Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Friday Appraisal: The First Four

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In this week's Friday Appraisal, a look at interesting bracketology questions, we look at what would happen if three teams from the same conference, say Stanford, California, and Colorado, all ended up in the last four at-large spots, presumably heading towards Dayton for the First Four games. We also preview a huge Saturday in college basketball, the first February Saturday, where everything heats up.
  1. What happens if 3 or 4 teams from the same conference end up in the final four at-large spots?

    This is my question, which became immediate for me this week when I ended up with three Pac-12 teams in the First Four. NCAA rules say conference mates are not supposed to meet until at least the second round, but then again, if you bump a team backwards into an extra game, is that fair? So I took my question to Twitter:
    (If you follow the link, the whole tweet reads: "@BracketBriefer .... The last four at-large teams selected to the field, as well as teams seeded 65 through 68, will be paired to compete in first-round games on Tuesday and Wednesday following the announcement of the field. (The final at-large team selected will be paired with the second-to-last AL section; the third-to-last AL selection vs. the fourth-to-last selection; seed 65 vs. 66; seed 67 vs. 68).")
    (If you follow the link, the whole tweet reads: "@BracketBriefer And... Any principle can be relaxed if two or more teams from the same conference are among the last four at-large teams selected to the field to participate in the First Four.")

    So there is your answer. If you end up with three teams from one conference, as I did in my last Bracket Brief, one will get bumped out, and another bracketable team will get bumped in. I don't know whether this will ever actually come up by the time we hit Selection Sunday, but it is good to know.


Only one of Friday's games is worth noting: Manhattan's loss at Iona. Manhattan once looked to be the clear favorite in the MAAC, but it is a four-team race at this point (Iona, Canisius, Manhattan, Quinnipiac). Elsewhere, other low-majors won as expected.

@VMI 107, Presbyterian 93
@Harvard 82, Princeton 76
Mercer 90, @East Tennessee State 77
@Iona 85, Manhattan 73


Saturday is full of great action. If this is what the rest of February will be like, we are in for a major treat to end this season. Watch for...[deep breath]...Ohio State at Wisconsin, George Washington at Dayton, Kentucky at Missouri, Providence at DePaul, Toledo at Ohio, Memphis at SMU, Utah at Colorado...[exhale...deep breath]...Kansas at Texas, Oklahoma at Iowa State, Arizona State at Stanford, LSU at Arkansas, Duke at Syracuse, Boise State at UNLV, Arizona at California, and Saint Mary's at BYU...[exhale]. Phew. What a crazy day. Enjoy.

(FFO) Richmond at #8 VCU
#6 Ohio State at #3 Wisconsin
UNC Wilmington at #14 Delaware
Seton Hall at #7 Xavier
#9 George Washington at Dayton
#6 Kentucky at #11 Missouri
Holy Cross at #15 American
NC State at (FFO) North Carolina
(LFI) #12 Providence at DePaul
#13 Toledo at Ohio
#9 Kansas State at West Virginia
South Carolina at (NFO) Ole Miss
Baylor at #5 Oklahoma State
#8 Memphis at #11 SMU
Hartford at #16 Stony Brook
Utah at (LFI) #12 Colorado
Northwestern at #9 Minnesota
George Mason at #6 Saint Louis
Evansville at #1 Wichita State
#1 Michigan State at Georgetown
Clemson at #7 Florida State
Texas A&M at #2 Florida
#2 Kansas at #8 Texas
#3 Villanova at Temple
#7 Oklahoma at #4 Iowa State
Central Connecticut State at #16 Robert Morris
#12 Louisiana Tech at UTSA
#10 Arizona State at (LFI) #12 Stanford
#15 North Carolina Central at Howard
(FFO) LSU at (NFO) Arkansas
#16 Northern Colorado at Eastern Washington
#5 Massachusetts at Saint Joseph's
#13 North Dakota State at Denver
Alcorn State at #16 Southern
#2 Duke at #1 Syracuse
Colorado State at #2 San Diego State
Tulane at #10 Southern Miss
Incarnate Word at #13 Stephen F. Austin
Wright State at #12 Green Bay
Furman at #16 Chattanooga
#4 Iowa at Illinois
(NFO) Indiana State at Northern Iowa
San Jose State at #10 New Mexico
USC at #10 Oregon
(NFO) Boise State at UNLV
UT Arlington at #15 Georgia State
#14 Belmont at Tennessee Tech
UCF at #5 Louisville
Utah Valley at #14 New Mexico State
Pennsylvania at #9 Harvard
#11 Tennessee at Alabama
#7 Gonzaga at San Francisco
#1 Arizona at (LFI) #12 California
#15 UC Irvine at Cal Poly
#11 Saint Mary's at (FFO) BYU
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