AFT Bracketology – 2/6

This is a new series I’ve decided to start up in time for the last full month of college basketball’s regular season. It’s exactly what it sounds like, as I’m essentially coming up with a bracket twice a week of who I feel should be in the field of 68 at that time and figuring out where the heck to put Murray State at. I’ll have some explanations after the initial bracket, but as a quick guide

• I did this on BracketMaker.com because it’s the best bracket template immediately available on the Internet, so that explains the “Game XX details” and such.
• Teams in ALL CAPS currently lead their conference and are projected to win their conference’s automatic bid. Those not in caps are at-large teams.
• The First Four matchups are thus, if you need a refresher from last year: two games featuring the four lowest-ranked conference champions and two games featuring the last four at-large teams to make the field.

Without further ado, this Week’s bracket:

Last Four In:

Iowa State
BYU
Notre Dame
Arkansas

First Four Out:

Washington
Cincinnati
Texas
Mississippi

Number of teams by conference:

Big East (8), Big Ten (8), SEC (6), Big 12 (5), Atlantic 10 (5), Mountain West (4), ACC (4), West Coast (3), Missouri Valley (2), Conference USA (2)

Conferences with one team/bid:

America East (Stony Brook), Atlantic Sun (Belmont), Big Sky (Weber State), Big South (UNC-Asheville), Big West (Long Beach State), Colonial (VCU), Horizon (Cleveland State), Ivy (Harvard), MAAC (Iona), MAC (Akron), MEAC (Norfolk State), Northeast (Long Island), Ohio Valley (Murray State), Pac-12 (California), Patriot (Bucknell), Southern (Davidson), Southland (Texas-Arlington), SWAC (Mississippi Valley State), Summit League (Oral Roberts), Sun Belt (Middle Tennessee), WAC (Nevada)

Now, some thoughts on the bracket itself:

• Obviously, this is a work in progress – from previous experience, a bracket on March 3rd will look wildly different – but for now, the 1 seeds are fairly solid with the exception of Duke.
• It feels strange seeing a historically major conference like the Pac-12 only having one team in the field, but unless you’ve watched Pac-12 basketball this season, you just wouldn’t understand how truly awful it is.
• BYU may have left, but the Mountain West’s overall competitiveness and swagger definitely hasn’t. UNLV and San Diego State (who lost their top four scorers from 2010-11!) are both locks to make the field and New Mexico should make the field without much trouble.
• Arkansas jumped into the field thanks to their win at home over Vandy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re back on the wrong side of the bubble by next week.
• Vanderbilt-Memphis was completely intentional. Given the inconsistencies of both squads this season, it could be one of the most hilarious first-round “battles” in recent memory.
• Mid-major most likely to make a lot of damage: Creighton. Doug McDermott is the best player you haven’t seen this season, and most of America will have a chance to see him when they play Wichita State on February 11th on ESPN2.