley
177	Louisiana	99.2	Sun Belt
178	Florida Atlantic	99.1	CUSA
179	Gardner Webb	99.0	Big South
180	Richmond	99.0	Atl 10
181	Hartford	98.8	Am East
182	Washington St.	98.7	Pac-12
183	NJIT	98.7	Atl Sun
184	Dartmouth	98.6	Ivy
185	Saint Joseph’s	98.6	Atl 10
186	Campbell	98.6	Big South
187	Rider	98.6	Metro Atl
188	Valparaiso	98.5	Mo Valley
189	Hawaii	98.5	Big West
190	Appalachian St.	98.4	Sun Belt
191	IUPUI	98.4	Horizon
192	Seattle	98.3	WAC
193	UT Arlington	98.3	Sun Belt
194	Presbyterian	98.3	Big South
195	Colorado St.	98.2	Mtn West
196	Marshall	98.1	CUSA
197	Massachusetts	98.0	Atl 10
198	North Dakota St.	98.0	Summit
199	Illinois St.	97.9	Mo Valley
200	Charleston Southern	97.9	Big South
201	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.9	Am East
202	American	97.8	Patriot
203	Green Bay	97.7	Horizon
204	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.7	WAC
205	Indiana St.	97.6	Mo Valley
206	Texas Southern	97.5	SWAC
207	North Florida	97.5	Atl Sun
208	La Salle	97.4	Atl 10
209	Oakland	97.4	Horizon
210	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.3	WAC
211	Little Rock	97.3	Sun Belt
212	Santa Clara	97.2	West Coast
213	William & Mary	97.2	Colonial
214	Illinois Chicago	97.1	Horizon
215	Pacific	97.1	West Coast
216	Hampton	97.0	Big South
217	South Alabama	97.0	Sun Belt
218	Lamar	97.0	Sthland
219	Fordham	96.9	Atl 10
220	Iona	96.8	Metro Atl
221	High Point	96.7	Big South
222	Cornell	96.7	Ivy
223	South Dakota	96.7	Summit
224	Troy	96.6	Sun Belt
225	Florida Int’l.	96.6	CUSA
226	UC Davis	96.5	Big West
227	Quinnipiac	96.5	Metro Atl
228	California Baptist	96.5	WAC
229	Boston University	96.5	Patriot
230	Long Beach St.	96.4	Big West
231	Holy Cross	96.4	Patriot
232	Evansville	96.3	Mo Valley
233	Ohio	96.3	Mid-Amer
234	Marist	96.2	Metro Atl
235	St. Francis (PA)	96.2	Northeast
236	Columbia	96.0	Ivy
237	Fairleigh Dickinson	95.9	Northeast
238	Florida Gulf Coast	95.9	Atl Sun
239	Army	95.7	Patriot
240	Drexel	95.5	Colonial
241	Missouri Kansas City	95.4	WAC
242	Delaware	95.4	Colonial
243	Robert Morris	95.3	Northeast
244	Prairie View A&M	95.3	SWAC
245	Jacksonville	95.2	Atl Sun
246	Norfolk St.	95.2	MEAC
247	Canisius	95.1	Metro Atl
248	Air Force	95.1	Mtn West
249	The Citadel	95.1	SoCon
250	Siena	95.0	Metro Atl
251	Towson	95.0	Colonial
252	Sacramento St.	95.0	Big Sky
253	Morehead St.	95.0	OH Valley
254	UMass Lowell	95.0	Am East
255	Detroit	94.9	Horizon
256	Eastern Kentucky	94.9	OH Valley
257	UNC Wilmington	94.8	Colonial
258	Montana St.	94.8	Big Sky
259	Sacred Heart	94.8	Northeast
260	George Washington	94.7	Atl 10
261	Chattanooga	94.6	SoCon
262	St. Francis (Bklyn)	94.4	Northeast
263	Middle Tennessee	94.4	CUSA
264	Eastern Washington	94.4	Big Sky
265	Arkansas St.	94.4	Sun Belt
266	Rice	94.3	CUSA
267	Western Michigan	94.3	Mid-Amer
268	New Orleans	94.2	Sthland
269	James Madison	94.2	Colonial
270	Grambling St.	94.1	SWAC
271	Youngstown St.	94.1	Horizon
272	Houston Baptist	94.0	Sthland
273	Long Island	94.0	Northeast
274	Wagner	93.9	Northeast
275	Portland St.	93.9	Big Sky
276	North Dakota	93.9	Summit
277	Texas A&M CC	93.9	Sthland
278	East Carolina	93.9	AAC
279	Southeastern Louisiana	93.8	Sthland
280	Southern Utah	93.8	Big Sky
281	North Carolina Central	93.7	MEAC
282	Albany	93.6	Am East
283	Loyola (MD)	93.6	Patriot
284	California	93.6	Pac-12
285	UTEP	93.5	CUSA
286	Monmouth	93.4	Metro Atl
287	Western Carolina	93.4	SoCon
288	Lafayette	93.3	Patriot
289	Fairfield	93.1	Metro Atl
290	UT Martin	93.0	OH Valley
291	Cal St. Northridge	93.0	Big West
292	Western Illinois	92.9	Summit
293	Eastern Illinois	92.9	OH Valley
294	Oral Roberts	92.8	Summit
295	Tennessee St.	92.8	OH Valley
296	Bethune Cookman	92.8	MEAC
297	Milwaukee	92.6	Horizon
298	Niagara	92.6	Metro Atl
299	Stephen F. Austin	92.6	Sthland
300	Longwood	92.4	Big South
301	Tulane	92.3	AAC
302	Charlotte	92.2	CUSA
303	Navy	92.0	Patriot
304	Central Arkansas	91.9	Sthland
305	UC Riverside	91.9	Big West
306	Cleveland St.	91.8	Horizon
307	Central Connecticut	91.7	Northeast
308	Northern Arizona	91.6	Big Sky
309	North Carolina A&T	91.6	MEAC
310	Idaho St.	91.6	Big Sky
311	Manhattan	91.3	Metro Atl
312	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3	OH Valley
313	Alabama St.	91.1	SWAC
314	Saint Peter’s	91.1	Metro Atl
315	Howard	91.0	MEAC
316	Denver	91.0	Summit
317	Nicholls St.	90.8	Sthland
318	Maine	90.7	Am East
319	North Alabama	90.7	Atl Sun
320	VMI	90.7	SoCon
321	Elon	90.4	Colonial
322	Florida A&M	90.2	MEAC
323	Wyoming	90.2	Mtn West
324	Mount St. Mary’s	90.1	Northeast
325	McNeese St.	90.1	Sthland
326	Portland	89.9	West Coast
327	Arkansas Pine Bluff	89.8	SWAC
328	Tennessee Tech	89.3	OH Valley
329	Jackson St.	88.8	SWAC
330	Binghamton	88.8	Am East
331	Bryant	88.7	Northeast
332	Cal Poly	88.6	Big West
333	Morgan St.	88.5	MEAC
334	USC Upstate	88.5	Big South
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.2	OH Valley
336	Stetson	87.8	Atl Sun
337	South Carolina St.	87.3	MEAC
338	Northwestern St.	87.3	Sthland
339	Southern	86.6	SWAC
340	Kennesaw St.	85.7	Atl Sun
341	UNC Asheville	85.6	Big South
342	San Jose St.	85.5	Mtn West
343	Incarnate Word	85.4	Sthland
344	Coppin St.	85.3	MEAC
345	New Hampshire	85.3	Am East
346	Alabama A&M	85.3	SWAC
347	Savannah St.	85.1	MEAC
348	Alcorn St.	84.9	SWAC
349	Idaho	84.8	Big Sky
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.0	SWAC
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	80.8	MEAC
352	Delaware St.	79.8	MEAC
353	Chicago St.	79.3	WAC

PiRate Ratings (Alphabetical)

