Don’t forget to sign up for The UWM Post Bracket Challenge at bracket.uwmpost.com

As Championship Week comes upon us, there are still many holes in the bracket to be filled, not to mention the threes at the buzzer, see Bucknell at Navy, that can keep one teams hopes of dancin’ going while the other team goes home.

The hardest part is picking who deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament and who will be left with the difficult choice to take the NIT road or the newly formed O’Reilly Touranment road to a lesser tournament trophy.

At the UWM Post, we strive for excellence and are going to give you an inside look to who will be in the field of 65 in the NCAA Tournament and what seeds each team will hold so that you can prepare for the task of dominating your bracket come March 20th.

With so much still to be played out you would think that no one would be able to predict what will happen, but as of right now this is who will be in and who will be out. Seeds will vary as conference championships are played out, but this is what should happen.

A group of Post sports writers came together to form a mock selection committee and chose which teams will be in and which teams will be out. The teams are compared and chosen according to their record, non-conference schedule, strength of schedule (SOS), rating percentage index (RPI), key wins and losses and their record in their last 12 games. The tough part comes when the teams being compared are from complete opposite conferences, like the Big East versus the Mid-America.

If you have been following Mike N Mike’s Bubble Watch, this is an extended version for the last issue of Bubble Watch. The teams are seeded for what number they will be and which region they will play in. The first team in each seed is the best team of the four teams listed. Enjoy and don’t forget to sign up for The UWM Post Bracket Challenge at bracket.uwmpost.com.

Here are the seeds and what teams will make the infamous field of 65 and have an opportunity to earn the title of NCAA National Champions.

Teams listed highest to lowest in order of regions (East, West, South, Midwest)
No. 1: North Carolina, UCLA, Tennessee, Memphis
No. 2: Georgetown, Kansas, Texas, Duke
No. 3: Nortre Dame, Stanford, Louisville, Wisconsin
No. 4: UConn, Washington St., Drake, Xavier
No. 5: Purdue, Southern Cal, Vanderbilt, Butler
No. 6: Clemson, Gonzaga, Kansas St., Michigan St.,
No. 7: Indiana, St. Mary’s, Kentucky, Marquette
No. 8: West Virginia, Brigham Young, Mississippi St., Davidson
No. 9: Maryland, Arizona, Miami (Fla.), Pittsburgh
No. 10: Arkansas, Arizona St., Texas A&M, Kent St.
No. 11: Belmont, Mississippi, South Alabama, Oklahoma
No. 12: UMass, Oregon, Syracuse, Illinois St.
No. 13: Winthrop, Boise St., UNLV, Southern Illinois
No. 14: Cornell, Oral Roberts, Austin Peay, George Mason
No. 15: UMBC, UC-Santa Barbara, Rider, Portland St.
No. 16: American, Sacred Heart, Alabama St., Lamar ””, Morgan St. ””
“” *These two teams will play in the play-in game for the final No. 16 seed.

Wondering what would happen if four more teams could make it? Here are the next four teams who just missed out on a trip to the dance.

1: St. Joe’s: Played tough for the middle half of the year, but their only big wins were against UMass, a conference team, and the Hawks needed more than that.

2: Baylor: After a great run, the Bears needed a better stretch to end the season.

3: Ohio St.: Loss to Minnesota late in the year did the Buckeyes in, OSU will not be returning after being runner-up last season.

4: Virginia Tech: With a close loss to Clemson, the Hokies played their way out of the tournament, need a conference title to dance.

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