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2015 NCAA Tournament: Bracketology (I)

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How's your team's stock look?
How's your team's stock look?
Andrew Burton/Getty Images

Welcome to our College Crosse Bracketology Tournament  Information Session.  Please leave your bikes, scooters, and ATV's with the valets and have a seat in the auditorium.  As you remember from our email, please leave your boom boxes outside and we'll get started once everyone has a seat.

Here's some of the nitty gritty through Wednesday's games:

2015 BRACKETOLOGY (I): CONFERENCE LEADERS
TEAM
RPI WRPI SOS 1-5 6-10 11-20 AVG. RPI W AVG. RPI  L RPI 1-10 W RPI 40-69 L
Notre Dame ACC 1 1 1-1 3-0 2-0 13.63 3.00 'Cuse, UVA, Duke, Georgetown N/A
Albany A. East 11 21 0-1 0-1 0-0 42.75 5.00 N/A N/A
Denver B. East 3 8 1-1 2-0 0-1 26.75 9.00 Duke, N. Dame, Georgetown N/A
Maryland B1G 4 14 1-0 0-1 1-0 27.00 10.00 UNC N/A
Towson CAA 15 39 0-0 1-0 1-2 37.00 17.00 Georgetown N/A
Cornell Ivy 8 7 0-1 1-1 1-1 30.13 9.0 Yale N/A
Marist MAAC 20 56 0-0 0-0 0-1 48.75 25.00 N/A N/A
Hobart NEC 29 46 0-0 0-2 0-1 52.67 10.67 N/A N/A
Navy Patriot 21 30 0-1 0-0 1-2 39.00 15.75 N/A N/A
Mercer SoCon 50 59 0-0 0-1 0-1 55.25 31.80 N/A BU, Siena, Detroit

* Conference leaders were determined by current league record. Where there was a tie in league record, the team with the higher RPI was noted as the conference leader (this is important in the Colonial, Southern Conference, Big Ten Conference, and in the Northeast Conference).

2015 BRACKETOLOGY (I): POTENTIAL AT-LARGE POOL
TEAM
RPI WRPI SOS 1-5 6-10 11-20 AVG. RPI W AVG. RPI L RPI 1-10 W RPI 40-69 L
Syracuse ACC 2 2 0-1 3-0 2-0 22.00 1.00 Corn, UVA, Duke N/A
N. Carolina ACC 5 4 1-1 2-0 2-0 28.72 4.00 Denver, Duke, UVA N/A
Duke ACC 6 3 0-4 1-0 2-0 32.00 2.75 Georgetown N/A
Virginia ACC 7 5 0-3 1-0 2-0 33.25 2.67 Cornell N/A
Georgetown B. East 9 9 0-2 0-1 2-1 40.86 6.25 N/A N/A
Yale Ivy 10 15 1-0 0-1 0-1 37.50 14.00 Maryland N/A
Marquette B. East 12 11 0-1 0-1 1-0 38.11 24.00 N/A Bellarmine
Ohio State B1G 13 12 1-1 0-0 2-1 36.44 18.67 Denver Detroit
Brown Ivy 14 34 0-0 0-0 3-0 35.38 26.50 N/A N/A
Hopkins B1G 16 6 0-2 0-1 0-3 35.25 10.17 N/A N/A
Loyola Patriot 17 10 0-1 0-3 1-0 30.67 15.00 N/A N/A
Harvard Ivy 18 16 0-1 1-1 0-2 36.00 13.6 Cornell N/A
Princeton Ivy 19 18 0-1 1-0 1-1 36.33 18.50 Yale N/A

* The at-large pool was limited to teams currently ranked in the top 20 of the RPI.

For now, let's just call the above our Big Board.  Some notes on what's up there:

  • Philly Watch: It's not looking great for Philadelphia to send one of its own to the tournament this season. Drexel and St. Joseph's are in the conversation, but both are going to need to auto-bid to get a sniff. The Hawks aren't in a bad spot -- the only reason that Hobart is on the board ahead of St. Joseph's is that the Statesmen have a better RPI ranking than the Hawks at the moment -- and the Northeast Conference could bend in the Hawks' favor this season.
  • The Big East's Hunger: Everyone knows that the ACC is the monster at the end of your dreams, but I don't think anyone foresaw the Big East having three top 13 RPI teams (two in the top nine) in the second week in April. There isn't a lot of wiggle room in the at-large pool, but it's not crazy to think that the Big East could be a two-bid league.
  • Patriot League: The numbers aren't looking great for the league to get more than one invitation at this point, although the Loyola-Navy interplay is interesting. [dodges rotten fruit] Don't be surprised if the Patriot League automatic qualifier goes stag to The Big Barbecue.
  • Johns Hopkins: The Jays are included but are currently excluded given the team's sub-.500 record. But if the Jays get above .500 . . . .
  • Play-In Games: This is likely coming out of the pool of the MAAC, Northeast, Patriot, and SoCon winners.
  • Top Eight Seeds: Based on the above, this is our best guess at this point (taking into consideration only the resumes of these teams): (1) Notre Dame; (2) Syracuse; (3) North Carolina; (4) Denver; (5) Maryland; (6) Duke; (7) Virginia; (8) Cornell.
  • At-Large Field: Only eight spots are available here, and four look locked up for the ACC (at least right now). That leaves four openings, of which are likely to change in character as the season reaches its apex. Some mix of Georgetown, Ohio State, and Yale are in this mess, along with whatever other flavor that's burning hot at the moment.

We'll update the Big Board and publish a new Bracketology post once a week.  Remember: Take no prisoners this weekend.