Rk	Team	PiRate	Conf
154	Abilene Christian	100.6	Sthland
248	Air Force	95.1	Mtn West
116	Akron	103.6	Mid-Amer
56	Alabama	108.1	SEC
346	Alabama A&M	85.3	SWAC
313	Alabama St.	91.1	SWAC
282	Albany	93.6	Am East
348	Alcorn St.	84.9	SWAC
202	American	97.8	Patriot
190	Appalachian St.	98.4	Sun Belt
81	Arizona	106.2	Pac-12
50	Arizona St.	108.8	Pac-12
66	Arkansas	107.2	SEC
327	Arkansas Pine Bluff	89.8	SWAC
265	Arkansas St.	94.4	Sun Belt
239	Army	95.7	Patriot
11	Auburn	116.2	SEC
120	Austin Peay	103.5	OH Valley
109	Ball St.	104.1	Mid-Amer
37	Baylor	111.0	Big 12
55	Belmont	108.2	OH Valley
296	Bethune Cookman	92.8	MEAC
330	Binghamton	88.8	Am East
131	Boise St.	102.7	Mtn West
107	Boston College	104.2	ACC
229	Boston University	96.5	Patriot
105	Bowling Green	104.3	Mid-Amer
176	Bradley	99.2	Mo Valley
150	Brown	101.1	Ivy
331	Bryant	88.7	Northeast
142	Bucknell	101.6	Patriot
20	Buffalo	113.9	Mid-Amer
48	Butler	109.1	Big East
82	BYU	106.1	West Coast
332	Cal Poly	88.6	Big West
210	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.3	WAC
159	Cal St. Fullerton	100.3	Big West
291	Cal St. Northridge	93.0	Big West
284	California	93.6	Pac-12
228	California Baptist	96.5	WAC
186	Campbell	98.6	Big South
247	Canisius	95.1	Metro Atl
304	Central Arkansas	91.9	Sthland
307	Central Connecticut	91.7	Northeast
51	Central Florida	108.8	AAC
140	Central Michigan	101.7	Mid-Amer
125	Charleston	103.3	Colonial
200	Charleston Southern	97.9	Big South
302	Charlotte	92.2	CUSA
261	Chattanooga	94.6	SoCon
353	Chicago St.	79.3	WAC
30	Cincinnati	112.0	AAC
34	Clemson	111.4	ACC
306	Cleveland St.	91.8	Horizon
157	Coastal Carolina	100.5	Sun Belt
143	Colgate	101.5	Patriot
77	Colorado	106.3	Pac-12
195	Colorado St.	98.2	Mtn West
236	Columbia	96.0	Ivy
90	Connecticut	105.5	AAC
344	Coppin St.	85.3	MEAC
222	Cornell	96.7	Ivy
47	Creighton	109.3	Big East
184	Dartmouth	98.6	Ivy
85	Davidson	106.0	Atl 10
61	Dayton	107.5	Atl 10
242	Delaware	95.4	Colonial
352	Delaware St.	79.8	MEAC
316	Denver	91.0	Summit
115	DePaul	103.8	Big East
255	Detroit	94.9	Horizon
136	Drake	102.3	Mo Valley
240	Drexel	95.5	Colonial
1	Duke	124.1	ACC
155	Duquesne	100.6	Atl 10
278	East Carolina	93.9	AAC
69	East Tennessee St.	106.9	SoCon
293	Eastern Illinois	92.9	OH Valley
256	Eastern Kentucky	94.9	OH Valley
161	Eastern Michigan	100.3	Mid-Amer
264	Eastern Washington	94.4	Big Sky
321	Elon	90.4	Colonial
232	Evansville	96.3	Mo Valley
289	Fairfield	93.1	Metro Atl
237	Fairleigh Dickinson	95.9	Northeast
28	Florida	112.2	SEC
322	Florida A&M	90.2	MEAC
178	Florida Atlantic	99.1	CUSA
238	Florida Gulf Coast	95.9	Atl Sun
225	Florida Int’l.	96.6	CUSA
17	Florida St.	114.9	ACC
219	Fordham	96.9	Atl 10
67	Fresno St.	107.2	Mtn West
59	Furman	107.7	SoCon
179	Gardner Webb	99.0	Big South
141	George Mason	101.7	Atl 10
260	George Washington	94.7	Atl 10
70	Georgetown	106.8	Big East
122	Georgia	103.5	SEC
106	Georgia Southern	104.2	Sun Belt
121	Georgia St.	103.5	Sun Belt
103	Georgia Tech	104.4	ACC
2	Gonzaga	123.8	West Coast
270	Grambling St.	94.1	SWAC
87	Grand Canyon	105.7	WAC
203	Green Bay	97.7	Horizon
216	Hampton	97.0	Big South
181	Hartford	98.8	Am East
117	Harvard	103.6	Ivy
189	Hawaii	98.5	Big West
221	High Point	96.7	Big South
72	Hofstra	106.6	Colonial
231	Holy Cross	96.4	Patriot
18	Houston	114.4	AAC
272	Houston Baptist	94.0	Sthland
315	Howard	91.0	MEAC
349	Idaho	84.8	Big Sky
310	Idaho St.	91.6	Big Sky
65	Illinois	107.2	Big Ten
214	Illinois Chicago	97.1	Horizon
199	Illinois St.	97.9	Mo Valley
343	Incarnate Word	85.4	Sthland
46	Indiana	109.4	Big Ten
205	Indiana St.	97.6	Mo Valley
220	Iona	96.8	Metro Atl
27	Iowa	112.3	Big Ten
16	Iowa St.	115.3	Big 12
191	IUPUI	98.4	Horizon
329	Jackson St.	88.8	SWAC
245	Jacksonville	95.2	Atl Sun
127	Jacksonville St.	103.2	OH Valley
269	James Madison	94.2	Colonial
13	Kansas	115.5	Big 12
32	Kansas St.	111.8	Big 12
340	Kennesaw St.	85.7	Atl Sun
146	Kent St.	101.3	Mid-Amer
6	Kentucky	118.2	SEC
208	La Salle	97.4	Atl 10
288	Lafayette	93.3	Patriot
218	Lamar	97.0	Sthland
151	Lehigh	100.9	Patriot
74	Liberty	106.5	Atl Sun
45	Lipscomb	109.5	Atl Sun
211	Little Rock	97.3	Sun Belt
230	Long Beach St.	96.4	Big West
273	Long Island	94.0	Northeast
300	Longwood	92.4	Big South
177	Louisiana	99.2	Sun Belt
145	Louisiana Monroe	101.3	Sun Belt
137	Louisiana Tech	102.1	CUSA
19	Louisville	114.1	ACC
113	Loyola (Chi)	103.9	Mo Valley
283	Loyola (MD)	93.6	Patriot
139	Loyola Marymount	101.8	West Coast
23	LSU	113.1	SEC
318	Maine	90.7	Am East
311	Manhattan	91.3	Metro Atl
234	Marist	96.2	Metro Atl
24	Marquette	112.9	Big East
196	Marshall	98.1	CUSA
21	Maryland	113.7	Big Ten
201	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.9	Am East
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	80.8	MEAC
197	Massachusetts	98.0	Atl 10
325	McNeese St.	90.1	Sthland
78	Memphis	106.2	AAC
172	Mercer	99.6	SoCon
64	Miami (Fla)	107.3	ACC
144	Miami (O)	101.4	Mid-Amer
8	Michigan	117.4	Big Ten
5	Michigan St.	120.2	Big Ten
263	Middle Tennessee	94.4	CUSA
297	Milwaukee	92.6	Horizon
54	Minnesota	108.5	Big Ten
43	Mississippi	109.9	SEC
25	Mississippi St.	112.9	SEC
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.0	SWAC
99	Missouri	104.6	SEC
241	Missouri Kansas City	95.4	WAC
158	Missouri St.	100.4	Mo Valley
286	Monmouth	93.4	Metro Atl
112	Montana	103.9	Big Sky
258	Montana St.	94.8	Big Sky
253	Morehead St.	95.0	OH Valley
333	Morgan St.	88.5	MEAC
324	Mount St. Mary’s	90.1	Northeast
58	Murray St.	107.9	OH Valley
303	Navy	92.0	Patriot
38	Nebraska	110.9	Big Ten
14	Nevada	115.3	Mtn West
345	New Hampshire	85.3	Am East
166	New Mexico	99.9	Mtn West
63	New Mexico St.	107.3	WAC
268	New Orleans	94.2	Sthland
298	Niagara	92.6	Metro Atl
317	Nicholls St.	90.8	Sthland
183	NJIT	98.7	Atl Sun
246	Norfolk St.	95.2	MEAC
319	North Alabama	90.7	Atl Sun
4	North Carolina	120.4	ACC
309	North Carolina A&T	91.6	MEAC
281	North Carolina Central	93.7	MEAC
26	North Carolina St.	112.6	ACC
276	North Dakota	93.9	Summit
198	North Dakota St.	98.0	Summit
207	North Florida	97.5	Atl Sun
134	North Texas	102.3	CUSA
98	Northeastern	104.7	Colonial
308	Northern Arizona	91.6	Big Sky
167	Northern Colorado	99.8	Big Sky
153	Northern Illinois	100.7	Mid-Amer
174	Northern Iowa	99.4	Mo Valley
95	Northern Kentucky	105.0	Horizon
68	Northwestern	107.1	Big Ten
338	Northwestern St.	87.3	Sthland
88	Notre Dame	105.5	ACC
209	Oakland	97.4	Horizon
233	Ohio	96.3	Mid-Amer
36	Ohio St.	111.2	Big Ten
33	Oklahoma	111.4	Big 12
101	Oklahoma St.	104.5	Big 12
102	Old Dominion	104.5	CUSA
165	Omaha	99.9	Summit
294	Oral Roberts	92.8	Summit
60	Oregon	107.6	Pac-12
84	Oregon St.	106.0	Pac-12
215	Pacific	97.1	West Coast
129	Penn	103.1	Ivy
53	Penn St.	108.6	Big Ten
163	Pepperdine	100.0	West Coast
86	Pittsburgh	105.7	ACC
326	Portland	89.9	West Coast
275	Portland St.	93.9	Big Sky
244	Prairie View A&M	95.3	SWAC
194	Presbyterian	98.3	Big South
169	Princeton	99.8	Ivy
79	Providence	106.2	Big East
10	Purdue	116.4	Big Ten
171	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.6	Summit
227	Quinnipiac	96.5	Metro Atl
133	Radford	102.5	Big South
148	Rhode Island	101.2	Atl 10
266	Rice	94.3	CUSA
180	Richmond	99.0	Atl 10
187	Rider	98.6	Metro Atl
243	Robert Morris	95.3	Northeast
92	Rutgers	105.4	Big Ten
252	Sacramento St.	95.0	Big Sky
259	Sacred Heart	94.8	Northeast
185	Saint Joseph’s	98.6	Atl 10
128	Saint Louis	103.2	Atl 10
42	Saint Mary’s	110.0	West Coast
314	Saint Peter’s	91.1	Metro Atl
175	Sam Houston St.	99.3	Sthland
156	Samford	100.6	SoCon
96	San Diego	104.9	West Coast
108	San Diego St.	104.2	Mtn West
52	San Francisco	108.7	West Coast
342	San Jose St.	85.5	Mtn West
212	Santa Clara	97.2	West Coast
347	Savannah St.	85.1	MEAC
192	Seattle	98.3	WAC
57	Seton Hall	108.1	Big East
250	Siena	95.0	Metro Atl
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.2	OH Valley
94	SMU	105.0	AAC
217	South Alabama	97.0	Sun Belt
83	South Carolina	106.1	SEC
337	South Carolina St.	87.3	MEAC
223	South Dakota	96.7	Summit
75	South Dakota St.	106.3	Summit
118	South Florida	103.5	AAC
312	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3	OH Valley
279	Southeastern Louisiana	93.8	Sthland
339	Southern	86.6	SWAC
147	Southern Illinois	101.3	Mo Valley
132	Southern Miss	102.6	CUSA
280	Southern Utah	93.8	Big Sky
138	St. Bonaventure	101.9	Atl 10
262	St. Francis (Bklyn)	94.4	Northeast
235	St. Francis (PA)	96.2	Northeast
49	St. John’s	108.9	Big East
110	Stanford	104.0	Pac-12
299	Stephen F. Austin	92.6	Sthland
336	Stetson	87.8	Atl Sun
164	Stony Brook	100.0	Am East
35	Syracuse	111.3	ACC
41	TCU	110.3	Big 12
71	Temple	106.8	AAC
7	Tennessee	118.2	SEC
295	Tennessee St.	92.8	OH Valley
328	Tennessee Tech	89.3	OH Valley
29	Texas	112.2	Big 12
91	Texas A&M	105.4	SEC
277	Texas A&M CC	93.9	Sthland
206	Texas Southern	97.5	SWAC
114	Texas St.	103.8	Sun Belt
9	Texas Tech	116.7	Big 12
249	The Citadel	95.1	SoCon
62	Toledo	107.4	Mid-Amer
251	Towson	95.0	Colonial
224	Troy	96.6	Sun Belt
301	Tulane	92.3	AAC
126	Tulsa	103.2	AAC
170	UAB	99.6	CUSA
226	UC Davis	96.5	Big West
104	UC Irvine	104.4	Big West
305	UC Riverside	91.9	Big West
149	UC Santa Barbara	101.2	Big West
93	UCLA	105.2	Pac-12
254	UMass Lowell	95.0	Am East
341	UNC Asheville	85.6	Big South
97	UNC Greensboro	104.8	SoCon
257	UNC Wilmington	94.8	Colonial
152	UNLV	100.8	Mtn West
76	USC	106.3	Pac-12
334	USC Upstate	88.5	Big South
193	UT Arlington	98.3	Sun Belt
290	UT Martin	93.0	OH Valley
204	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.7	WAC
119	Utah	103.5	Pac-12
44	Utah St.	109.6	Mtn West
123	Utah Valley	103.4	WAC
285	UTEP	93.5	CUSA
162	UTSA	100.2	CUSA
188	Valparaiso	98.5	Mo Valley
124	Vanderbilt	103.3	SEC
73	Vermont	106.6	Am East
22	Villanova	113.5	Big East
3	Virginia	122.0	ACC
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4	Atl 10
12	Virginia Tech	116.0	ACC
320	VMI	90.7	SoCon
274	Wagner	93.9	Northeast
168	Wake Forest	99.8	ACC
39	Washington	110.6	Pac-12
182	Washington St.	98.7	Pac-12
173	Weber St.	99.5	Big Sky
111	West Virginia	103.9	Big 12
287	Western Carolina	93.4	SoCon
292	Western Illinois	92.9	Summit
130	Western Kentucky	103.1	CUSA
267	Western Michigan	94.3	Mid-Amer
100	Wichita St.	104.5	AAC
213	William & Mary	97.2	Colonial
160	Winthrop	100.3	Big South
15	Wisconsin	115.3	Big Ten
31	Wofford	111.9	SoCon
135	Wright St.	102.3	Horizon
323	Wyoming	90.2	Mtn West
89	Xavier	105.5	Big East
80	Yale	106.2	Ivy
271	Youngstown St.	94.1	Horizon

 

PiRate Ratings (by Conference)

#	America East	PiRate
73	Vermont	106.6
164	Stony Brook	100.0
181	Hartford	98.8
201	Maryland Baltimore Co.	97.9
254	UMass Lowell	95.0
282	Albany	93.6
318	Maine	90.7
330	Binghamton	88.8
345	New Hampshire	85.3

#	American Athletic	PiRate
18	Houston	114.4
30	Cincinnati	112.0
51	Central Florida	108.8
71	Temple	106.8
78	Memphis	106.2
90	Connecticut	105.5
94	SMU	105.0
100	Wichita St.	104.5
118	South Florida	103.5
126	Tulsa	103.2
278	East Carolina	93.9
301	Tulane	92.3

#	Atlantic 10	PiRate
40	Virginia Commonwealth	110.4
61	Dayton	107.5
85	Davidson	106.0
128	Saint Louis	103.2
138	St. Bonaventure	101.9
141	George Mason	101.7
148	Rhode Island	101.2
155	Duquesne	100.6
180	Richmond	99.0
185	Saint Joseph’s	98.6
197	Massachusetts	98.0
208	La Salle	97.4
219	Fordham	96.9
260	George Washington	94.7

#	Atlantic Coast	PiRate
1	Duke	124.1
3	Virginia	122.0
4	North Carolina	120.4
12	Virginia Tech	116.0
17	Florida St.	114.9
19	Louisville	114.1
26	North Carolina St.	112.6
34	Clemson	111.4
35	Syracuse	111.3
64	Miami (Fla)	107.3
86	Pittsburgh	105.7
88	Notre Dame	105.5
103	Georgia Tech	104.4
107	Boston College	104.2
168	Wake Forest	99.8

#	Atlantic Sun	PiRate
45	Lipscomb	109.5
74	Liberty	106.5
183	NJIT	98.7
207	North Florida	97.5
238	Florida Gulf Coast	95.9
245	Jacksonville	95.2
319	North Alabama	90.7
336	Stetson	87.8
340	Kennesaw St.	85.7

#	Big 12	PiRate
9	Texas Tech	116.7
13	Kansas	115.5
16	Iowa St.	115.3
29	Texas	112.2
32	Kansas St.	111.8
33	Oklahoma	111.4
37	Baylor	111.0
41	TCU	110.3
101	Oklahoma St.	104.5
111	West Virginia	103.9

#	Big East	PiRate
22	Villanova	113.5
24	Marquette	112.9
47	Creighton	109.3
48	Butler	109.1
49	St. John’s	108.9
57	Seton Hall	108.1
70	Georgetown	106.8
79	Providence	106.2
89	Xavier	105.5
115	DePaul	103.8

