Friday, February 21, 2014

The Friday Appraisal: Does Your Team Have a Prayer?

Another Friday down and another look at who is a Lock, who is Probable for an at-large berth (or very close to one), who needs a Prayer, and who is Out no matter what.
  1. Which teams are good as in, which teams are out, and which teams are still unknown?

    You are a "lock" if you could lose every single game remaining on the schedule and still make it in. You are "probable" if you keep playing how you have been playing and would still make it in or be very near the edge of the bracket. "Prayer" requires that you can only make the tournament if you play out of your mind, winning just about everything but your conference tournament final. And "out" is just that, out unless you win your conference tournament.

    Through games of February 21, 2014.

    ACC

    Locks: Duke, Syracuse, Virginia
    Probable: North Carolina, Pittsburgh
    Prayer: Clemson, Florida State, Maryland, North Carolina State, Notre Dame
    Out: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

    American

    Locks: Cincinnati, Louisville, SMU
    Probable: Connecticut, Memphis
    Prayer: None
    Out: Houston, Rutgers, South Florida, Temple, UCF

    Atlantic 10

    Locks: Saint Louis
    Probable: Dayton, George Washington, Massachusetts, Richmond, Saint Joseph's, VCU
    Prayer: St. Bonaventure
    Out: Duquesne, Fordham, George Mason, La Salle, Rhode Island

    Big 12

    Locks: Kansas
    Probable: Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas
    Prayer: Texas Tech, West Virginia
    Out: TCU

    Big East

    Locks: Creighton, Villanova
    Probable: St. John's, Xavier
    Prayer: Georgetown, Marquette, Providence
    Out: Butler, DePaul, Seton Hall

    Big Ten

    Locks: Michigan, Michigan State
    Probable: Iowa, Ohio State, Wisconsin
    Prayer: Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Purdue
    Out: Northwestern, Penn State

    Colonial

    Locks: None
    Probable: None
    Prayer: Delaware
    Out: Everyone Else

    Conference USA

    Locks: None
    Probable: Louisiana Tech, Southern Miss
    Prayer: Middle Tennessee, Tulsa, UTEP
    Out: Everyone Else

    Horizon

    Locks: None
    Probable: Green Bay
    Prayer: None
    Out: Everyone Else

    Ivy

    Locks: None
    Probable: Harvard
    Prayer: None
    Out: Everyone Else

    MAC

    Locks: None
    Probable: Toledo
    Prayer: None
    Out: Everyone Else

    Missouri Valley

    Locks: Wichita State
    Probable: Indiana State
    Prayer: None
    Out: Everyone Else

    Mountain West

    Locks: San Diego State
    Probable: Boise State, New Mexico
    Prayer: UNLV
    Out: Everyone Else

    Pac-12

    Locks: Arizona, UCLA
    Probable: Arizona State, California, Colorado, Oregon, Stanford
    Prayer: Oregon State, Utah
    Out: USC, Washington, Washington State

    SEC

    Locks: Florida, Kentucky
    Probable: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee
    Prayer: Georgia, LSU, Mississippi, Vanderbilt
    Out: Alabama, Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas A&M

    Southland

    Locks: None
    Probable: None
    Prayer: Stephen F. Austin
    Out: Everyone Else

    Summit

    Locks: None
    Probable: None
    Prayer: North Dakota State
    Out: Everyone Else

    WAC

    Locks: None
    Probable: None
    Prayer: New Mexico State
    Out: Everyone Else

    WCC

    Locks: Gonzaga
    Probable: BYU, Saint Mary's
    Prayer: None
    Out: Everyone Else

    After that, every remaining conference will only has a chance at one bid, and that one will go to the winner of each conference's tournament.



In Friday's two games of note, Mercer fell at Florida Gulf Coast while UMass defended its home court against VCU. For Mercer, the loss dropped it into a tie for first (with FGCU) in the Atlantic Sun, but it still looks like the best team in the conference. For UMass and VCU, the game did little to change either team's fortune, as it went as expected.

@Florida Gulf Coast 75, Mercer 61
Harvard 83, @Pennsylvania 63
@Massachusetts 80, VCU 75
Iona 80, @Rider 77



Everyone know about Saturday's marquee games (Syracuse/Duke, Louisville/Cinci, Wisconsin/Iowa), but if you care most about the edge of the bracket, the games you should keep your eyes most on are Texas Tech/Oklahoma State, Baylor/West Virginia, Minnesota/Ohio State, Louisiana Tech/Old Dominion, Missouri/Alabama, and Portland/BYU.

#10 Xavier at Georgetown
#1 Florida at Mississippi
#5 Louisville at #5 Cincinnati
#3 Wisconsin at #3 Iowa
Wake Forest at #6 North Carolina
(FFO) Indiana State at Missouri State
#11 St. John's at #2 Villanova
Texas Tech at #11 Oklahoma State
(LFI) #12 Baylor at (NFO) West Virginia
Notre Dame at #3 Virginia
(FFO) Dayton at Duquesne
Fordham at (LFI) #12 Saint Joseph's
South Dakota State at #13 North Dakota State
(LFI) #11 Tennessee at Texas A&M
#5 Iowa State at TCU
LSU at #4 Kentucky
#10 Kansas State at #8 Oklahoma
Saint Francis (NY) at #16 Robert Morris
La Salle at (LFO) Richmond
(FFO) Arkansas at Mississippi State
(LFO) Saint Mary's at Santa Clara
#16 High Point at Longwood
#3 UCLA at #9 Stanford
(FFO) Minnesota at #6 Ohio State
UTEP at (NFO) Southern Miss
#15 North Carolina Central at North Carolina A&T
#1 Syracuse at #2 Duke
#13 Louisiana Tech at Old Dominion
Northwestern State at #12 Stephen F. Austin
#16 Southern at Alabama A&M
Wofford at #16 Davidson
#7 Texas at #2 Kansas
Drake at #1 Wichita State
#8 George Washington at #4 Saint Louis
#11 Harvard at Princeton
#10 Missouri at Alabama
UNLV at (LFO) Boise State
Louisiana Lafayette at #14 Georgia State
#1 Arizona at #10 Colorado
Portland at #12 BYU
#16 Weber State at Montana State
Temple at #9 Memphis
#4 San Diego State at #8 New Mexico
#15 UC Irvine at Cal State Northridge
#7 Gonzaga at San Diego

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