Welcome to the eleventh edition of VAVEL Bracketology here in the 2014-15 NCAA Division 1 College Basketball season. This is the seventh of our bi-weekly posts now that we are into conference play. It will eventually turn into a daily post once the conference tournaments start in late February all the way through Selection Sunday. Those daily brackets will begin next Friday, 2/20.
Our bracket will be a little different than most of the others that you will see around the internet. This one will not be a projection of what the bracket will look like in March but will be a look at what the tournament would look like if it were to start tomorrow. We rate our teams using a formula that rewards them for quality wins and punishes them for bad losses.
The biggest difference from our college football formula is that we do not take the total rating given to a team; we break it down to a “per-game” number. We also factor in a team’s winning percentage as well as the average “per-game” mark from that school’s conference.
If you have any questions about how the formula works or would like some clarification from the creator, feel free to e-mail [email protected]. You can follow along with the calculation of the numbers at our VAVEL Bracketology page right here.
(Records updated through Thursday, February 12th)
We will start with a look at the play-in games taking place in Dayton, Ohio on March 17th and 18th.
Team (Record, How They Made the Tournament)
Tuesday, March 17th
Midwest #16 Seed
Lehigh (14-10, Patriot League Champion)
Texas Southern (11-12, SWAC Champion)
East #12 Seed
Purdue (16-9, At-Large)
Saint Mary’s (18-6, At-Large)
Wednesday, March 18th
East #16 Seed
New Mexico State (16-10, WAC Champion)
St. Francis-NY (17-9, Northeast Champion)
Midwest #11 Seed
St. John’s (16-8, At-Large)
Stanford (16-8, At-Large)
Midwest Region (#1; Cleveland, Ohio)
March 19th in Louisville, Kentucky
#1 Kentucky (24-0, SEC Champion)
#16 Winner of Lehigh/Texas Southern
#8 Providence (17-8, At-Large)
#9 San Diego State (19-6, At-Large)
March 19th in Jacksonville, Florida
#4 West Virginia (19-5, At-Large)
#13 Stephen F. Austin (20-3, Southland Champion)
#5 Ohio State (19-6, At-Large)
#12 Green Bay (20-5, Horizon League Champion)
March 20th in Columbus, Ohio
#3 Louisville (20-4, At-Large)
#14 Georgia Southern (17-5, Sun Belt Champion)
#6 Virginia Commonwealth (18-6, Atlantic 10 Champion)
#11 Winner of St. John’s/Stanford
March 20th in Omaha, Nebraska
#2 Wisconsin (22-3, Big Ten Champion)
#15 High Point (18-7, Big South Champion)
#7 Oklahoma State (17-7, At-Large)
#10 Cincinnati (17-7, At-Large)
East Region (#2; Syracuse, New York)
March 20th in Charlotte, North Carolina
#1 Virginia (22-1, ACC Champion)
#16 Winner of New Mexico State/St. Francis-NY
#8 Indiana (17-8, At-Large)
#9 Dayton (18-5, At-Large)
March 19th in Louisville, Kentucky
#4 Baylor (18-6, At-Large)
#13 Bowling Green (16-6, Mid-American Champion)
#5 Arkansas (19-5, At-Large)
#12 Winner of Purdue/Saint Mary’s
March 19th in Jacksonville, Florida
#3 North Carolina (18-6, At-Large)
#14 Eastern Washington (19-5, Big Sky Champion)
#6 Wichita State (22-3, At-Large)
#11 Oregon (18-7, At-Large)
March 19th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
#2 Villanova (22-3, Big East Champion)
#15 South Dakota State (18-8, Summit League Champion)
#7 Colorado State (21-4, Mountain West Champion)
#10 Iowa (15-9, At-Large)
South Region (#3; Houston, Texas)
March 20th in Omaha, Nebraska
#1 Kansas (20-4, Big 12 Champion)
#16 North Carolina Central (18-6, Mid-East Champion)
#8 Ole Miss (17-7, At-Large)
#9 Michigan State (16-8, At-Large)
March 20th in Seattle, Washington
#4 Northern Iowa (23-2, Missouri Valley Champion)
#13 UC Davis (19-4, Big West Champion)
#5 Butler (18-6, At-Large)
#12 Murray State (22-4, Ohio Valley Champion)
March 19th in Portland, Oregon
#3 Utah (19-4, At-Large)
#14 Iona (19-6, Metro Atlantic Champion)
#6 Texas (16-8, At-Large)
#11 Xavier (16-9, At-Large)
March 20th in Charlotte, North Carolina
#2 Duke (21-3, At-Large)
#15 William & Mary (16-8, Colonial Champion)
#7 SMU (20-5, American Champion)
#10 Texas A&M (16-7, At-Large)
West Region (#4; Los Angeles, California)
March 20th in Seattle, Washington
#1 Gonzaga (25-1, West Coast Champion)
#16 Albany (17-7, America East Champion)
#8 Georgetown (16-8, At-Large)
#9 LSU (17-7, At-Large)
March 19th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
#4 Maryland (20-5, At-Large)
#13 Wofford (20-6, Southern Champion)
#5 Iowa State (17-6, At-Large)
#12 Old Dominion (18-5, Conference USA Champion)
March 20th in Columbus, Ohio
#3 Notre Dame (22-4, At-Large)
#14 Harvard (15-5, Ivy League Champion)
#6 Oklahoma (17-7, At-Large)
#11 Temple (18-7, At-Large)
March 19th in Portland, Oregon
#2 Arizona (20-3, Pac-12 Champion)
#15 Florida Gulf Coast (18-7, Atlantic Sun Champion)
#7 Georgia (16-7, At-Large)
#10 Illinois (17-8, At-Large)
LAST FOUR IN:
St. John’s (16-8)
Stanford (16-8)
Purdue (16-9)
Saint Mary’s (18-6)
FIRST FOUR OUT:
Miami-Florida (15-9)
Boise State (18-6)
NC State (14-11)
Pittsburgh (16-9)
NEXT FOUR OUT:
Minnesota (16-9)
UCLA (15-10)
BYU (19-8)
Seton Hall (15-9)
CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN:
Big Ten (8)
Big 12 (7)
Big East (6)
SEC (6)
ACC (5)
Pac-12 (4)
American (3)
Atlantic 10 (2)
Missouri Valley (2)
Mountain West (2)
West Coast (2)
BRACKET CHANGES:
At-Large Out:
Boise State
Rhode Island
Sam Houston State
Tulsa
Valparaiso
Wyoming
At-Large In:
Illinois
Michigan State
Purdue
Stanford
St. John’s
Xavier
Conference Champions Out:
Buffalo (Mid-American)
Lafayette (Patriot League)
Conference Champions In:
Bowling Green (Mid-American)
Lehigh (Patriot League)