#	Big Sky	PiRate
112	Montana	103.9
167	Northern Colorado	99.8
173	Weber St.	99.5
252	Sacramento St.	95.0
258	Montana St.	94.8
264	Eastern Washington	94.4
275	Portland St.	93.9
280	Southern Utah	93.8
308	Northern Arizona	91.6
310	Idaho St.	91.6
349	Idaho	84.8

#	Big South	PiRate
133	Radford	102.5
160	Winthrop	100.3
179	Gardner Webb	99.0
186	Campbell	98.6
194	Presbyterian	98.3
200	Charleston Southern	97.9
216	Hampton	97.0
221	High Point	96.7
300	Longwood	92.4
334	USC Upstate	88.5
341	UNC Asheville	85.6

#	Big Ten	PiRate
5	Michigan St.	120.2
8	Michigan	117.4
10	Purdue	116.4
15	Wisconsin	115.3
21	Maryland	113.7
27	Iowa	112.3
36	Ohio St.	111.2
38	Nebraska	110.9
46	Indiana	109.4
53	Penn St.	108.6
54	Minnesota	108.5
65	Illinois	107.2
68	Northwestern	107.1
92	Rutgers	105.4

#	Big West	PiRate
104	UC Irvine	104.4
149	UC Santa Barbara	101.2
159	Cal St. Fullerton	100.3
189	Hawaii	98.5
226	UC Davis	96.5
230	Long Beach St.	96.4
291	Cal St. Northridge	93.0
305	UC Riverside	91.9
332	Cal Poly	88.6

#	Colonial Athletic	PiRate
72	Hofstra	106.6
98	Northeastern	104.7
125	Charleston	103.3
213	William & Mary	97.2
240	Drexel	95.5
242	Delaware	95.4
251	Towson	95.0
257	UNC Wilmington	94.8
269	James Madison	94.2
321	Elon	90.4

#	Conference USA	PiRate
102	Old Dominion	104.5
130	Western Kentucky	103.1
132	Southern Miss	102.6
134	North Texas	102.3
137	Louisiana Tech	102.1
162	UTSA	100.2
170	UAB	99.6
178	Florida Atlantic	99.1
196	Marshall	98.1
225	Florida Int’l.	96.6
263	Middle Tennessee	94.4
266	Rice	94.3
285	UTEP	93.5
302	Charlotte	92.2

#	Horizon	PiRate
95	Northern Kentucky	105.0
135	Wright St.	102.3
191	IUPUI	98.4
203	Green Bay	97.7
209	Oakland	97.4
214	Illinois Chicago	97.1
255	Detroit	94.9
271	Youngstown St.	94.1
297	Milwaukee	92.6
306	Cleveland St.	91.8

#	Ivy	PiRate
80	Yale	106.2
117	Harvard	103.6
129	Penn	103.1
150	Brown	101.1
169	Princeton	99.8
184	Dartmouth	98.6
222	Cornell	96.7
236	Columbia	96.0

#	Metro Atlantic	PiRate
187	Rider	98.6
220	Iona	96.8
227	Quinnipiac	96.5
234	Marist	96.2
247	Canisius	95.1
250	Siena	95.0
286	Monmouth	93.4
289	Fairfield	93.1
298	Niagara	92.6
311	Manhattan	91.3
314	Saint Peter’s	91.1

#	Mid-American	PiRate
20	Buffalo	113.9
62	Toledo	107.4
105	Bowling Green	104.3
109	Ball St.	104.1
116	Akron	103.6
140	Central Michigan	101.7
144	Miami (O)	101.4
146	Kent St.	101.3
153	Northern Illinois	100.7
161	Eastern Michigan	100.3
233	Ohio	96.3
267	Western Michigan	94.3

#	Mideastern Athletic	PiRate
246	Norfolk St.	95.2
281	North Carolina Central	93.7
296	Bethune Cookman	92.8
309	North Carolina A&T	91.6
315	Howard	91.0
322	Florida A&M	90.2
333	Morgan St.	88.5
337	South Carolina St.	87.3
344	Coppin St.	85.3
347	Savannah St.	85.1
351	Maryland Eastern Shore	80.8
352	Delaware St.	79.8

#	Missouri Valley	PiRate
113	Loyola (Chi)	103.9
136	Drake	102.3
147	Southern Illinois	101.3
158	Missouri St.	100.4
174	Northern Iowa	99.4
176	Bradley	99.2
188	Valparaiso	98.5
199	Illinois St.	97.9
205	Indiana St.	97.6
232	Evansville	96.3

#	Mountain West	PiRate
14	Nevada	115.3
44	Utah St.	109.6
67	Fresno St.	107.2
108	San Diego St.	104.2
131	Boise St.	102.7
152	UNLV	100.8
166	New Mexico	99.9
195	Colorado St.	98.2
248	Air Force	95.1
323	Wyoming	90.2
342	San Jose St.	85.5

#	Northeast	PiRate
235	St. Francis (PA)	96.2
237	Fairleigh Dickinson	95.9
243	Robert Morris	95.3
259	Sacred Heart	94.8
262	St. Francis (Bklyn)	94.4
273	Long Island	94.0
274	Wagner	93.9
307	Central Connecticut	91.7
324	Mount St. Mary’s	90.1
331	Bryant	88.7

#	Ohio Valley	PiRate
55	Belmont	108.2
58	Murray St.	107.9
120	Austin Peay	103.5
127	Jacksonville St.	103.2
253	Morehead St.	95.0
256	Eastern Kentucky	94.9
290	UT Martin	93.0
293	Eastern Illinois	92.9
295	Tennessee St.	92.8
312	Southeast Missouri St.	91.3
328	Tennessee Tech	89.3
335	SIU Edwardsville	88.2

#	Pac-12	PiRate
39	Washington	110.6
50	Arizona St.	108.8
60	Oregon	107.6
76	USC	106.3
77	Colorado	106.3
81	Arizona	106.2
84	Oregon St.	106.0
93	UCLA	105.2
110	Stanford	104.0
119	Utah	103.5
182	Washington St.	98.7
284	California	93.6

#	Patriot	PiRate
142	Bucknell	101.6
143	Colgate	101.5
151	Lehigh	100.9
202	American	97.8
229	Boston University	96.5
231	Holy Cross	96.4
239	Army	95.7
283	Loyola (MD)	93.6
288	Lafayette	93.3
303	Navy	92.0

#	Southeastern	PiRate
6	Kentucky	118.2
7	Tennessee	118.2
11	Auburn	116.2
23	LSU	113.1
25	Mississippi St.	112.9
28	Florida	112.2
43	Mississippi	109.9
56	Alabama	108.1
66	Arkansas	107.2
83	South Carolina	106.1
91	Texas A&M	105.4
99	Missouri	104.6
122	Georgia	103.5
124	Vanderbilt	103.3

#	Southern	PiRate
31	Wofford	111.9
59	Furman	107.7
69	East Tennessee St.	106.9
97	UNC Greensboro	104.8
156	Samford	100.6
172	Mercer	99.6
249	The Citadel	95.1
261	Chattanooga	94.6
287	Western Carolina	93.4
320	VMI	90.7

#	Southland	PiRate
154	Abilene Christian	100.6
175	Sam Houston St.	99.3
218	Lamar	97.0
268	New Orleans	94.2
272	Houston Baptist	94.0
277	Texas A&M CC	93.9
279	Southeastern Louisiana	93.8
299	Stephen F. Austin	92.6
304	Central Arkansas	91.9
317	Nicholls St.	90.8
325	McNeese St.	90.1
338	Northwestern St.	87.3
343	Incarnate Word	85.4

#	Southwestern Athletic	PiRate
206	Texas Southern	97.5
244	Prairie View A&M	95.3
270	Grambling St.	94.1
313	Alabama St.	91.1
327	Arkansas Pine Bluff	89.8
329	Jackson St.	88.8
339	Southern	86.6
346	Alabama A&M	85.3
348	Alcorn St.	84.9
350	Mississippi Valley St.	83.0

#	Summit	PiRate
75	South Dakota St.	106.3
165	Omaha	99.9
171	Purdue Fort Wayne	99.6
198	North Dakota St.	98.0
223	South Dakota	96.7
276	North Dakota	93.9
292	Western Illinois	92.9
294	Oral Roberts	92.8
316	Denver	91.0

#	Sun Belt	PiRate
106	Georgia Southern	104.2
114	Texas St.	103.8
121	Georgia St.	103.5
145	Louisiana Monroe	101.3
157	Coastal Carolina	100.5
177	Louisiana	99.2
190	Appalachian St.	98.4
193	UT Arlington	98.3
211	Little Rock	97.3
217	South Alabama	97.0
224	Troy	96.6
265	Arkansas St.	94.4

#	West Coast	PiRate
2	Gonzaga	123.8
42	Saint Mary’s	110.0
52	San Francisco	108.7
82	BYU	106.1
96	San Diego	104.9
139	Loyola Marymount	101.8
163	Pepperdine	100.0
212	Santa Clara	97.2
215	Pacific	97.1
326	Portland	89.9

#	Western Athletic	PiRate
63	New Mexico St.	107.3
87	Grand Canyon	105.7
123	Utah Valley	103.4
192	Seattle	98.3
204	UT Rio Grande Valley	97.7
210	Cal St. Bakersfield	97.3
228	California Baptist	96.5
241	Missouri Kansas City	95.4
353	Chicago St.	79.3

 

Ratings of the Conferences

#	League		PiRate Avg.
1	Big Ten		111.7
2	Atlantic Coast		111.6
3	Big 12		111.3
4	Southeastern		109.9
5	Big East		108.4
6	Pac-12		104.7
7	American Athletic		104.7
8	West Coast		104.0
9	Mid-American		102.4
10	Atlantic 10		101.2
11	Mountain West		100.8
12	Ivy		100.6
13	Southern		100.5
14	Missouri Valley		99.7
15	Sun Belt		99.5
16	Conference USA		98.8
17	Western Athletic		97.9
18	Colonial Athletic		97.7
19	Horizon		97.1
20	Patriot		96.9
21	Summit		96.8
22	Big West		96.8
23	Ohio Valley		96.7
24	Atlantic Sun		96.4
25	Big South		96.1
26	America East		95.2
27	Big Sky		94.8
28	Metro Atlantic		94.5
29	Northeast		93.5
30	Southland		93.1
31	Southwestern Athletic		89.6
32	Mideastern Athletic		88.5

 

Note About The PiRate Basketball Ratings

So that we don’t have to answer this question multiple times, and there are always newcomers to this website who might wonder about this, let us re-state from past years that the basketball PiRate Ratings do not account for player injuries like Zion Williamson at Duke.  Our ratings do not account for issues with the coaching staffs, such as what is going on with an interim coach Murray Bartow at UCLA, or even the repercussions of the situation at Syracuse with Coach Jim Boeheim.

The basketball ratings use strength of schedules and Four Factors statistics with an algorithm that is slightly tweaked after every season.  How we calculate strengths of schedule is also slightly tweaked after every season.

If you follow us during football season, our football ratings do account for player injuries and mid-season coaching changes, since they are calculated differently.

