Despite the fact this was one of my worst years ever (64/65 teams; only 50/65 within one line), Guerrero’s Committee did a perfectly fine job of selecting the field.  As I wrote in my Bubble Breakdown earlier this morning, I have no problem with the Gators being selected over Illinois. I don’t think the Illini, [...]

Updated Sunday morning at 8:00 am PT.
Bubble Math:
1) A team is only a “lock” if its chance of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large is better than 95%.
I really don’t like moving teams out of “lock” status because they’ve lost four games in a row.
2) 31 teams earn automatic bids to the NCAA [...]

Just wanted to hit people with a quick run-down, in case you want to discuss.  I am off to watch the Big East and WAC Finals!
Nines
Old Dominion (CAA)
Clemson
UNLV
Utah State (WAC)
Tens
Missouri
Minnesota
Washington (Pac-10)
Florida State
Elevens
UTEP
Louisville
Wake Forest
California
Twelves
Siena (MAAC)
Cornell (Ivy)
Illinois
Georgia Tech
The (Un?)lucky Thirteen
Florida

Siena faced a double-digit deficit as shots misfired, the defense was sliced, and 10,679 green and gold followers sat in their Times Union Center seats silent and confused.
But does it matter? It’s Siena. The Saints are the unchallenged, two-time defending MAAC Champion. They’re going to make a run and blow out Fairfield.
That run was not [...]

At this point, Kansas has all but locked up the overall #1 seed, in the Midwest region.  Syracuse and Kentucky will continue to battle for the #2/#3 line, but because Syracuse can’t play in the East region (whose semi-final and final it hosts), Kentucky will be in the East and Syracuse in the South.  Which [...]

New kids, Fairfield, ride senior to advance to Championship vs. Siena
Fairfield was the only semifinal participant that wasn’t in at least one of the last two MAAC Championships. Matter fact, they haven’t played on MAAC Championship Monday since the 2003 season.
But down the stretch, the No. 2 seed Stags looked like the experienced team that [...]

Niagara come into the ’09-’10 season with high expectations. They were expected to be right behind frontrunner Siena, and were predicted to head to the MAAC Championship game behind the leadership of Tyrone Lewis.
After an up-and-down campaign, the Purple Eagles might be realizing that potential at the right time.
Niagara, ranked No. 6, struggled throughout most [...]

St. Peter’s rode a stingy defense to Albany in hopes of making a run at the MAAC crown.
But it’s offensive inefficiency early in Saturday’s MAAC quarterfinal game prevented that defense from ever making the No. 5 seed Rider Broncos uncomfortable.
Rider, led by 1st Team All–MAAC selection Ryan Thompson, displayed it’s own defensive prowess in the [...]

It was hard enough for No. 7 seed Canisius to make a comeback against No. 2 Fairfield at the MAAC Tournament. They were down by as many as 22 points and had a limited bench to give the starters rest.

It didn’t help when the team lost its best player to ejection with 5:09 remaining [...]

It was a foregone conclusion that the Siena Saints would make it to the MAAC Championship.
So when the No. 8 seed Manhattan Jaspers took a 16-4 lead eight minutes into the game, the 8,914 Siena fans at the Times Union Center in Albany were shocked and silent.
It was one of many shocking occurrences in Saturday’s [...]