If the KenPoms Determined the Tournament (Today)

You'd think on my first day with nothing to do, I'd catch up on all the bloggy stuff I haven't done lately. But no, instead, I do this.

If you've never been to KenPom.com, you should go. It's the most thorough site available for all your college basketball statty needs. Trust me, if you're just one of those people who likes to win bracket pools, it will help you. If you like college basketball like me, then it's a gold mine.

Anyway, I decided, out of curiousity, to see what, today, the tournament would look like if Pomeroy determined it. The auto-bids are the teams projected to have the best conference records, with the tie-breaker being the rating. Then the best 34 teams left based on Pomeroy Ratings are chosen to fill out the field, and all those teams are ranked from 1-65, based, again, on rating. This is not what the seeding would actually look like, more it's the field of 65 you would start with and their rough seeds before you went through placing them in brackets.

It's not any sort of statement or anything poignant, just supposed to be interesting.


1. Duke (ACC)
2. Gonzaga (WCC)
3. North Carolina
4. Georgetown
5. Pittsburgh (Big East)
6. Wake Forest
7. Missouri
8. Connecticut
9. Arizona State (Pac 10)
10. Memphis (Conference USA)
11. UCLA
12. West Virginia
13. Louisville
14. Oklahoma (Big XII)
15. Purdue
16. Illinois
17. Xavier (A-10)
18. Michigan State (Big 10)
19. Kentucky (SEC)
20. Washington
21. Kansas
22. Clemson
23. BYU (Mountain West)
24. Marquette
25. California
26. Texas
27. Utah
28. Villanova
29. Syracuse
30. Butler (Horizon)
31. Miami FL
32. Kansas State
33. Oklahoma State
34. Baylor
35. USC
36. Tennessee
37. Florida
38. Stanford
39. Wisconsin
40. Ohio State
41. San Diego State
42. Davidson (Southern)
43. Minnesota
44. Notre Dame
45. Houston
46. Tulsa
47. Utah State (WAC)
48. Virginia Commonwealth (CAA)
49. Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
50. Miami OH (MAC)
51. Siena (MAAC)
52. North Dakota State (Summit)
53. Belmont (Atlantic Sun)
54. Portland State (Big Sky)
55. Steven F. Austin (Southland)
56. MTSU (Sun Belt)
57. Cornell (Ivy League)
58. Vermont (America East)
59. American (Patriot)
60. Long Beach State (Big West)
61. Liberty (Big South)
62. Robert Morris (NEC)
63. Austin Peay (Ohio Valley)
64. Morgan State (MEAC)
65. Alabama State (SWAC)

Last Four In
1. Minnesota
2. Notre Dame
3. Houston
4. Tulsa

First Four Out
1. St. Mary’s
2. Arizona
3. Cleveland State
4. Northwestern

Next Four Out
1. Maryland
2. Rhode Island
3. LSU
4. Washington State

Giving Credit Where It's Due

We spend a lot of time -- and rightfully so -- ragging on the likes of ESPN here, so I think it's only fair when we point out the good things they do.

This 23 hours of college basketball thing is absolutely awesome. I was up late because of the rats in my mother's basement having a party, so I was trying to find something on TV. And there, at two in the morning, was Idaho State @ Hawaii. It was awesome. Not because the teams were that good (they went to OT 53-53 and not because of good defense), but just because it was two in the morning and I was watching live college basketball.

It was spectacular. No matter how many times I was offended by watching someone take a highly contested three 10 seconds in to the shot clock.


Anyway, way to go, ESPN. You do this next year, maybe I'll live blog it. The whole thing. Giggidy giggidy!