 

Coming Later Today: Our Updated Bracketology 

Beginning Monday, March 4: Daily Bracketology Updates & Intensive Conference Tournament Reports

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Bracketology For Friday, January 25, 2019

January 25, 2019

Seed Line

Seed	SCHOOL	Conf.
1	Virginia	ACC
1	Duke	ACC
1	Michigan St.	Big Ten
1	Gonzaga	West Coast
2	Tennessee	SEC
2	Michigan	Big Ten
2	Houston	American
2	Kentucky	SEC
3	North Carolina	ACC
3	Purdue	Big Ten
3	Virginia Tech	ACC
3	LSU	SEC
4	Louisville	ACC
4	Kansas	Big 12
4	Wisconsin	Big Ten
4	Iowa St.	Big 12
5	Texas Tech	Big 12
5	Nevada	Mountain West
5	Maryland	Big Ten
5	Marquette	Big East
6	Nebraska	Big Ten
6	Iowa	Big Ten
6	Buffalo	MAC
6	Villanova	Big East
7	Auburn	SEC
7	Wofford	Southern
7	NC State	ACC
7	TCU	Big 12
8	Oklahoma	Big 12
8	Kansas St.	Big 12
8	Mississippi St.	SEC
8	Ole Miss	SEC
9	Cincinnati	American
9	Florida St.	ACC
9	UCF	American
9	Indiana	Big Ten
10	Florida	SEC
10	Utah St.	Mountain West
10	Washington	Pac-12
10	St. John’s (NY)	Big East
11	Alabama	SEC
11	San Francisco	West Coast
11	Texas	Big 12
11	Murray St.	Ohio Valley
12	Lipscomb	ASUN
12	Ohio St.	Big Ten
12	Butler	Big East
12	Syracuse	ACC
12	Arizona	Pac-12
12	Hofstra	Colonial
13	VCU	Atlantic 10
13	Yale	Ivy
13	New Mexico St.	WAC
13	North Texas	CUSA
14	Radford	Big South
14	Vermont	America East
14	Texas St.	Sun Belt
14	Northern Ky.	Horizon
15	Montana	Big Sky
15	South Dakota St.	Summit
15	Loyola Chicago	Missouri Valley
15	UC Irvine	Big West
16	Colgate	Patriot
16	Rider	Metro Atlantic
16	Abilene Christian	Southland
16	Texas Southern	SWAC
16	St. Francis Brooklyn	Northeast
16	N.C. A&T	MEAC

 

First 4 Out
Baylor
Northwestern
Seton Hall
Pittsburgh
Next 4 Out
Clemson
Creighton
Temple
UNC Greensboro
Last 4 In
Ohio St.
Butler
Syracuse
Arizona
Last 4 Byes
St. John’s (NY)
Alabama
San Francisco
Texas
First 4 #16 Seeds
Abilene Christian
Texas Southern
St. Francis Brooklyn
N.C. A&T
5 Potential At-large Mid-Majors
UNC-Greensboro
Liberty
Saint Mary’s
Furman

 

Multiple Bid Leagues

Conference	Bids
Big Ten	9
ACC	8
SEC	8
Big 12	7
Big East	4
AAC	3
MWC	2
Pac-12	2
West Coast	2

 

Coming Next Week

Monday: New Ratings and Bracketology

Tuesday: A closer look at the one-bid leagues and their top competitors

Friday: New Ratings and Bracketology

 

PiRate Ratings Spreads For NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 Games of Friday, March 23

Sweet 16–Friday, March 23

Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
Kansas	Clemson	1.7
Villanova	West Virginia	6.4
Duke	Syracuse	5.1
Purdue	Texas Tech	3.3

Friday Night’s Schedule

Friday, Mar 23, 2018
TIME (EDT)	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	City	TV
7:07 PM	1 Kansas	5 Clemson	Omaha	CBS
7:27 PM	1 Villanova	5 West Virginia	Boston	TBS
9:37 PM	2 Duke	11 Syracuse	Omaha	CBS
9:57 PM	2 Purdue	3 Texas Tech	Boston	TBS

 

 

 

 

PiRate Ratings Spreads For NCAA Tournament Games of Wed., March 14

Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
UNC-Central	Texas Southern	-2.8
Arizona St.	Syracuse	1.9

Tournament Schedule

All Times Eastern Daylight

Wednesday, Mar 14, 2018
TIME	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	City	TV
6:40 PM	16 UNC-Central	16 Texas Southern	Dayton, OH	truTV
9:10 PM	11 Arizona St.	11 Syracuse	Dayton, OH	truTV

 

Thursday, Mar 15, 2018
TIME	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	City	TV
12:15 PM	7 Rhode Island	10 Oklahoma	Pittsburgh	CBS
12:40 PM	3 Tennessee	14 Wright St.	Dallas	truTV
1:30 PM	4 Gonzaga	13 UNC-Greensboro	Boise, ID	TNT
2:00 PM	1 Kansas	16 Penn	Wichita, KS	TBS
2:45 PM	2 Duke	15 Iona	Pittsburgh	CBS
3:10 PM	6 Miami (Fla.)	11 Loyola (Chi.)	Dallas	truTV
4:00 PM	5 Ohio St.	12 South Dakota St.	Boise, ID	TNT
4:30 PM	8 Seton Hall	9 North Carolina St.	Wichita, KS	TBS
6:50 PM	1 Villanova	16 Radford	Pittsburgh	TNT
7:10 PM	5 Kentucky	12 Davidson	Boise, ID	CBS
7:20 PM	6 Houston	11 San Diego St	Wichita, KS	TBS
7:27 PM	3 Texas Tech	14 Stephen F. Austin	Dallas	truTV
9:20 PM	8 Virginia Tech	9 Alabama	Pittsburgh	TNT
9:40 PM	4 Arizona	13 Buffalo	Boise, ID	CBS
9:50 PM	3 Michigan	14 Montana	Wichita, KS	TBS
9:57 PM	6 Florida	11 St. Bonaventure	Dallas	truTV

 

Friday, Mar 16, 2018
TIME	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	City	TV
12:15 PM	7 Texas A&M	10 Providence	Charlotte	CBS
12:40 PM	2 Purdue	15 Cal St. Fullerton	Detroit	truTV
1:30 PM	4 Wichita St.	13 Marshall	San Diego	TNT
2:00 PM	2 Cincinnati	15 Georgia St.	Nashville	TBS
2:45 PM	2 North Carolina	15 Lipscomb	Charlotte	CBS
3:10 PM	7 Arkansas	10 Butler	Detroit	truTV
4:00 PM	5 West Virginia	12 Murray St.	San Diego	TNT
4:30 PM	7 Nevada	10 Texas	Nashville	TBS
6:50 PM	8 Creighton	9 Kansas St.	Charlotte	TNT
7:10 PM	3 Michigan St.	14 Bucknell	Detroit	CBS
7:20 PM	1 Xavier	16 UNCC/Tex Sou.	Nashville	TBS
7:27 PM	4 Auburn	13 Charleston	San Diego	truTV
9:20 PM	1 Virginia	16 MD-Baltimore Co.	Charlotte	TNT
9:40 PM	6 TCU	11 Ariz.St./Syracuse	Detroit	CBS
9:50 PM	8 Missouri	9 Florida St.	Nashville	TBS
9:57 PM	5 Clemson	12 New Mexico St.	San Diego	truTV

 

Note: Virginia’s outstanding 6th Man De’Andre Hunter is out for the season, and this will knock the Cavaliers down a few notches in our criteria.  If you have not submitted your brackets yet, you might take this into consideration, as the Cavaliers have lost a potent weapon that could play anywhere on the floor.  He was to Virginia what John Havlicek was to the Boston Celtics in the 1960’s, the 6th man that was the secret sauce of Red Auerbach’s extended success.  Without Hunter, Virginia reverts back to a great defensive team that lacks enough offensive power to beat an athletic opponent the likes of Arizona or Cincinnati.  Hunter was instrumental in helping the Cavs secure two wins over Syracuse, and road wins against Miami and Virginia Tech.

 

The PiRates New Criteria Shows Beginner’s Luck

Did you read our lengthy piece yesterday pertaining to our brand new paradigm?  The PiRates scrapped our old, archaic system of picking brackets and debuted our new mostly statistical metric based criteria.

We were not sure how successful it might be in the first year of its existence, and we are sure we will need to tweak it some in the ensuing years, but we started out with a bang last night.

We hit both games and basically called how St. Bonaventure would send the Sons of Westwood home to SoCal.  We wrote that we believed the Bonnies would force turnovers on the Bruins, which would be the deciding factor in the game, and it was spot on.

We are reminded that a broken watch is also correct twice a day.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection Committee Got It Right–Only Because The Criteria Was Wrong

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee is under fire today for how teams like Oklahoma, Arizona State,  and Syracuse made the tournament, while teams like Saint Mary’s, Middle Tennessee State, and USC did not.

Don’t blame this Committee.  They did not create the criteria that they use to select the teams.  You wouldn’t blame a jury if the judge orders them not to consider the most convincing evidence in a trial, and it produces the opposite verdict.

We are hearing interesting rumors that Louisville and USC received punitive treatment due to the impending FBI probe, but we do not buy into this rumor.

The reality is that Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Syracuse are in the field, and USC, Saint Mary’s, and Middle Tennessee are not.

The PiRate Bracket Gurus correctly picked 67 of the 68 teams, missing on USC versus Syracuse.  They don’t want to make this sound like sour grapes here, and they are not responsible in the least for our comments, but we find it a laughing joke that the Trojans did not make the tournament, while Arizona State did make the tournament.

Again, it is not the Committee’s fault that the most convincing evidence that would show the superior team was not admissible in this case.  USC finished in 2nd place in the Pac-12, while Arizona State finished tied for 8th place, with only three teams below the Sun Devils in the standings.  USC bested ASU by four games in the conference standings!

How can a team finish 22.2% better in the majority part of an identical schedule than another team and see the weaker team make the tournament, while they did not?  This is why March Madness is more mad due to inferior selection criteria.

We repeat a comparison we made earlier this season.  Take the NFL Playoffs.  Let’s say that during the first month of the season, The New York Giants beat Philadelphia, Dallas, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh and lead the NFC East at 4-0, while The Eagles are 2-2, with victories over Washington and Tampa Bay.

At this point in the season, the Giants are the best team in the NFL, while Philly is in the bottom half.  Now, from this point on, the Giants finish 5-7 for a 9-7 record.  The Eagles go 9-3 for an 11-5 record.

So, in the playoffs, the Giants are selected by the NFL Selection Committee due to their Quadrant 1 NFL wins in September, while the Eagles have to go to the Bert Bell Playoff Bowl in Miami (Google It–There really was a bowl game in the NFL).

If the NFL stages its playoffs this way, the league would be the laughingstock of sports.  The playoffs would be a big joke.  Yet, in college basketball, the public is brainwashed into believing that this giant tournament of mostly mediocrity is can’t miss entertainment.

The PiRates can easily miss seeing almost all these games where one or more of the combatants fared so poorly in the regular season that in decades past, their coaches might have been fired or put on a hot seat.

Allowing the 8th best team in a rather weak conference to have a chance to play for the national championship is par for the course in this everybody gets a trophy society.  When it comes down to it, neither USC nor Arizona State should have been invited to the NCAA Tournament.  Likewise, no team that did not win a conference championship should have been invited.  There are 32 conferences.  There should be 32 teams invited to the tournament, the 32 champions.

Before you say, “Hey Bucakroo, you cannot be serious about including Radford but not Duke,” let us preface that we favor just the 32 conference champions, but we also would favor handicapping the tournament so that the top 10 conference champions would receive byes to the Sweet 16, while the other 22 conference champions would have to compete in a play-in tournament to narrow from 22 to 12 to 6.  The 6 play-in winners would fill out the Sweet 16.

This is exactly how the NCAA Tournament used to be conducted.  Back in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, six to eight conference champions received automatic byes to the Sweet 16, while 14 to 18 other conference champions (and top Independents) were forced to play-in to the Sweet 16.  The bye conferences were determined by the past 5 years results in prior NCAA Tournaments.

Four plus decades ago, over half of the division 1 teams in the East were independents, playing in a loosely-knit organization called the ECAC (Eastern College Athletic Conference).  Prior to 1975, the ECAC was guaranteed two spots in the NCAA Tournament, while other Independents from the South, Midwest, and West could only be selected as at-large entries if and when the NCAA determined they were worthy.

Usually, 24 teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament.  There were eight teams that received byes and 16 teams that played into the Sweet 16.  On the third Saturday of March, the play-in games were played on neutral sites.  Then, on the following Thursday night (Friday night until 1968), the Sweet 16 Round was played, and the Elite 8 Round was played on Saturday.  There were regional consolation games to give each region four total games.

Then, the Final Four was played the following Thursday night with a consolation game and National Championship Game played on Saturday afternoon.  Starting in 1973, the Final Four moved to its present Saturday afternoon-Monday night format.

The explanation that the tournament became huge when it moved to 64 and then 68 teams is not actual fact.  The tournament was already big before it began to expand.  It would have continued to gain fan support if it had stayed exactly the same, and it is our opinion that it would be even bigger than it is today had it remained a tournament of conference champions.

With today’s format, a lot of really fantastic marquee games never happen.  The so-called media darling long shots that pull off a first round upset or sneak into the Sweet 16 eventually get blown out by a power conference team, giving the power conference team somewhat of a breather to the next round.  With 32 first round games, there are going to be a handful of upsets when a power team either overlooks the smaller school or comes out flat, while the other team plays the game of its lives.

The 1927 New York Yankees occasionally had an off day and lost to the Washington Senators (8 times that year).  They even lost a game to the St. Louis Browns.  There is always that odd day or night where things just don’t go the way they should 99% of the time.  It actually hurts the tournament when a #2 seed loses to a #15 seed, because the #15 seed isn’t going anywhere, while the #2 seed could have given the public a really incredible Elite 8 game against a #1 seed.

With that in mind, the PiRates have two separate ideas that would make the NCAA Basketball Tournament much better than it is now.  It would still give the Radford’s a real chance to compete for the title, and it would eliminate the ridiculous, human-error-laced, Selection Committee trying to create a reason why the 12-6 number two team from a power conference stays home, while the 8-10 number eight place (tied for 8th) team from that same conference makes the field.

Option A: Split Division 1 into D1 Large and D1 Small.  D1 Large would be the top 16 conferences, while D1 Small would be the bottom 16 conferences.

Conduct separate 16-team playoffs in the same manner that the NBA now uses.  4 rounds of best of 7 playoffs with the higher-ranked team getting home court advantage.  This option allows the home town fans a chance to see their team play on its home court, whereas only a handful of fans can afford to travel all over the map to watch them play in far away outposts.  How many Buffalo Bulls fans will make the trip to Boise, Idaho?

