College Basketball

Teams that deserve mentioning for Top Two seeds are

Another team that looks poised for a final four run is Kansas. Forget the blow out loss to Villanova or the recent double overtime loss to Texas Tech, as Kansas, like the two other likely final four teams mentioned before, are blessed with a very good coach and a lot of experience and talent as well. Kansas has played a lot of very good teams from the tough mid majors like Vermont and Pacific, two teams that will likely make the field of 64, to a tough non conference schedule that includes Georgia Tech and Kentucky to a tough conference competition that includes talented teams such as Texas, Texas tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. With all these tough games, many on the road, Kansas is doing its job to prepare themselves for the post season.
As much as many people hate to say it, Duke is always in the mix, even after a loss to UNC to drop to 11-5 in the ACC. If they win the tounry they could easily capture a one seed or a two seed at the worst. They have wins over Wake Forest, UNC and Oklahoma this year
Like Arizona, the same holds true for Washingon, a team that is high octane, much like Oregon was a few years prior. But like Oregon, the Huskies may have a disapointing exit if they don't play better defense. They recently lost to Stanford and need to win the Pac 10 to even think about getting a 2 seed.
The hype for Boston College is easy to understand, they were the second to last team to lose in the nation. They are ranked sixth and have an expereinced coach and mature players. Still, looking at many of their wins, they haven't won convincly over anyone and their out of conference play is less than steller, as they haven't played to many teams. BC has stepped up to the first few challanges but they stumbled a bit in their last few games, going 4-3 over the last 7 games with losses at Notre Dame and Villanova and a rough home loss to Pitt. Keep an eye out for the Eagles as they have a one seed and will play either W. Virginia or scrappy Providence.
The Uconn Huskies are the defending champions and are starting to hit their stride like mentioned above. In fact, if they win the Big East tourny, a two seed may be in their future.
Kentucky is almost always in the mix and this year they are a very quiet 23-4 with a #4 ranking. Still, the SEC is not as talented as past years and the Wildcats are a very young team. But with a good coach, Kentucky should at least be a lock for the elite 8. They won the SEC outright with a 14-2 record. But with a loss to Florida to end the season, Kentucky needs to win the SEC and hope for some upsets to gain a one seed, otherwise they will get a two seed with an outside chance of getting as low as a three seed depending on how far they go in the SEC tourny and how other teams in the power conferences do.
Arizona is another high octane west coast team that may cause quite a rukus in the tourny and along with Washington, have an outside chance of getting a one seed. They will likely get a two or three seed however but never forget that Arizona is coached by classic coach Lute Olson who just recently passed John Wooden on the all time Pac 10 wins.
Louisville has been silently racking up wins in the Confernce USA in route to a 14-2 Conf. record. With experiened players and a legend in Pitano coaching them, the Cardnials are poised to make a run this march. They exposed of fellow conference powerhouses Charlotte and Cincinati twice this year. They also played Kentucky close and lost by only two.
The Cowboys made the Final Four last year and are hungry for more with plenty of returning players form last years squad. They lost a tough game to an experienced Texas team to end the season but that home loss does not diminish what Oklahoma State has done all year or how good they really are with wins over Syracuse, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
Also, don't forget about Alabama. Their 98-49 win over fellow tounry lock team, Miss. St is one example of how good the Crimson Tide can be. They also have a three point road loss to Washington along with wins over Minnesota, Charlotte and LSU to feel good about. At 12-4 in the SEC conference, Alabama is equip to make a run in the SEC tourny and beyond.
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Dark Horses

They may not have national names but they have national games, here are the teams that are flying under the rader.

Quick! What conference is Pacific in?...Five more seconds! The Big West of course. The Tigers have dominated this confernce all years in reaching an 18-0 mark. They played Kansas close and beat Santa Clara right after they upset North Carolina. If you are looking for a good underdog story similar to Gonzaga, look no farther than Pacific. Last year as a 12 seed they knocked off Providence.
With all the press Arizona, Washington and Gonzaga get out West, it is easy to forget about MWC powerhouse Utah. Fresh off a 13-1 conference mark, Utah looks poised to grab a Top 5 seed and cause some damage in March. They played both Arizona and Washington close, losing by single digits in each case, and also have a win over a good SEC team in LSU.
Can you name another Conference USA team outside of Louisville and Cincinati? Well, another team that should be mentioned in the same breath is 21-6 (12-4 in C-USA) Charlotte. With wins over Cincinati, Depaul, Indiana and close a one point loss to Alabama, the 49ers look poised to make a surprise run come March.
They may not be high in the rankings or even in many peoples raders, but the Sooners can play with anyone, just ask Uconn, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Texas Tech all losers to the Sooners.
Who is the only team to beat both Kansas and Boston College? It may surprise you, but the Wildcats of Villanova. At 11-5 in the Big East, Villanova looks to make some noise in the Big East tourny before surprsing some people in the Big Dance. Pencil them into the Sweet 16.
With all the talk of Illinois, you'd think they were the only team in the Big 10. But Wisconsin has silently crept to a respectable 11-5 in the Big 10 with two close loses to Illinois and wins over Michigan State and Alabama. The Badgers always seem to be under the rader, but don't ignore them come the 17th.

