Get Your Blog On!

Well, it’s 2009 and the blog must now be fired up to count down to March Madness. With the Packers season over and the Little 10 getting their ass handed to them in the bowls there should nothing in the way of getting focused for College Basketball. As we step into the new year here’s how the brackets shake out.

Official Stats
Conference Tourney Winners = 31
Locks = 22 Great Bets = 8
Last 4 in = 4
Total At Large Bids = 34
Total Teams Invited = 65

Automatic Bids (31)
1 American East - Albany
2 ACC - North Carolina
3 Atlantic Sun - E. Tennessee State
4 Atlantic 10 - Xavier
5 Big East - Georgetown
6 Big Sky - Eastern Washington
7 Big South - VMI
8 Big 10 - Minnesota
9 Big 12 - Oklahoma
10 Big West - UC-Riverside
11 Colonial - VCU
12 C-USA - Houston
13 Horizon - Butler
14 Ivy League - Cornell
15 MAAC - Siena
16 MAC - Miami - Ohio
17 MEAC - Hampton
18 Missouri Valley - Illinois State
19 Mountain West - BYU
20 NorthEast - Quinnipiac
21 Ohio Valley - Austin Peay
22 Pac 10 - Stanford
23 Patriot - Lehigh
24 SEC - LSU
25 Southern - Davidson
26 Summit - North Dakota State
27 Southland - Stephen F. Austin
28 Sun Belt - Western Kentucky
29 SWAC - Alabama State
30 WAC - Utah State
31 West Coast - Gonzaga


Locks (22)
1 Pittsburgh
2 Duke
3 Clemson
4 West Virginia
5 Florida State
6 Texas
7 Illinois
8 Syracuse
9 Ohio State
10 Michigan State
11 Wake Forest
12 Villanova
13 Louisville
14 Oklahoma State
15 Wisconson
16 UCLA
17 Baylor
18 Miami
19 Memphis
20 Tennessee
21 Northwestern
22 St. Mary's

Great Bets (8)
1 Missouri
2 California
3 Arizona State
4 Dayton
5 Evansville
6 Marquette
7 Texas A&M
8 Boston College

Last Four In (4)
1 Notre Dame
2 UAB
3 Creighton
4 Michigan

Last Four Out (4)
1 Temple
2 Purdue
3 Maryland
4 Cincinnati

Also Considered (24)
1 Rhode Island
2 Niagara
3 Illinois - Chicago
4 Texas Tech
5 Cleveland State
6 Washington
7 Iowa
8 Virginia Tech
9 UTEP
10 Florida
11 Arizona
12 Lamar
13 George Mason
14 Boise State
15 San Diego State
16 UNLV
17 Kentucky
18 Vanderbilt
19 USC
20 Hofstra
21 Tulsa
22 Arkansas
23 Drake
24 Akron
25 Kansas State
26 Washington State
27 Kansas
28 Providence
29 College of Charleston
30 Seton Hall
31 UWGB
32 Penn State