You could add a twist to the playoff formats and incorporate the relegation and promotion rules from soccer, where the conference of the Small Champion is promoted to Large, and the conference with the weakest-rated Large Champion being relegated to Small.

Imagine a Final Four with Arizona playing Kansas in a best of 7, and Virginia playing Michigan State in a best of 7.  What would the TV ratings be on these series rather than seeing a Sweet 16 game between one of these powers and a long shot low-major team that will lose by 20+ in the Sweet 16?  The two series would dwarf the ratings of today’s earlier rounds where teams are forced to play in the mornings and afternoons of weekdays.

Option B would be to revert back to how the tournament was conducted in the 1960’s and early 1970’s.  Take the 22 weakest conferences and send their champions to a 22 to 12 to 6 play-in.  Send the other 10 top conference champions expressly to the Sweet 16.

Sure, teams like North Carolina, Villanova, and Michigan would not be in the tournament, but then neither would be 8-10 Arizona State or 8-10 Syracuse.  Villanova, Michigan, Purdue, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and USC among others would give the 16-team (like it was when it was great) NIT a great group of teams, so great that they could return to playing all 15 games at Madison Square Garden.

Most of you reading this today are wondering what our schedule will be for the NCAA Tournament.  Usually, today is the day we release our annual Bracketnomics report showing what back-tested data has been successful in isolating past NCAA Tournament winners.

The PiRates have made some sweeping changes this year, as advanced metrics have made our past bracket-picking criteria somewhat obsolete.  We still have our exceptional R+T weighted rating, and it still represents a huge chunk of what works for us, but we have dropped a lot of the other former data.  With advanced metrics like true shooting% and a better way to compare teams based on strength of schedule, we will be releasing an all-inclusive, somewhat explanatory reveal Tuesday afternoon.

PiRate Ratings’ Bracket Gurus’ Final Predictions For the Field of 68

That Darn Davidson
Call it the Steph Curry Effect. It would happen that the one bid-stealing team in the Conference Tournament part of March Madness would be a team from a conference that played its championship game on Selection Sunday afternoon.

 
At least the Selection Committee had to deal with this contingency as well. If our Bracket Gurus know their stuff, they believe that bubble burst popping sound you just heard emanated from Moraga, California, and Saint Mary’s just became a number one seed in the NIT.

What about the other near miss teams?  Our gurus believe (but not unanimously) the bubbles had already burst on Louisville, Middle Tennessee State, Syracuse, Marquette, Baylor, Notre Dame, and Oklahoma St.

Now, with Davidson getting in with the automatic bid, some non-guru bracketologists might simple place the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament and remove A-10 member St. Bonaventure. It doesn’t work like that. All of our Gurus already locked the Bonnies into the field. Saint Mary’s had the bottom score of the 68 teams, and with the Gaels sulking as they prepare to host an NIT game (or if our Gurus miss), now the #68 team is Arizona St. The Sun Devils are not really affected by the upset in D.C., if our Gurus have it right. They were already headed to Dayton as one of the Last Four in.

The team other than Saint Mary’s that suffered from Davidson’s win is the former last team in with a bye. USC was the number 64 team on the seed line, but after Davidson removed Saint Mary’s from the 11-seed line, it knocked the Trojans down to the fourth weakest Guru score. Thus, the Trojans are picked to join Arizona State, St. Bonaventure, and Texas in First Four games in Dayton.

Our Gurus had a difficult time narrowing the field of 68 from a field of 71. Word leaked out of the Selection Committee early Sunday morning, that all but one at-large spot had been determined prior to any games this afternoon. Our Gurus took that as a slap across 14 faces. If the Committee had it down to 69, then they could too. Between 8AM and Noon Eastern Time today, the Gurus agreed to vote Louisville, Middle Tennessee St., Marquette, and Syracuse off the Madness Island. Pending the outcome of the Davidson-Rhode Island game, the Gurus had the teams selected. A couple of late games might have affected a couple of seeds, as Cincinnati and Tennessee could swap with a Volunteer win and Bearcat loss. Tennessee lost to Kentucky in the SEC Championship, so Cincinnati should stay where they are, win or lose in the AAC Championship Game, which is about to tip off.
Since we are going to press before the American Athletic Conference Tournament ends, we told our Gurus to assume that Cincinnati wins the game and keeps their high seed.  There is a chance a Cinti loss could elevate another team from three to two seed, but we believe the Committee doesn’t want to mess with this contingency this late in the game.  We figured that time was more of the essence than waiting for the last game to finish.
So, with that in mind, here is the PiRate Ratings Bracket Gurus’ Final Prediction. If we get 68 out of 68 again this year, it will be a minor miracle. It wasn’t easy for the Gurus to come close to a consensus. Middle Tennessee, Louisville, Syracuse, Marquette, and Baylor all received at least one vote out of 14 Guru lists. Saint Mary’s, Arizona St., and Texas were left off at least 3 of the 14 ballots.

 

Seed	Team	Conference
1	Virginia	ACC
1	Villanova	B-EAST
1	Xavier	B-EAST
1	Kansas	B12
2	Duke	ACC
2	Purdue	B-TEN
2	North Carolina	ACC
2	Cincinnati	AAC
3	Michigan St.	B-TEN
3	Tennessee	SEC
3	Michigan	B-TEN
3	Auburn	SEC
4	West Virginia	B12
4	Arizona	PAC-12
4	Texas Tech	B12
4	Wichita St.	AAC
5	Clemson	ACC
5	Gonzaga	WCC
5	Kentucky	SEC
5	Ohio St.	B-TEN
6	Houston	AAC
6	Florida	SEC
6	Miami (Fla.)	ACC
6	Arkansas	SEC
7	Texas A&M	SEC
7	TCU	B12
7	Rhode Island	A-10
7	Seton Hall	B-EAST
8	Nevada	MWC
8	Virginia Tech	ACC
8	Missouri	SEC
8	Providence	B-EAST
9	Alabama	SEC
9	Butler	B-EAST
9	Florida St.	ACC
9	Creighton	B-EAST
10	North Carolina St.	ACC
10	Kansas St.	B12
10	UCLA	PAC-12
10	Oklahoma	B12
11	USC	PAC-12
11	Texas	B12
11	St. Bonaventure	A-10
11	Arizona St.	PAC-12
11	Loyola (Chi.)	MVC
11	San Diego St.	MWC
12	New Mexico St.	WAC
12	South Dakota St.	SUMMIT
12	Buffalo	MAC
12	Davidson	A-10
13	Murray St.	OVC
13	UNC-Greensboro	SOCON
13	Marshall	CUSA
13	Charleston	CAA
14	Bucknell	PATRIOT
14	Montana	B-SKY
14	Wright St.	HORIZON
14	Georgia St./UT-Arlington	SBC
15	Stephen F. Austin	SLC
15	Lipscomb	A-SUN
15	Iona	MAAC
15	Penn	IVY
16	MD-Baltimore Co.	A-EAST
16	Cal St. Fullerton	B-WEST
16	Long Island	NEC
16	Radford	B-SOUTH
16	UNC-Central	MEAC
16	Texas Southern	SWAC

Our Gurus’ Additional Picks

First Four Round in Dayton

11-seed line: Texas vs. Arizona St.

11-seed line: USC vs. St. Bonaventure

16-seed line: Long Island vs. Texas Southern

16-seed line: Radford vs. UNC-Central

 

Last 4 Byes

61. North Carolina St.

62. Kansas St.

63. UCLA

64. Oklahoma

 

First Four Out

69. Saint Mary’s

70. Middle Tennessee St.

71. Louisville

72. Syracuse

PiRate Ratings Conference Tournament Update–March 6, 2018

PiRate Rating Spreads for Tuesday’s Conference Tournament Games

Home Team	Visitor
or Higher Seed	Lower Seed	Spread
Vermont	Stony Brook	14.1
UMBC	Hartford	4.7
Boston College	Georgia Tech	3.5
Notre Dame	Pittsburgh	16.4
Syracuse	Wake Forest	3.3
North Dakota	Montana St.	0.7
Northern Colorado	Northern Arizona	14.8
Idaho St.	Southern Utah	2.9
Portland St.	Sacramento St.	9.1
Charleston	Northeastern	-0.5
Wright St.	Cleveland St.	9.8
Howard	Florida A&M	2.3
UNC-Central	Coppin St.	7.8
Morgan St.	South Carolina St.	5.2
Wagner	Long Island	8.7
Arkansas-Pine Bluff	Mississippi Valley St.	9.3
Southern	Jackson St.	5.9
Texas Southern	Alabama St.	12.0
Prairie View A&M	Alcorn St.	9.6
South Dakota St.	South Dakota	-1.4
Gonzaga	BYU	9.4

Games in RED are Championship Games for NCAA Tournament Bids

Teams That Won Conference Championships Last Night

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament
Iona 83	Fairfield 71

Southern Conference Tournament
UNC-Greensboro 62	East Tennessee St. 47

List of Teams In the Field as of Tuesday Morning

Team	Bid	Conf.	W-L
Iona	AUTO	MAAC	20-13
Lipscomb	AUTO	A-SUN	23-9
Loyola (Chi.)	AUTO	MVC	28-5
Michigan	AUTO	BTen	28-7
Murray St.	AUTO	OVC	26-5
Radford	AUTO	B-South	22-12
UNC-Greensboro	AUTO	SoCon	27-7

 

NCAA Bids Up For Grabs Tonight

All Times EST

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament
Championship–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
7:00 PM	#1 Charleston	#2 Northeastern	CBSSN

 

Horizon League Tournament
Championship–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
7:00 PM	#2 Wright St.	#8 Cleveland St.	ESPN

Note: Cleveland State comes into this game tonight sporting a 12-22 record.  If they upset Wright State (24-9), the Vikings will most likely become one of the 16-seeds that must play a First Four game in Dayton.

Northeast Conference Tournament
Championship–March 6
Time	Home Team	Visitors	TV
7:00 PM	#1 Wagner	#4 Long Island	ESPN2

 

Summit League Tournament
Championship–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
8:00 PM	#1 South Dakota St.	#2 South Dakota	ESPN2

 

West Coast Conference Tournament
Championship–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
6:00 PM	#1 Gonzaga	#3 BYU	ESPN

Note:  BYU is a potential Bid Stealer.  If the Cougars upset the Bulldogs tonight at Orleans Arena, then the West Coast Conference would most likely send three teams instead of two to the NCAA Tournament, bursting the bubble of one of the teams on the fence, such as Alabama, Kansas St., USC, or UCLA.

Conference Tournaments Beginning Today

Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament
Brooklyn
All Times EST
First Round–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
12:00 PM	#12 Boston College	#13 Georgia Tech	ESPN2
2:00 PM	#10 Notre Dame	#15 Pittsburgh	ESPN2
7:00 PM	#11 Syracuse	#14 Wake Forest	ESPNU
Second Round–March 7
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
12:00 PM	#8 Florida St.	#9 Louisville	ESPN
2:00 PM	#5 North Carolina St.	Boston Coll. or Ga. Tech	ESPN
7:00 PM	#7 Virginia Tech	N.Dame or Pitt	ESPN2
9:00 PM	#6 North Carolina	Syracuse or Wake Forest	ESPN2
Quarterfinals–March 8
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
12:00 PM	#1 Virginia	Fla. St. or Louis.	ESPN
2:00 PM	#4 Clemson	NCSt/BC/GaT	ESPN
7:00 PM	#2 Duke	VaT/N.Dame/Pitt	ESPN
9:00 PM	#3 Miami (Fla.)	UNC/Syr/Wake For	ESPN
Semifinals–March 9
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
7:00 PM	UVa/FSU/Louis.	Clem/NCSt/BC/GaT	TBA
9:00 PM	Duke/VaT/ND/Pitt	Mia.UNC/Syr/WF	TBA
Championship–March 10
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
8:30 PM			ESPN

Note: #10 Seed Notre Dame is a team to monitor in this tournament.  With star forward Bonzie Colson returning to the lineup after missing 15 games, the Irish could sneak into the semifinals of this tournament.  They should quickly dismiss hapless Pittsburgh today.  The game with Virginia Tech tomorrow would most likely be a must-win for Notre Dame’s at-large hopes.  If the Irish win that game, they would face Duke in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

 

Big Sky Conference Tournament
Reno, NV
All Times PST
First Round–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
12:00 PM	#8 North Dakota	#9 Montana St.	Pluto tv
2:30 PM	#5 Northern Colorado	#12 Northern Arizona	Pluto tv
5:30 PM	#7 Idaho St.	#10 Southern Utah	Pluto tv
8:00 PM	#6 Portland St.	#11 Sacramento St.	Pluto tv
Quarterfinals–March 8
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
12:00 PM	#1 Montana	UND or MSU	Pluto tv
2:30 PM	#4 Weber St.	UNC or NAU	Pluto tv
5:30 PM	#2 Idaho	ISU or S. Utah	Pluto tv
8:00 PM	#3 Eastern Washington	PSU or Sac St.	Pluto tv
Semifinals–March 9
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
5:30 PM	Mont/UND/MSU	Web/UNC/NAU	Pluto tv
8:00 PM	Ida/ISU/S.Utah	EWU/PSU/Sac. St.	Pluto tv
Championship–March 10
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
5:00 PM			ESPNU

Note: Montana comes into the tournament riding a 16-2 record in conference play.  The Grizzlies sport the best defense in the league, including the top ball-hawking perimeter players.