A few other teams that deserve mentioning is the obvious Gonzaga along with LSU, Creighton, New Mexico, Nevada and Iowa State. Each team has at least one, if not multiple marquee wins and are all poised to make some noise in the Big Dance. Remember these dozen teams come bracket time as some people may over look them.
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Bubble Teams that played themselves into lock status this past week

By beating Oklahoma State and reaching a 9-7 record in the Big 12, Texas is now off the bubble list and is a lock. They are a dangerous team and have the experience to reach the Sweet 16 and maybe farther.
By crushing Boston College on the road by 22, Pittsburg can now be considered a lock. Before this big win, the Panthers had lost three in a row and were squarely on the bubble. They can do wonders for their seed by beating Villanova and doing well in the Big East tourny.
UCLA had a big win over Notre Dame on the road and than proceeded to sweep the two Pac 10 Oregon schools to improve to 11-7 in the Pac to win lock status for March. UCLA is a vastly improved team coached by Ben Howland who has made the field of 65 with Pitt.
By beating Washington and improving to 11-7 in the Pac 10, Stanford, after a rough start is now off the bubble and are locks for the tourny. They may not get a good seed but they are a team the top seeds do not want to see in their brackets.
By beating ranked conference foes Alabama and Florida and fellow conference bubble team, Vanderbilt, LSU can now be considered a lock at 12-4. LSU may even get a five seed if they can do well in the SEC tourny.
With wins over Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech, Iowa State saw themselves on the bubble. After a covincing win over Kansas, followed by two wins to end the season over Missouri and at Colorado, Iowa State gained entry into lock status. Iowa State was left for dead a month ago but are one of the nations most improved teams and are another team some of the higher seeds do not want to see in the second and third rounds.
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Bubble Teams


Bubble teams include Notre Dame, West Virginia, Georgetown, Texas A&M, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Maryland, Minnesota, Indiana, Iowa, Depaul, UAB, New Mexico, Air Force, Dayton, St.Josephs, George Washington UTEP, St.Marys, Wichita State, Southern Illinois, Davidson and Northern Iowa.
-Georgetown hurt themselves by losing to St.Johns. They had another chance to beat a good Villanova team but came out flat and look to be on the way out of bubble status. They missed another chance on the road against Uconn and looked bad in the process. At 8-8, they need to win at least two games in the Big East tourny including a game against Uconn. West Virginia, on the other hand is on the rise after beating Pitt for the second time this year coupled with big early season wins over LSU and NC State. However, a bad loss to Seton Hall forces W. Virginia into a postion where they need to beat both Providence and Boston College in the Big East tourny. Not an easy task. Notre Dame has lost 3 of 4 including losses to Uconn, UCLA and Pitt. They simply needed one of those wins. Now, at 9-7 in the Big East, Notre Dame is on the bubble and needs a tourny win over Rutgers. A win over Syracuse in the quarterfinals would make Notre Dame a lock. However, a loss to Rutgers likely makes the Fighting Irish a NIT team.
Maryland has been far to erratic. They beat Duke twice and played North Carolina tough but have also lost to Clemson twice and Miami. At 7-9 they need to beat Georgia Tech and UNC in the quarterfinals to feel good about their tourny chances. Losing to Georgia Tech would be a death blow. The Georgia Tech/Maryland game may very well be the division between being an NIT team and being a tourny team. If Georgia Tech wins, they will most likely be a lock seeing as their best player BJ Elder has been injured. The committee does take injuries into consideration. Still, a win over UNC would make Georgia Tech an obvious lock. Virginia Tech has been eratic as well. They beat Duke but than lost to Clemson and fellow bubble team NC State. Virginia Tech needs at least two ACC tourny wins to be considered a lock. NC State on the other hand, beat Virginia Tech but narrowly missed upsetting ranked Wake Forest and fall to 7-9 in the leauge. NC State needs a miracle run to the ACC championship to be considered a tourny team and may need to simply win out.
Texas A&M missed a golden opportunity for a good win against ranked foe Oklahoma State in a well played game but took care of business against Baylor to reach 8-8 in the Big 12. They need at least a win to be considered a lock and two wins to feel comfortable. Still, Texas A&M has had an amazing season compared to where they usually are, towards the bottom of the Big 12.
Vanderbilt needed a big win over LSU to reach 9-7. Instead they lost and finished .500 in the SEC. They need two wins to be considered a lock.
Indiana helped themselves by beating Michigan State and improving to 10-5 in a well played overtime nail biter. Still, they lost a tough game at Wisconsin by 2 and probably need to make the Big 10 championship game to be considered a lock. Minnesota ends the season with four straight wins to reach 10-6. This makes them a near lock, but seeing as Indiana is also 10-6, Minnesota may need a tounry win, especially since so many mid majors are on the bubble. Iowa had a terrible loss to Purdue and missed big chances to capture good wins against Illinois and Minnesota in a three game losing streak. However, Iowa won their last three games including a win over Ohio State. Still, Iowa needs to make it to the Big 10 championship to even be considered because of their 7-9 conference mark and may need to just win the tourny out right.
Dayton needed a big win at George Washington and didn't get it so win in the A10 tourny to gain lock status. St. Josephs seperated themselves from George washington by beating them while GW lost to St. Joes and Xavier. Both teams may need to make the A10 championship to have any chance. In fact, this may be a one bid conference.
St. Marys is virtually a lock but needs a good showing in their confernece finals against Gonzaga. At 11-3 in the WCC they may want to beat Gonzaga just to be on the safe side
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Final Big East standings

13-3
13-3
11-5
11-5
10-6
9-7
8-8
8-8
4-12
4-12
3-13
2-14
Carls website Part 2
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