The Friday Appraisal: Valentine's Day's Lock, Probable, Prayer, or Out?

Thank goodness that it is Friday and I can do Lock, Probable, Prayer, or Out? rather than spending another thirty minutes ranting about how terrible the ending to that Arizona/ASU game was. Feel free to look at Twitter if you want to find out just how bad everything was.

Bracket Brief for February 14, 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 American Arizona State Oklahoma State	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Villanova Southern/Coast. Car. Geo. Wash. Memphis	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona Rob. Mor./Weber St. North Carolina Oklahoma	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Davidson Kansas State New Mexico
Site 5 12 4 13	Spokane (Th/Sa) Louisville Minnesota Saint Louis North Dakota State	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State St. Mary's/Cal Kentucky UC Santa Barbara	Spokane (Th/Sa) Ohio State LA Tech San Diego State Green Bay	San Diego (Fr/Su) UCLA So. Miss/G'Town Virginia Stephen F. Austin
Site 3 14 6 11	Orlando (Th/Sa) Wisconsin Mercer Cincinnati Colorado	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Michigan Delaware Pittsburgh Missouri	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton Iona Gonzaga Toledo	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa New Mexico State VCU Harvard
Site 7 10 2 15	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Texas Tennessee Duke Belmont	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Massachusetts Xavier Kansas NC Central	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Connecticut Oregon Michigan State Vermont	Orlando (Th/Sa) SMU Stanford Florida Georgia State

Note: Through games of February 13, 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.

The World Is Closer to Having St. John's in the Tournament

No Earth shaking games happened on Thursday, but that doesn't mean there weren't games of interest. We pinpoint games in Conference USA, the Big Ten, the Big East, and the West Coast in tonight's recap.

Bracket Brief for February 13, 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 Davidson Massachusetts Oklahoma	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida Robert Morris North Carolina Memphis	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona UT Val./Weber St. Oklahoma State Geo. Wash.	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Southern/Coast. Car. Arizona State New Mexico
Site 5 12 4 13	San Diego (Fr/Su) Louisville Cal/St. Mary's Virginia Stephen F. Austin	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State Harvard Wisconsin Delaware	Spokane (Th/Sa) Cincinnati BYU/Mizzou San Diego State UC Santa Barbara	Spokane (Th/Sa) Pittsburgh Minnesota Saint Louis North Dakota State
Site 3 14 6 11	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Michigan Green Bay Connecticut Colorado	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton Iona Ohio State Oregon	Orlando (Th/Sa) Kentucky Georgia State Gonzaga Louisiana Tech	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa Mercer UCLA Toledo
Site 7 10 2 15	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Kansas State Tennessee Villanova Vermont	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Texas Southern Miss Duke Belmont	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) SMU Stanford Michigan State American	St. Louis (Fr/Su) VCU Xavier Kansas NC Central

Note: Through games of February 12, 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.

On Syracuse's Big Night, Upsets Are the Rule, Not the Exception

The talk of Wednesday night was Syracuse at Pitt and Tyler Ennis's buzzer beater to keep the Orange's undefeated season alive. But behind the ACC's two powers (with Duke), a number of teams were upset unexpectedly. These upsets could all drastically alter the bubble and the bracket.

San Diego State's Amazing Run Near the Top of the NCAA Ends

As the last game of the night started, I began writing my blog thinking that there would be no extremely notable wins tonight. Boy, I was wrong.

Bracket Brief for February 11, 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 Robert Morris Kansas State New Mexico	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Villanova Davidson Memphis North Carolina	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona UT Val./Weber St. Texas SMU	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Southern/VMI Geo. Wash. Arizona State
Site 5 12 4 13	San Diego (Fr/Su) UCLA G'Town/LA Tech Saint Louis Delaware	Spokane (Th/Sa) Ohio State Colorado Kentucky North Dakota State	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Pittsburgh Harvard Michigan Green Bay	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State Toledo Iowa Stephen F. Austin
Site 3 14 6 11	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Wisconsin Mercer Massachusetts Missouri	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State Iona Cincinnati Oregon	Orlando (Th/Sa) Virginia UC Santa Barbara Gonzaga Minnesota	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton Georgia State Louisville BYU/Cal
Site 7 10 2 15	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Connecticut Xavier Duke Belmont	St. Louis (Fr/Su) VCU Tennessee Kansas Vermont	Spokane (Th/Sa) Oklahoma State Stanford San Diego State American	Orlando (Th/Sa) Oklahoma Southern Miss Florida NC Central

Note: Through games of February 10, 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.

Bad Night for Big Monday in the Big 12

Big Monday saw two Big 12 powers, Kansas and Iowa State, falling rather dramatically, though each in different ways. West Virginia may have played itself onto the bubble. And in the ACC, Florida State may have played itself off.

Smart Shove Still Carries College Basketball's News Cycle

The talk on Sunday still seemed to revolve around Marcus Smart and last night's shove. We have to assume at this point that there's a good chance that Oklahoma State will lose its next two games at Texas and home against Oklahoma, and possibly the third, last game of his suspension at Baylor. Lose all three, and the Cowboys would be on a 7-game losing streak. With OSU's remaining schedule, it could be nearly impossible to come back from that, and we might be looking at an NIT team. But OK State has been a mess since before the Smart shove, and we don't know if they would have won these games even without his suspension.

But Smart wasn't the only thing that happened on Sunday. Let's look at the day's important games.

Bracket Brief for February 9, 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 Robert Morris Xavier G. Washington	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Villanova Davidson Oklahoma State North Carolina	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona UTV/Weber St. Texas New Mexico	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Southern/VMI SMU Arizona State
Site 5 12 4 13	Spokane (Th/Sa) UCLA North Dakota State Michigan Green Bay	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Saint Louis Cal/LA Tech Kentucky Minnesota	Orlando (Th/Sa) Ohio State Harvard Virginia Delaware	San Diego (Fr/Su) Pittsburgh Toledo Wisconsin Stephen F. Austin
Site 3 14 6 11	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa State Mercer Massachusetts Oregon	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State Iona Cincinnati Missouri	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Iowa UC Santa Barbara Oklahoma Florida State	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Creighton Georgia State Louisville BYU/Colorado
Site 7 10 2 15	Orlando (Th/Sa) Memphis Southern Miss Florida Vermont	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Gonzaga Kansas State Duke Belmont	Spokane (Th/Sa) Connecticut Stanford San Diego State American	St. Louis (Fr/Su) VCU Tennessee Kansas NC Central

Note: Through games of February 8, 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.