 

Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament
First Round at Higher Seed, Semifinal and Final Round in Houston
Grambling and Alabama A&M are ineligible due to low APR Scores
All Times CST
Quarterfinals–March 6
Time	Home	Visitors	TV
7:30 PM	#1 Arkansas-Pine Bluff	#8 Mississippi Valley St.	TBA
7:30 PM	#4 Southern U	#5 Jackson St.	TBA
8:00 PM	#3 Texas Southern	#6 Alabama St.	TBA
8:30 PM	#2 Prairie View A&M	#7 Alcorn St.	TBA
Semifinals–March 9
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
2:30 PM	UAPB or MVSU	Southern or JSU	TBA
8:30 PM	PVAM or Alcorn	TSU or ASU	TBA
Championship–March 10
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
3:00 PM			ESPN2

Note:  There is no complete team in this tournament.  The best team in the league, Grambling, is ineligible due to low APR Scores.  Prairie View is the only team with a chance of getting its record over .500 by winning the tournament, and then the won-loss record would be 18-17.  Unless 4, 20-loss mid-major teams win conference tournaments, the automatic bid will go to a team that must quickly head to Dayton for a First Four game.

Conference Tournaments Continuing Today

America East Conference Tournament
Semifinals–March 6  All Times EST
Time	Home	Visitors	TV
7:00 PM	#1 Vermont	#5 Stony Brook	ESPN3
7:30 PM	#2 UMBC	#3 Hartford	ESPN3
Championship–March 10
Time	Home	Visitors	TV
11:00 AM	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	ESPN2

 

Mideastern Athletic Conference Tournament
First Round–March 6
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
4:00 PM	#8 Howard	#9 Florida A&M	ESPN3
6:30 PM	#6 UNC-Central	#11 Coppin St.	ESPN3
9:00 PM	#7 Morgan St.	#10 South Carolina St.	ESPN3
Quarterfinals–March 7
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
6:00 PM	#1 Hampton	Howard or FAMU	ESPN3
8:00 PM	#2 Bethune-Cookman	MSU or SCSU	ESPN3
Quarterfinals–March 8
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
6:00 PM	#3 Savannah St.	UNCC or Coppin	ESPN3
8:00 PM	#4 North Carolina A&T	#5 Norfolk St.	ESPN3
Semifinals–March 9
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
6:00 PM	Hampton/Howard/FAMU	NCAT/Norfolk St	ESPN3
8:00 PM	BCU/MSU/SCSU	Sav/UNCC/Coppin	ESPN3
Championship–March 10
Time	Higher Seed	Lower Seed	TV
1:00 PM			ESPN2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Selection Sunday Ayem–March 12, 2017

Like Xmas Day For A Basketball Junkie

5:30 PM Eastern DAYLIGHT Time cannot come quickly enough.  Today is the day fans of 68 teams get to open their March Madness presents.  Most of the teams that will be dancing know they are in, be it with an automatic bid or a for sure at-large bid.  The Bubble has shrunk to just a few teams, and our Bracketology Gurus believe they have the 68 teams this morning before any games are played today.  Only the seeding may be altered by today’s games, but they agree in 100% unison that the teams we will list are the 68 teams that will continue to pursue their National Championship dreams.

THE FINAL BUBBLE

California

Illinois St.

Iowa

Kansas St.

Rhode Island

Syracuse

USC

Vanderbilt

Wake Forest

Xavier

Room at the Inn for six of these 10 teams, so which six make it, and which 4 are number one seeds in the NIT?

The six we have in are (alphabetically): Kansas State, Rhode Island, USC, Vanderbilt, Wake Forest, and Xavier.

The four that will need tissues to wipe their tears are: California, Illinois State, Iowa, and Syracuse

The one that the Gurus believe should be in over one that should be out is Illinois State rather than USC.  However, the Gurus are selecting based on how they predict the Selection Committee will select, and even through the rules state that teams are not chosen within a conference by conference basis, subconsciously the members will look and see that they cannot exclude both Cal and the Trojans.  USC’s win over SMU is the reason the men of Troy get in over the men of Berkeley.

 

There are six games left to be played, and the seed lines could change based on who wins, but the Committee does not change their final seedings within the last two hours, so the final scores of some of the games will be official after the final seeding has been done.  Thus, the AAC and Big Ten Championship Games will still be underway when the final seeds are completed.  Only the name of the Sun Belt Conference Champion will have to be added late, and the Committee can already put the first letter of that champion on the board–a “T” (Texas State or Troy).

 

Here is today’s schedule.

American Athletic Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	SMU	29-4	vs.	2	Cincinnati	29-4	3:15 PM	ESPN
Atlantic 10 Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
4	Rhode Island	23-9	vs.	2	VCU	26-7	12:30 PM	CBS
Big Ten Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
8	Michigan	23-11	vs.	2	Wisconsin	25-8	3:00 PM	CBS
Ivy League Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	Princeton	22-6	vs.	3	Yale	18-10	12:00 PM	ESPN2
Southeastern Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	Kentucky	28-5	vs.	3	Arkansas	25-8	1:00 PM	ESPN
Sun Belt Conference Championship
Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
4	Texas St.	20-12	vs.	6	Troy	21-14	2:00 PM	ESPN2
Selection Sunday
5:30 PM EDT on CBS
NCAA Tournament
First Four: March 14-15
Second Round: March 16-17
Third Round: March 18-19
Sweet 16: March 23-24
Elite Eight: March 25-26
Final Four: April 1
National Championship: April 3

The Bracketology Gurus Field of 68

1. Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas, North Carolina
2. Duke, Arizona, Kentucky, Oregon
3. Baylor, Louisville, Florida St., UCLA
4. West Virginia, Butler, Notre Dame, Cincinnati
5. Florida, Iowa St., Virginia, Purdue
6. Wisconsin, SMU, Minnesota, Michigan
7. Creighton, Arkansas, Saint Mary’s, Wichita St.
8. Maryland, Miami (Fla.), VCU, Virginia Tech
9. Northwestern, Oklahoma St., Dayton, Seton Hall
10. Michigan St., South Carolina, Marquette, Providence
11. Middle Tennessee, Xavier, Vanderbilt, USC, Wake Forest
12. UNC-Wilmington, Nevada, Vermont, Rhode Island, Kansas St.
13. Bucknell, Princeton, Winthrop, East Tennessee St.
14. Florida Gulf Coast, New Mexico St., Iona, Northern Kentucky
15. Texas Southern, Kent State, Jacksonville St., North Dakota
16. Texas St., UNC-Central, New Orleans, South Dakota St., UC-Davis, Mount St. Mary’s

Last Four Byes: Marquette, Providence, Vanderbilt, Xavier

Last Four In (Dayton Bound): USC vs. Wake Forest, Rhode Island vs. Kansas St.

First Four Out (#1 Seeds in NIT): California, Illinois St., Iowa, and Syracuse

 

Coming Next:  We go dark for 48 hours.  Tuesday morning, we will premier PiRate Bracketnomics for 2017 with a total primer on how we handle our bracket picking and outright winners of games for you that failed to heed our warnings and chose to wager your hard-earned dollars in Vegas or offshore.  FWIW, we have heard from a half-dozen of you that you have found something in our Blue Ratings that have made you handsome profits this year.  We hope that continues for you, but please do not rely on just our ratings to wager money with books in Vegas.  We don’t want the guilt trip when you cannot pay your April Mortgage or car payment.

In addition to Bracketnomics, we will also give you all the raw data to use for yourself.  We will have a spreadsheet of all 68 teams with their Four Factors, their PiRate Specific Ratings, and then follow that up with how the teams fit in our Final Four footprint.  We have backtested the data we use as far back as each statistic allows us to do, and we will include that in our preview.

Tell all your friends to check us out.  The Tuesday preview is our most visited entry of the year, even more than our Super Bowl and College Playoff National Championship football editions.

 

But remember our axiom: We are just a bunch of math nerds doing this for fun.  Please wager responsibly, or like us just wager a lunch with your friend.  Also, remember that you have a better chance of being abducted by aliens from space while being struck by lightning, as you hold the winning Power Ball and Mega Millions lottery tickets while getting a kiss from a supermodel (all at the same time) than you do of picking a perfect bracket.

Note: Special Congrats go to Renato Nunez on his impressive home run at Hohokam Park yesterday against the Rangers.

The Pirate Ratings Bracketology Gurus Report For February 27, 2017

Gonzaga’s Loss–Good or Bad

Minutes after Gonzaga lost their home finale Saturday night, we began hearing the so-called experts talk about how a loss might help the Bulldogs rather than keep the pressure on them to stay undefeated.  We have heard this statement many times in the past, and we believe it is hogwash.  A loss never really helps a team, even if coaches and others say it may help focus attention and force players to play harder.

The team that goes 29-0 before losing is not one that needs help focusing or one that can find a way to improve on the loss.  As a matter of fact, we believe this loss hurts Gonzaga more than what it looks like on face value.  Their players lost a lot of confidence, and any self-doubt can create weaker play.  Look at it in baseball.  When a player has to think about facing Aroldis Chapman, or before him Randy Johnson, Rob Dibble, or Sandy Koufax, the thought of facing a pitcher than they cannot possibly hit oftentimes leads to the batter not being able to hit these stars.  The all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, didn’t believe he could hit Koufax’s curve ball, and he didn’t.  He hit below .175 against him.

In the basketball world, we see a close correlation between Gonzaga and the 1977 San Francisco Dons.  That USF team had four stars that would matriculate to the NBA, including future Chicago Bulls’ center Bill Cartwright, who had been considered the nation’s top high school prospect when he signed with the Dons.

The 1977 USF team played in the West Coast Athletic Conference, the predecessor of today’s West Coast Conference, of which Gonzaga is a member (as is USF).  The Dons were the odds-on favorite to win the WCAC title, but nobody expected USF to do what they did that year.  Starting just outside the top 10, USF began winning game after game.  Their early schedule featured several power conference teams, including eventual SEC champion Tennessee and WAC Champion Utah.  The Dons stayed undefeated throughout November and December, and with a win over St. John’s and a second win over Houston, USF moved to the top of the polls in early January.  There was no real competition in conference play as the Dons won the league by five games.  With a 29-0 record and a scoring margin near 20 points per game, USF closed out the regular season with a road game against a good but not great Notre Dame team.

In the second half, the Irish began to wear down the USF stars, and they were able to neutralize the Dons’ best factor–their rebounding ability.  Notre Dame went on a run and knocked USF out of the unbeaten ranks just before NCAA Tournament play began.  USF fell to number three in the nation behind Michigan and UCLA, but the experts of the day said that the loss would help USF be able to focus and recover.  It wasn’t to be.  In their very first tournament game, USF ran up against the Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV, and Coach Jerry Tarkanian was about to take his team to its first Final Four.  UNLV ran out to a quick double-digit lead and cruised to a 121-95 victory to end USF’s year at 29-2.

We are not saying that Gonzaga will lose its first tournament game, and remember that when USF lost to UNLV, there were just 32 Tournament teams.  What we are saying is that Gonzaga’s chances of making the Final 4 are now less by several percentage points than it was prior to Saturday.  In fact, we are willing to state that we do not believe the Bulldogs will make it to the Elite 8 this year, because their confidence level has dropped.  They may not even win the WCC Tournament.  Saint Mary’s might advance further in the Dance.  That’s how much we believe this loss hurt the Zags.

 

Our Weekly Look at the Conferences

To many basketball fans, the next five weeks equates to summer vacation. Conference tournament action commences today with the opening round of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament tipping off in Fort Myers, Florida, Nashville, Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, as the four higher seeded teams host the four lower seeded teams.

Starting today, our Bracketology Report merges with the Conference Tournament Coverage, so you will get a bit of both. In total 10 different leagues have their tournament brackets in place, so instead of showing you the records of the top teams in those leagues, we will show you the tournament schedules along with a brief look at who is hot, who is not, and who we think might win.
Our Bracketology Gurus have sent their selections to us this week, and many of them plan to update every time their bracket changes in the last two weeks before Selection Sunday.

