Marcus Smart Loses His Mind: A Crazy Saturday for Teams on the Lower Rungs

I had tonight's post just about done and then I realized that some time would have to be spent on Marcus Smart. It, frankly, was a fitting end to an absolutely crazy Saturday that saw a number of teams fall unexpectedly. The oddest might be just how badly Cincinnati was beaten by SMU, but I personally am more shocked that Harvard could fall to another bad team. Let's get into in in today's recap.

The Friday Appraisal: Lock, Probable, Prayer, or Out?

We are now only 37 days from Selection Sunday, when bracketology becomes moot and we all focus on the tournament games. But there's still a lot to be decided. So 37 days out, the Bracket Briefer looks at who will be in and who will be out.

A Night to Focus on College Basketball's Little Guys

Only one major upset in the big conferences occurred Thursday night as LSU fell out of the bracket following a loss to Georgia. So tonight, we'll look at two issues involving mid and low majors. First, we'll see just what is going on in the WAC as the seeming favorite lost. And we'll see why the Bracket Brief gives automatic bids to certain teams who may not be in first-place in their league.

Bracket Brief for February 6, 2014

Seed	East (1) NYC (Fr/Su)	Midwest (4) Indy (Fr/Su)	South (2) Memphis (Th/Sa)	West (3) Anaheim (Th/Sa)
Site 1 16 8 9	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse Davidson Memphis Tennessee	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida NC Central Geo. Wash. Stanford	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Southern/VMI Oklahoma Arizona State	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona R. Mor./Weber St. New Mexico Harvard
Site 5 12 4 13	San Diego (Fr/Su) Saint Louis Oregon Ohio State New Mexico State	Orlando (Th/Sa) Virginia Xavier Michigan Stephen F. Austin	Spokane (Th/Sa) Pittsburgh Toledo Wisconsin North Dakota State	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa Kansas State Kentucky Green Bay
Site 3 14 6 11	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State Mercer UCLA Missouri	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton Georgia State Oklahoma State Colorado/LSU	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Cincinnati Delaware VCU Florida State	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State UC Santa Barbara Louisville BYU/California
Site 7 10 2 15	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Massachusetts SMU Villanova Iona	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Connecticut Southern Miss Duke Belmont	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Gonzaga Minnesota Kansas Vermont	Spokane (Th/Sa) Texas North Carolina San Diego State American

Note: Through games of February 6, 2014. Teams in italics below represent automatic bids. The rankings at the top of each column are based on the overall seeds of the top four teams, so the winner of the regional with the team seeded #1 overall would meet the winner of the regional with the team seeded #4 overall.

Lots of Bubble Teams Are Losing; Bad Nights for Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California

Wednesday night was the night for bubble teams to start losing games, giving hope to squads all over the country. Oklahoma, Tennessee, Minnesota, and California, all on the lower half of teams making it as at-larges in the last Bracket Brief, inching them closer to the "out" spots to make room for "ins". A bracketology look at those games and more ahead.

Ohio State Climbing Back Up the Bracket, While Providence Falls Out

Nothing on Tuesday night lived up to Monday's thriller between Iowa State and Oklahoma State, but there was still a lot of important action. The two biggest games affecting the bracket occurred in the Big conferences, as Ohio State showed for the second game in a row that it is not yet dead, winning at Iowa. And Providence, a bubble team if ever there was one, dropped a very important home game to St. John's. Let's look at all of Tuesday's action from a bracketology perspective.

Iowa State and Oklahoma State Jockey for Big 12 and Bracket Positions

With a small slate of games and no major upsets, Monday ended up being very quiet. But we still had one very good game out of the Big 12.

Bracket Brief for February 3, 2014

Seed	East (1) NYC (Fr/Su)	Midwest (4) Indy (Fr/Su)	West (2) Anaheim (Th/Sa)	South (3) Memphis (Th/Sa)
Site 1 16 8 9	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse Southern/VMI Connecticut Geo. Wash.	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State North Carolina Central Arizona State Tennessee	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona R. Morris/Weber St. Memphis New Mexico	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida Davidson Harvard Southern Miss
Site 5 12 4 13	Spokane (Th/Sa) UCLA Toledo Kentucky Green Bay	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Pittsburgh Kansas State Michigan North Dakota State	San Diego (Fr/Su) Saint Louis Mizzou/Prov. Virginia Mercer	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Wisconsin Stanford Iowa State Stephen F. Austin
Site 3 14 6 11	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State Georgia State Louisville North Carolina	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton UC Santa Barbara Ohio State Oregon	Orlando (Th/Sa) Cincinnati New Mexico State Texas Minnesota	Raleigh (Th/Sa) Iowa Delaware Oklahoma State Colorado/LSU
Site 7 10 2 15	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Oklahoma California Villanova Iona	St. Louis (Fr/Su) VCU Florida State Kansas Belmont	Spokane (Fr/Su) Gonzaga Xavier San Diego State Vermont	Raleigh (Th/Sa) Massachusetts SMU Duke American

Note: Through games of February 2, 2014. Teams in italics below represent automatic bids. The rankings at the top of each column are based on the overall seeds of the top four teams, so the winner of the regional with the team seeded #1 overall would meet the winner of the regional with the team seeded #4 overall.

College Basketball Doesn't Stop on Super Sunday

Sure, Sunday was Super Sunday, but college basketball did not take the day off, filling up the time in between. Three games from Sunday might have a major effect on the bracket.

And Then There Were Two: Arizona Falls to California

Holy cow. Now that's a college basketball Saturday. We began with a crazy game between slumping Big Ten powers Ohio State and Wisconsin and ended up with the #1 team in the nation, Arizona, finally dropping a game, this one at Cal. We'll look at those games and everything in between, from a bracketology angle.