Bracket February 16th

David Lighty was still a Sophomore when he and the Buckeyes beat my Minutemen at Madison Square Garden for the NIT championship. The Buck's are looking for a different championship this year; recently, Wisconsin proved themselves as contenders and that Ohio State can be beaten.

1	Texas	Pittsburgh	Ohio State	Kansas
2	Wisconsin	San Diego St.	Brigham Young	Duke
3	Notre Dame	Georgetown	UConn	Purdue
4	Syracuse	North Carolina	Louisville	Villanova
5	Florida	Vanderbilt	Arizona	Kentucky
6	Washington	Texas A&M	Missouri	West Virginia
7	Saint Mary's	Temple	Illinois	Saint John's
8	Florida State	Minnesota	Tennessee	Xavier
9	Cincinnati	George Mason	Marquette	UNLV
10	Old Dominion	UCLA	Utah State	Kansas State
11	UTEP	Michigan State	Virginia Tech	Georgia / Gonzaga
12	Richmond	Baylor	Memphis / Duquesne	Wichita State
13	Butler	Harvard	Belmont	Oakland
14	Buffalo	Charleston	Vermont	Coastal Carolina
15	Fairfield	Montana	Florida Atlantic	Bucknell
16	Long Island / Hampton	McNeese St. / TX Southern	Murray State	Long Beach St.

First four out: Alabama, UAB, Washington State, Colorado State
Next four out: Boston College, Clemson, New Mexico, Nebraska

Brrrracket — Super Bowl Sunday

This bracket is kind of bland. The lowest seed I can see making the elite eight is maybe Wisconsin, lowest final four... maybe UConn.

There aren't many intriguing matchups, either. If George Mason beats Saint Mary's, so what? If Richmond or New Mexico were to beat Arizona, so what? They'll get pummeled by an underrated Syracuse team. Purdue–Harvard? Snore. Minnesota–Georgia? Snore. Potential upsets? I could see Duquesne getting by Vandy, and Vermont winning if UConn brings one of its Hyde performances could be fun. Would Coastal over Georgetown even be much of an upset?

All in all, I just don't see much excitement. I hope that's not how it really ends up.

1	Ohio State	Kansas	Texas	Pittsburgh
2	San Diego St.	Brigham Young	Villanova	Duke
3	UConn	Notre Dame	Kentucky	Georgetown
4	Louisville	Purdue	Syracuse	Wisconsin
5	Missouri	Florida	Arizona	Vanderbilt
6	North Carolina	Texas A&M	West Virginia	Washington
7	Minnesota	Cincinnati	Saint Mary's	Marquette
8	Tennessee	Utah State	Illinois	UNLV
9	Xavier	Saint John's	Florida State	Kansas State
10	Georgia	Temple	George Mason	Baylor
11	UTEP	Gonzaga	Wichita St.	Michigan State
12	Washington St. / Boston College	Virginia Tech	Richmond / New Mexico	Duquesne
13	Butler	Harvard	Belmont	Oakland
14	Vermont	Charleston	Buffalo	Coastal Carolina
15	Fairfield	Florida Atlantic	Montana	Bucknell
16	Long Island / Hampton	McNeese St. / TX Southern	Murray State	Long Beach St.

First four out: UCLA, Memphis, Old Dominion, Alabama
Next four out: Oklahoma State, VCU, Maryland, UAB

The Bracket: 1/31

For those as obsessed as I can be, here is my take on what the March Madness bracket could look like if the season ended now/soon.

1	Kansas	Ohio State	Pittsburgh	Texas
2	San Diego St.	UConn	Brigham Young	Duke
3	Villanova	Kentucky	Missouri	Syracuse
4	Notre Dame	Louisville	Washington	Georgetown
5	Purdue	Texas A&M	Illinois	Vanderbilt
6	Arizona	Minnesota	West Virginia	Wisconsin
7	Michigan State	North Carolina	Florida	Saint Mary's
8	Kansas State	Cincinnati	Tennessee	Marquette
9	Georgia	UNLV	Saint John's	Xavier
10	Virginia Tech	Temple	Florida State	Utah State
11	Washington St.	Baylor	Duquesne	Wichita ST
12	Boston College / Memphis	Gonzaga / VCU	UTEP	George Mason
13	Butler	Harvard	Belmont	Oakland
14	Charleston	Buffalo	Fairfield	Maine
15	Montana	Coastal Carolina	Bucknell	Florida Atlantic
16	Long Island / Hampton	McNeese St. / TX Southern	Murray State	Long Beach St.

At-Large Bubble:
Last four in: Gonzaga, Boston College, Memphis, VCU
First four out: Missouri State, Old Dominion, Richmond, UCLA
Next four out: Cleveland State, UAB, New Mexico, Nebraska

The Bracket 10/26

The Missouri-Louisville matchup already happened... but it would be too annoying to rearrange...

I'd take Harvard and Duquesne as most likely upsets.

For the elite eight, Texas over Pitt, Duke over Washington, Kansas over BYU, Tennessee over SDSU for their first final four in wacky fashion!

1	Ohio State	Kansas	Duke	Pittsburgh
2	San Diego State	Villanova	UConn	Texas
3	Syracuse	Brigham Young	Washington	Kentucky
4	Texas A&M	Purdue	Missouri	Wisconsin
5	Louisville	Notre Dame	Illinois	West Virginia
6	Arizona	Minnesota	Vanderbilt	Michigan State
7	Georgetown	Kansas State	Temple	Saint Mary's
8	Tennessee	Florida	Cincinnati	North Carolina
9	Florida State	Saint John's	UNLV	Georgia
10	Virginia Tech	Xavier	Gonzaga	Marquette
11	Baylor	Butler	Utah State	Virginia Commonwealth
12	Duquesne	Boston College / Wichita ST	Missouri State	Memphis
13	UTEP / George Mason	Belmont	Oakland	Harvard
14	Charleston	Buffalo	Iona	Maine
15	Montana	Coastal Carolina	Bucknell	Murray State
16	Long Island / Hampton	McNeese St / TX Southern	North Texas	UC Santa Barbara

At-Large Bubble:
Last 4 in (opening round games): Boston College, George Mason, UTEP, Wichita State
First four out: Richmond, Oklahoma State, Old Dominion, UCLA
Next four out: Central Florida, Washington State, Cleveland State, UAB