ONE BID CONFERENCES
America East

America East Tournament–Higher Seed at Home
Quarterfinal Round, Wednesday, March 1
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	1	Vermont	26-5	vs.	8	Maine	7-24	7:00 PM	ESPN3
2	2	Stony Brook	17-12	vs.	7	Binghamton	12-19	7:00 PM	ESPN3
3	3	Albany	19-12	vs.	6	Hartford	9-22	7:30 PM	ESPN3
4	4	New Hampshire	19-11	vs.	5	Md.-Baltimore Co.	18-11	7:30 PM	ESPN3
Semifinal Round, Monday, March 6
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
5		Highest Remaining Seed		vs.		Lowest Remaining Seed		7:00 PM	ESPN3
6		2nd Highest Remaining Seed		vs.		2nd Lowest Remaining Seed		7:30 PM	ESPN3
Championship Game, Saturday, March 11
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 5 winner				Game 6 winner		11:00 AM	ESPN2
	* This Tournament Re-seeds after the quarterfinals like the NFL Playoffs

Vermont finished the regular season with a perfect 16-0 record in the league, and there is only one other team remaining that has an undefeated conference record (Princeton is 12-0 in the Ivy League with two games remaining). So, the Catamounts must be considered prohibitive favorites, especially since they have home court advantage throughout the tournament. Only one league opponent gabe Vermont any real difficulty this year, and that was Maryland-Baltimore County. However, UMBC finished as the fifth seed, and the Retrievers will have to win a road game against New Hampshire to get a chance at the Catamounts. UNH lost at Vermont by just eight points after playing to a stalemate in the first half, and the Wildcats did not lose another game afterwards, finishing on a five-game winning streak.

Atlantic Sun

Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament–Higher Seed at Home
Quarterfinal Round, Monday, February 27
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	1	Florida Gulf Coast	23-7	vs.	8	Stetson	11-20	7:00 PM	WatchESPN
2	2	Lipscomb	19-12	vs.	7	NJIT	11-19	8:00 PM	WatchESPN
3	3	North Florida	13-18	vs.	6	Jacksonville	17-14	7:00 PM	WatchESPN
4	4	USC-Upstate	17-14	vs.	5	Kennesaw St.	13-17	7:00 PM	WatchESPN
Semifinal Round, Thursday, March 2
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
5		Game 1 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		TBA	WatchESPN
6		Game 2 winner		vs.		Game 3 winner		TBA	WatchESPN
Championship Game, Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		3:00 PM	ESPN

Florida Gulf Coast has been in this spot before, and the Eagles have come through as the favorite more than once. They did lose at home to second seed Lipscomb in an ugly game where defense dominated, but the Bisons will most likely have to beat North Florida in the semifinals to get to Fort Myers for the title game. North Florida swept Lipscomb during the regular season, with their star Dallas Moore scoring 75 points in the two contests. FGCU is looking pretty and the Eagles would be competitive if they make the Big Dance. They beat UT-Arlington and lost close games to Michigan St. and Baylor.

Big Sky
North Dakota 13-3/18-8
Eastern Washington 12-4/20-9
Weber St. 11-5/16-11
Idaho 10-6/16-12
Montana St. 10-6/15-14

Weber State dropped three straight games, while the two teams above them in the standings are enjoying nice winning streaks. Montana State is the hot team from the next waive, but keep an eye on 8th place Portland State (7-9/14-13). The Vikings have lost a lot of close games, five in overtime, and they have the ability to score points in big spurts. It would not be a surprise if PSU upset a team or two in this tournament, which in our opinion is wide open.

Big South

Big South Conference Tournament–1st Round & Championship at Higher Seed, Middle 2 Rounds at #1 Winthrop
1st Round, Tuesday, February 28 (at Higher Seed)
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	7	Campbell	14-16	vs.	10	Presbyterian	5-24	7:00 PM	BSouth Net.
2	8	Charleston Southern	11-18	vs.	9	Longwood	6-23	7:00 PM	BSouth Net.
Quarterfinal Round, Thursday, March 2 (at Winthrop)
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	2	UNC-Asheville	23-8	vs.		Game 1 winner		1:00 PM	ESPN3
4	3	Liberty	19-12	vs.	6	Radford	13-17	3:00 PM	ESPN3
5	1	Winthrop	23-6	vs.		Game 2 winner		7:00 PM	ESPN3
6	4	Gardner-Webb	18-13	vs.	5	High Point	15-15	9:00 PM	ESPN3
Semifinal Round, Friday, March 3 (at Winthrop)
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 3 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		6:00 PM	ESPN3
8		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		8:00 PM	ESPN3
Championship Game, Sunday, March 5 (at Higher Seed)
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
9		Game 7 winner		vs.		Game 8 winner		1:00 PM	ESPN

Winthrop and UNC-Asheville could be on a collision course for a rematch of last year’s championship game, where UNCA won on a neutral floor and then became fodder for eventual National Champion Villanova in the Round of 64. Winthrop has the edge this year, as the Eagles will play at home as long as they remain in the tournament. The two games between these teams were both nip and tuck games that went to the wire, with the game in Asheville needing an extra 10 minutes to decide the winner (UNCA won to earn a split). If you are looking for a dark horse, Gardner-Webb is playing its best ball of the year at the present time, and the Bulldogs upset UNCA to give the regular season title to Winthrop.

Big West
UC-Davis 10-4/18-11
UC-Irvine 10-4/17-13
Cal St. Fullerton 8-6/14-13

No team has been able to dominate in this league this year, and the tournament should be competitive. The current co-leaders meet in Irvine to close the regular season, and the winner should take the top seed. Long Beach St. (8-7/13-18) has been dreadful away from home this year, but Anaheim is almost like being at home in the Pyramid, so the 49ers might be worth looking at as a dark horse.

Colonial Athletic

Colonial Athletic Association Tournament–Charleston, SC
1st Round, Friday, March 3
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	8	Hofstra	15-16	vs.	9	Delaware	12-19	6:00 PM	CAA.tv
2	7	James Madison	9-22	vs.	10	Drexel	9-22	8:30 PM	CAA.tv
Quarterfinal Round, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	1	UNC-Wilmington	26-5	vs.				12:00 PM	Comcast SN
4	4	William & Mary	16-13	vs.	5	Elon	18-13	2:30 PM	Comcast SN
5	2	College of Charleston	23-8	vs.				6:00 PM	Comcast SN
6	3	Towson St.	19-12	vs.	6	Northeastern	15-15	8:30 PM	Comcast SN
Semifinal Round, Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 3 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		2:00 PM	Comcast SN
8		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		4:30 PM	Comcast SN
Championship Game, Monday, March 6
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
9		Game 7 winner		vs.		Game 8 winner		7:00 PM	CBSSN

A month ago, we could have just ceded this tournament to defending champ UNC-Wilmington, but that was before the Seahawks lost to William and Mary, Charleston, and Elon. Now, this looks like a tournament that is much more up for grabs. UNCW is still the favorite, but they will not win this is a cake walk. Expect some competitive games, and it would not be a surprise if somebody other than the top two teams emerges as the eventual champion. We are keeping an eye on 8-seed Hofstra. The Gaels lost a lot of close games and then won a couple on the road at the end. They have to play in the opening round and would need to win four games to take the NCAA bid, but they could sneak into the semifinals.

Conference USA
Note: Middle Tennessee is closing in on moving into the Bubble should they win out and make it to the CUSA Championship Game and lose. For now, we keep CUSA as a one-team bid.

Middle Tennessee 15-1/25-4
Louisiana Tech 13-4/21-9
Old Dominion 11-5/18-10
UTEP 11-5/13-15
Rice 10-6/20-9

Middle Tennessee clinched the CUSA regular season title yesterday, and with two home games over bottom-feeders, the Blue Raiders should enter the conference tournament at 27-4. The good news for MTSU is the host team looks like they are headed for a 7th place finish, and UAB could not face the Blue Raiders until the Championship Game from that spot. The Blazers took the Raiders to the wire yesterday in the Magic City. UTEP was the lone team to beat the Raiders, but Rice and Louisiana Tech played MTSU close and could pose a challenge.

Horizon
Oakland 14-4/24-7
Valparaiso 14-4/24-7
Northern Kentucky 12-6/21-10
Green Bay 12-6/18-12
Wright St. 11-7/20-11

Imagine how the Cleveland Cavaliers would respond if Lebron James were lost just prior to the start of the playoffs. That’s how Valpo feels right now, as their big star is out of action, and the Crusaders are just an average team without him. Will Alec Peters return 100% healthy from his leg injury that cost him to miss the last two games? Without him yesterday, Valpo lost at Northern Kentucky to fall into a first place tie with Oakland.

Oakland has won nine consecutive games, while Northern Kentucky is making a name for itself for the first time since it became the third Cincinnati-area team to play Division 1 basketball. NKU Head Coach John Brannen is one of the up and coming coaches with a future at a bigger program sometime down the road, and his Norse could be ready to make some noise in Motor City Madness.

Ivy
Princeton 12-0/19-6
Harvard 10-2/18-7
Yale 7-5/15-10
Columbia 5-7/11-14
Penn 5-7/12-13

The top four teams in the Ivy League qualify for the inaugural Ivy League Tournament at the Palestra in Philadelphia. Princeton and Harvard have clinched spots, while Yale needs another win to clinch a spot. The final spot is still to be decided, as Columbia beat Penn Saturday night to move back into a tie for fourth place. At present, Columbia holds the tiebreaker, but Penn has the more advantageous closing schedule with two home games, while the Lions must play two road games.

Princeton must still get by Harvard at home to finish 14-0 and then most likely will have to beat Harvard a third time to make it to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers played a couple of good non-conference foes close, but this does not look like the year where an Ivy team will win an NCAA Tournament game.

Metro Atlantic

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament at Albany (Siena)
1st Round, Thursday, March 2
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	8	Quinnipiac	10-20	vs.	9	Niagara	9-22	5:00 PM	ESPN3
2	7	Canisius	17-14	vs.	10	Marist	8-23	7:00 PM	ESPN3
3	6	Rider	17-14	vs.	11	Manhattan	10-21	9:00 PM	ESPN3
Quarterfinal Round–Day 1, Friday, March 3
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
4	1	Mounmouth	26-5	vs.		Game 1 winner		7:00 PM	ESPN3
5	2	St. Peter’s	18-12	vs.		Game 2 winner		9:30 PM	ESPN3
Quarterfinal Round–Day 2, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
6	3	Iona	19-12	vs.		Game 3 winner		7:00 PM	ESPN3
7	4	Siena	15-16	vs.	5	Fairfield	16-13	9:30 PM	ESPN3
Semifinal Round–Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
8		Game 4 winner		vs.		Game 7 winner		4:30 PM	ESPN3
9		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		7:00 PM	ESPN3
Championship Game–Monday, March 6
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
10		Game 8 winner		vs.		Game 9 winner		9:00 PM	ESPN2

An interesting factoid here: The MAAC tiebreaker system forced a coin flip to determine the bottom two seeds. Marist and Manhattan tied for last at 5-15. Using the MAAC tiebreaker system, the two teams split their games. The second tiebreaker resorts in seeing who had the better record against the top-ranked team and downward until one team finished with a better record against the teams in order. Unfortunately, both Marist and Manhattan were swept by the top 5 teams. The 6th and 7th place teams tied, and Marist and Manhattan both went 1-3 against those two teams. Both teams swept Niagara, so that left no choice but to flip a coin to decide which team would be the #10 seed and which team would be the #11 seed.
Marist won the coin flip and will be the #10 seed, while Manhattan will be the #11 seed.

As for the other end of the standings, Monmouth tries to make up for stumbling in this tournament last year when the Hawks had enough talent to do some damage in the Big Dance. They may get there a year late, but the 2017 Hawks do not look to be as strong as last year’s team; they do enter the tournament riding a 16-game winning streak. Siena has to be considered a contender, since the tournament will be played on their home floor. Iona and St. Peter’s will not go down without a fight, so if the bracket holds, the semifinal round should be one worth watching.

Mid-American
Akron 13-3/23-6
Ohio 10-6/18-9
Ball St. 9-7/18-11
Kent St. 9-7/17-12
Buffalo 9-7/15-14
Western Michigan 9-7/13-15

The MAC Tournament is always a wide-open event, and the regular season champ is rarely a big favorite. Buffalo has won the last two MAC Tournaments, and the Bulls have to be considered a contender to “three-peat.” Akron failed as the top seed last year, and the Zips have lost the magic touch they had earlier in the season when they ran off a dozen victories in a row. Kent State is the hot team in the East, while Western Michigan is trying to become the MAC basketball version of the 1914 Miracle Boston Braves. WMU was in last place at 3-7 in the league, but the Broncos have won six consecutive games to move into a tie for first in the West.

Mideastern Athletic
UNC-Central 13-1/22-6
Norfolk St. 12-3/15-14
Morgan St. 10-4/13-14

MEAC hopes for avoiding Dayton rest on UNC-Central winning the conference tournament. The Eagles could even concievably move up to a 15-seed if they win out.

