THE BRACKET BREAKDOWN

For all of you with some time to kill and a chance to make your head spin, here is the breakdown by the numbers. Right now, the MVC has six teams in our projected bracket. Although we will concede the chances of the MVC receiving six bids is about as likely as this, by looking at the numbers, you really have no choice but to put six teams in right now. I mean, if the MVC were called the Big 10, would there be any doubt as to whether or not five or six teams get in. We’re guessing the whole thing will work itself out as Bradley will fall off the face of the Earth with Missouri State rising to the occasion.

Last four in: Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Iowa State, UNC-Wilmington
First four out: Houston, Old Dominion, South Carolina, Colorado
Next four out: Hofstra, Maryland, Temple, UAB

The conference breakdown:
Big East (8), Big 10 (7), SEC (6), MVC (6), ACC (4), Big 12 (4), Pac-10 (4) Colonial (2)

And as for that grading system we talked about earlier, here is how that breaks down as well and how we filled out the final eight teams in the bracket. Remember, the grades assessed are a +/- comparison of a particular team against the other 23 teams vying for the eight available spots.

TEAM – (RPI, Conference RPI, Good Wins, Bad Losses, Last 10, Road Winning Pct.) – Grade

GOING TO THE PARTY
Alabama – (42, 0.5787, 2, 1, 0.7, 0.43) - 1.52
Bradley – (62, 0.5561, 4, 3, 0.6, 0.33) - 1.18
Cincinnati – (32, 0.5001, 2, 1, 0.3, 0.40) - 0.87
California – (55, 0.5513, 2, 3, 0.7, 0.63) - 0.69
Vanderbilt – (58, 0.5787, 3, 1, 0.4, 0.38) – 0.62
Kentucky – (44, 0.5787, 1, 0, 0.5, 0.58) - 0.57
Iowa State – (63, 0.5618, 3, 2, 0.4, 0.60) - 0.56
UNC-Wilmington – (45, 0.5174, 1, 2, 0.8, 0.54) - 0.47

THE SOUND OF THE TINY AIR MASS YOU HEAR IS YOUR BUBBLE BURSTING
Houston – (59, 0.5001, 2, 2, 0.7, 0.64) - 0.38
Old Dominion – (51, 0.5174, 2, 2, 0.6, 0.46) - 0.37
South Carolina – (52, 0.5787, 2, 1, 0.4, 0.36) - 0.10
Colorado – (49, 0.5618, 1, 1, 0.6, 0.50) - 0.06
Hofstra – (54, 0.5174, 1, 2, 0.8, 0.60) - 0.03
Maryland – (41, 0.5805, 1, 0, 0.4, 0.33) - 0.01
Temple – (57, 0.5201, 2, 3, 0.7, 0.36) - -0.14
UAB – (48, 0.5001, 0, 1, 0.8, 0.56) - -0.49

THERE ARE STILL PLENTY OF SEATS AVAILABLE AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
Arkansas – (66, 0.5787, 2, 1, 0.5, 0.40) - -0.50
Minnesota – (72, 0.5894, 3, 2, 0.3, 0.29) - -0.78
Utah State – (53, 0.5167, 1, 5, 0.7, 0.50) - -0.79
Xavier – (74, 0.5201, 2, 0, 0.5, 0.56) - -0.79
Miami – (82, 0.5805, 2, 0, 0.6, 0.50) - -0.93
Air Force – (46, 0.5296, 0, 2, 0.6, 0.50) - -0.93
BYU – (61, 0.5296, 1, 3, 0.7, 0.45) - -1.03
Virginia – (56, 0.5805, 1, 2, 0.6, 0.22) - -1.05