Bracket: Round Two

With conference tournaments underway (and in some cases over), it's time to take a stab at another bracket. It's only been two weeks since my last attempt, but the seedings have changed greatly. I encourage feedback; e-mail me with questions, comments, concerns, and criticisms at achampa1@ithaca.edu.

#1
1) UNC
2) Pitt
3) Oklahoma
4) UConn

The consensus top four teams. UNC's win over Duke should give them the outright #1, while Pitt is clearly better than UConn (and can we STOP with the talk of Hasheem Thabeet being God in a Huskies uniform?). Oklahoma splits the two BE schools, with UConn being the most likely to drop down to a 2-seed if they lose in the CT.

#2
1) Michigan State
2) Louisville
3) Memphis
4) Wake Forest

Not much movement here, either. Wake Forest inherits the last #2 seed following Marquette's late-season schedule.

#3
1) Villanova
2) Kansas
3) Marquette
4) Duke

Not a lot of surprises here. 'Nova's tough, Kansas has had a tremendous year despite losing most of their title team from last year, Marquette isn't great but they're still good, and Duke is overrated, but still the second-best team in the ACC.

#4
1) Illinois
2) Missouri
3) Clemson
4) Gonzaga

The first two are unchanged, but Clemson slipped a little while Gonzaga soared in the bracket due to all the ranked teams going down. Consistency goes a long way, and they can validate this seeding with a win over St. Mary's in their CT.

#5
1) LSU
2) Washington
3) Syracuse
4) Arizona State

Some dangerous 5-seeds. I hate the SEC, but LSU is tough. Ditto the Pac-10 and Washington and ASU, and Syracuse is pretty much a consensus five-seed.

#6
1) Butler
2) UCLA
3) Florida State
4) Xavier

Here's where you let the chips fall. Butler's well-coached, for sure. I HATE UCLA, but I can't put them lower than here. Florida State and Xavier are two tough squads, but they've shown inconsistency at times this season.

#7
1) Purdue
2) Ohio State
3) Dayton
4) West Virginia

Two B10 teams, a second A10 team, and a late-coming Big East party-crasher. These are teams who, when on their games, could give 2-seeds MAJOR headaches. I like this group.

#8
1) Texas A+M
2) Oklahoma State
3) Kansas State
4) California

On the contrary, this group may not last long. A+M and OSU are peaking at the right time, but started slowly. KSU could well be out of the tourney with an early CT exit, and California, while consistent, is the fourth-best team in an overrated conference, which isn't worth a whole lot.

#9
1) Utah State
2) Texas
3) BYU
4) Penn State

More sleepers. Utah State's undefeated home campaign is impressive, while Texas' defense is strong, BYU is one of the best teams you haven't heard from, and Penn State is making a big push late in the underrated Big 10.

#10
1) Providence
2) South Carolina
3) Rhode Island
4) Utah

Two mid-level major teams, and two top-level mid-majors. Fitting, huh? Providence is led by a great coach in Keno Davis, SC gets my vote as the SEC's #2 team, Rhode Island is a fun team to watch, and Utah went neck-and-neck with BYU all year.

#11
1) Boston College
2) Arizona
3) Tennessee
4) Florida

These are all lower-end Big Six-conference teams. I really struggled with BC, but due to their wins over UNC and Duke, they're in. Arizona is a team nobody thought would be here, but Russ Pennell really did a great job with the program. Tennessee and Florida are both teams from the underachieving SEC, which somehow gets four bids.

#12
1) St. Mary's
2) Siena
3) Michigan
4) Northern Iowa

The ever-dangerous 12-seeds are tough. St. Mary's is led by all-world guard Patrick Mills, Siena is insanely tough when given the chance to control the tempo, Michigan has several big wins this year (and is the last at-large team in the tournament), and UNI pushed hard late to win the Mo Valley, which is a strong conference.

#13
1) VCU
2) Charleston
3) Cornell
4) Binghamton

#14
1) Buffalo
2) Arkansas Little Rock
3) Robert Morris
4) Morgan State

#15
1) E. Tennessee State
2) Weber State
3) North Dakota State
4) American

#16
1) Stephen F. Austin
2) Radford
3) Morehead State
PLAY IN) CSU Northridge/Alabama State

Conference-tournament winners.

LAST FIVE TEAMS OUT: Temple, New Mexico, Auburn, Tulsa, Niagara