Mountain West
Nevada 12-4/23-6
Colorado St. 12-4/20-9
Boise St. 11-5/18-9
Fresno St. 9-7/17-11

Every week, we see a different team looking like the best in this league, but what the last few weeks have really told us is there is no really great MWC team this year like San Diego State and New Mexico have been in recent years. Then again, the top four this year are not chopped liver, and even though this figures to be a one-bid league in 2017, don’t automatically select this league’s representative to fall in their first NCAA Tournament game. Nevada has a very good offense. Colorado State has a very good defense. Boise State and Fresno State have better than average offenses and defenses. And, then there is always the possibility that one of the two recent teams that have controlled this league (San Diego St. and New Mexico) could get hot and take the conference tournament crown.

Northeast

Northeast Conference Tournament–All Games at Higher Seed
Quarterfinal Round, Wednesday, March 1
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	1	Mount St. Mary’s	16-15	vs.	8	Sacred Heart	13-18	7:00 PM	NEC Frontrow
2	2	Long Island	20-11	vs.	7	Robert Morris	13-18	9:00 PM	MSG+/FCS
3	3	Wagner	15-13	vs.	6	Fairleigh-Dickinson	11-18	7:00 PM	MSG+/FCS
4	4	St. Francis (PA)	14-15	vs.	5	Bryant	12-19	7:00 PM	NEC Frontrow
Semifinal Round, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
5		Highest Remaining Seed		vs.		Lowest Remaining Seed		12 or 2 PM	MSG/FCS
6		2nd Highest Remaining Seed		vs.		2nd Lowest Remaining Seed		12 or 2 PM	MSG/FCS
Championship Game, Tuesday, March 7
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 5 winner				Game 6 winner		11:00 AM	ESPN2
	* This Tournament Re-seeds after the quarterfinals like the NFL Playoffs

In the last four years, four different teams have won the NEC regular season championship, and four different teams have won the conference tournament. In the four cases, the regular season champion did not win the conference tournament. The last team to win both the regular season and conference tournament was Long Island five years ago. Mount St. Mary’s won the regular season title, but LIU looks like the team to beat once again, as the Blackbirds enter tourney play riding a six-game winning streak that includes a victory at MSM.

Ohio Valley

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament at Nashville
1st Round, Wednesday, March 1
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	5	Southeast Missouri	14-17	vs.	8	Tennessee St.	17-12	7:30 PM	OVC Digital
2	6	Tennessee Tech	12-19	vs.	7	Murray St.	14-16	9:30 PM	OVC Digital
Quarterfinal Round, Thursday, March 2
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	4	Jacksonville St.	17-14			Game 1 winner		7:30 PM	OVC Digital
4	3	Morehead St.	14-15			Game 2 winner		9:30 PM	OVC Digital
Semifinal Round, Friday, March 3
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
5	1	Belmont	22-5			Game 3 winner		7:30 PM	ESPNU
6	2	UT-Martin	20-11			Game 4 winner		10:00 PM	ESPNU
Championship Game, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 5 winner				Game 6 winner		8:00 PM	ESPN2

Belmont has been in the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last 11 years, and if the Bruins do not make it eight out of 12 this year, it will be a major shock. Last year, Austin Peay came from the lowest seed to upset the field, and if you are looking for a team to repeat that, keep an eye on Tennessee State.

Patriot

Patriot League Tournament–All Games at Higher Seed
1st Round, Tuesday, February 28
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	7	Loyola (MD.)	14-15	vs.	10	Lafayette	9-20	7:30 PM	Patriot Lg Net
2	8	Army	12-18	vs.	9	American	8-21	7:00 PM	Patriot Lg Net
Quarterfinal Round, Thursday, March 2
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	2	Boston U	23-8	vs.		Game 1 winner		7:00 PM	Patriot Lg Net
4	3	Lehigh	19-12	vs.	6	Colgate	10-21	7:00 PM	Patriot Lg Net
5	1	Bucknell	23-6	vs.		Game 2 winner		7:00 PM	Patriot Lg Net
6	4	Navy	18-13	vs.	5	Holy Cross	15-16	7:00 PM	Patriot Lg Net
Semifinal Round, Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 3 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		12 or 2 PM	CBSSN
8		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		12 or 2 PM	CBSSN
Championship Game, Wednesday, March 8
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
9		Game 7 winner		vs.		Game 8 winner		7:30 PM	CBSSN

Bucknell is tough to beat at home, and the Bison will get home court advantage throughout the tournament, but Lehigh swept the Bison during the regular season. The Explorers were swept by Boston U, and they will most likely have to win in Boston to get to Bucknell. Boston was swept by Bucknell, so the top three were like Rock, Paper, Scissors. Might another team be in the mix? It would be a very long shot, because the top three ended the season looking double-digit points better than the rest of the league.

Southern
East Tennessee 14-3/24-6
Furman 14-4/21-10
UNC-Greensboro 13-4/22-8
Chattanooga 10-7/19-10

The two hot teams meet tonight to decide the regular season champion, with ETSU visiting UNCG. Both teams enter with six-game winning streaks, and both teams have been playing defense like champions. The loser of this game will probably get a chance for revenge when the outcome is much more important.

Southland
New Orleans 12-4/17-10
Texas A&M-CC 11-5/18-9
Stephen F. Austin 11-5/16-12
Houston Baptist 10-6/15-12

This is a weak year in the SLC, and the eventural league representative in the NCAA has a high probability of heading to Dayton as a 16-seed in a first four game. The two hot teams as conference play comes to the end are Texas A&M-CC with a nine-game winning streak and Houston Baptist with a seven-game winning streak. TAMCC coach Willis Wilson came close to getting into the Dance many times with Rice, and he has slowly built the Islanders into a contender. It would be touching if Wilson finally made it to the NCAA Tournament in his 22nd season as a Division I head coach.

Southwestern Athletic
Texas Southern 13-2/17-11
Southern 10-6/14-15
Grambling 8-7/13-15

Unfortunately for this league, the hottest team is the one ineligible to go to the NCAA Tournament (Alcorn State). Texas Southern will be the heavy favorite, but even if the Tigers win the tournament, they will almost assuredly have to play in the First Four in Dayton.

Summit

Summit League Tournament–Sioux Falls, SD
Quarterfinal Round–Day 1, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	1	South Dakota	21-10		8	Western Illinois	8-19	7:00 PM	ESPN3
2	2	North Dakota St.	19-10		7	IUPUI	13-17	9:30 PM	ESPN3
Quarterfinal Round–Day 2, Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	4	South Dakota St.	15-16		5	Denver	16-13	7:00 PM	ESPN3
4	3	Omaha	16-13		6	Fort Wayne	19-11	9:30 PM	ESPN3
Semifinal Round–Monday, March 6
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
5		Game 1 winner				Game 3 winner		7:00 PM	ESPN3
6		Game 2 winner				Game 4 winner		9:30 PM	ESPN3
Championship–Tuesday, March 7
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 5 winner				Game 6 winner		9:00 PM	ESPN2

This should be a rather interesting tournament. 4-seed South Dakota State and 6-seed Fort Wayne cannot be overlooked, but the top three seeds are clearly the co-favorites. Omaha and Fort Wayne can light up the scoreboard, and their quarterfinal game could see one or both teams top the century mark.

Sun Belt
UT-Arlington 12-3/22-6
Georgia St. 11-5/18-10
Georgia Southern 11-5/18-11
Arkansas St. 10-5/18-9

UT-Arlington has the lone signature win in this league this year (beat St. Mary’s), and the Mavericks could be this year’s version of UALR. The top four in this league could play each other 10 times, and the final records might range from just 17-13 to 13-17, so UTA cannot automatically waltz through to the NCAA Tournament.

Western Athletic
Cal St. Bakersfield 12-1/21-7
New Mexico St. 10-3/24-5

One of these two teams should win the conference tournament, mostly because the only other quality team (Grand Canyon) is still a year away from becoming a full-fledge Division I member. CSUB has won 10 games in a row by an average of 11.5 points per game, which includes a win over New Mexico St.

MULTIPLE BID LEAGUES

American
In: SMU, Cincinnati
Bubble: Houston

Atlantic 10
In: Dayton, VCU
Bubble: Rhode Island

Atlantic Coast
In: North Carolina, Florida St., Louisville, Notre Dame, Duke, Miami, Virginia Tech, Virginia
Bubble: Syracuse, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech

Big 12
In: Kansas, West Virginia, Baylor, Iowa St., Oklahoma St.
Bubble: Kansas St., TCU, Texas Tech

Big East
In: Villanova, Butler, Creighton
Bubble: Seton Hall, Providence, Xavier, Marquette

Big Ten
In: Purdue, Wisconsin, Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan St., Northwestern, Michigan
Bubble: Iowa

Missouri Valley

Missouri Valley Conference Tournament (Arch Madness) at St. Louis
1st Round, Thursday, March 2
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	8	Evansville	15-16	vs.	9	Indiana St.	11-19	7:00 PM	MVC TV
2	7	Bradley	12-19	vs.	10	Drake	7-23	9:30 PM	MVC TV
Quarterfinal Round, Friday, March 3
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	1	Illinois St.	25-5	vs.		Game 1 winner		1:00 PM	MVC TV
4	4	Southern Illinois	16-15	vs.	5	Loyola (Chi.)	18-13	3:30 PM	MVC TV
5	2	Wichita St.	27-4	vs.		Game 2 winner		7:00 PM	MVC TV
6	3	Northern Iowa	14-15	vs.	6	Missouri St.	16-15	9:30 PM	MVC TV
Semifinal Round, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 3 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		3:30 PM	CBSSN
8		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		6:00 PM	CBSSN
Championship Game, Sunday, March 5
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
9		Game 7 winner		vs.		Game 8 winner		2:00 PM	CBS

In: Wichita St.
Bubble: Illinois St.

Pac-12
In: Oregon, Arizona, UCLA
Bubble: California, Utah, USC

SEC
In: Kentucky, Florida, Arkansas, South Carolina
Bubble: Vanderbilt, Georgia

West Coast

West Coast Conference Tournament at Las Vegas
1st Round, Friday, March 3
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
1	8	Pepperdine	9-21	vs.	9	Pacific	10-21	BYUtv	9:00 PM
2	7	San Diego	13-17	vs.	10	Portland	10-21	BYUtv	11:00 PM
Quarterfinal Round, Saturday, March 4
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
3	3	BYU	21-10	vs.	6	Loyola Marymount	15-14	4:00 PM	BYUtv
4	4	Santa Clara	16-15	vs.	5	San Francisco	20-11	6:00 PM	BYUtv
5	1	Gonzaga	29-1	vs.		Game 1 winner		10:00 PM	ESPN2
6	2	Saint Mary’s	26-3	vs.		Game 2 winner		12:00 AM	ESPN2
Semifinal Round, Monday, March 6
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
7		Game 3 winner		vs.		Game 4 winner		9 or 11:30	ESPN/ESPN2
8		Game 5 winner		vs.		Game 6 winner		9 or 11:30	ESPN/ESPN2
Championship Game, Tuesday, March 7
Gm #	Seed	Team	W-L	vs.	Seed	Team	W-L	Time	TV
9		Game 7 winner		vs.		Game 8 winner		9:00 PM	ESPN

In: Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s
Bubble: None

The PiRate Ratings Bracketology Gurus Composite For February 27, 2017
1. North Carolina, Kansas, Villanova, Oregon
2. Gonzaga, Louisville, Kentucky, Baylor
3. Arizona, UCLA, Butler, Florida St.
4. West Virginia, SMU, Purdue, Florida
5. Duke, Notre Dame, Cincinnati, Creighton
6. Virginia, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oklahoma St.
7. Saint Mary’s, Miami, Maryland, Iowa St.
8. South Carolina, Dayton, Michigan St., Virginia Tech
9. Michigan, Wichita St., Arkansas, VCU
10. Middle Tennessee, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Syracuse
11. Providence, Seton Hall, Xavier, California, Marquette
12. UNC-Wilmington, Nevada, UT-Arlington, Illinois St., Wake Forest
13. Vermont, Monmouth, Bucknell, East Tennessee
14. Western Michigan, Belmont, Princeton, UNC-Asheville
15. Oakland, Cal St. Bakersfield, Florida Gulf Coast, South Dakota
16. Eastern Washington, UNC-Central, Texas Southern, UC-Davis, Long Island, Texas A&M-CC

Last Four Byes: Xavier, Seton Hall, Providence, Syracuse
Last Four In/Dayton Bound: Wake Forest vs. Illinois St. / Marquette vs. California
First Four Out/#1 NIT Seeds: Vanderbilt, Rhode Island, Kansas St., TCU
Next Four Out: Georgia Tech, Houston, Texas Tech, Georgia