Friday, February 26, 2016

2/26 NIT/CBI/CIT/Vegas projections

NIT projections:

The 1 line:  Gonzaga (21-7), St Bonaventure (19-7), Oregon St (15-10), Vanderbilt (17-11)
The 2 line:  Alabama (16-11), Florida St (16-12), Washington (16-12), BYU (21-8)
The 3 line:  UCLA (15-13), Ohio St (18-11), Clemson (16-12), Creighton (17-11)
The 4 line:  Davidson (16-9), Kansas St (15-13), Georgia (14-12), Princeton (17-5)
The 5 line:  South Dakota St (20-7), LSU (16-12), UNC-Wilmington (19-7), Houston (20-8)
The 6 line:  Georgia Tech (16-12), Stanford (13-12), UC-Irvine (19-8), Ole Miss (18-10)
The 7 line:  William & Mary (17-9), Fresno St (18-9), Evansville (22-7), Ohio (17-9)
The 8 line:  Georgetown (14-14), Boise St (16-10), Northwestern (17-11), Kent St (17-10)

Bracket:  (because, let's face it, the committee will do significant changes to the seed lines to fit travel plans)

1) Gonzaga (21-7) vs. 8) Boise St (16-10)
4) UCLA (15-13) vs. 5) South Dakota St (20-7)
3) BYU (21-8) vs. 6) UC-Irvine (19-8)
2) Oregon St (15-10) vs. 7) Fresno St (18-9)

1) Vanderbilt (17-11) vs. 8) Kent St (17-10)
4) Kansas St (15-13) vs. 5) Stanford (13-12)
3) Creighton (17-11) vs. 6) Houston (20-8)
2) Washington (16-12) vs. 7) Northwestern (17-11)

1) St Bonaventure (19-7) vs. 8) Georgetown (14-14)
4) Davidson (16-9) vs. 5) LSU (16-12)
3) Clemson (16-12) vs. 6) Ole Miss (18-10)
2) Ohio St (18-11) vs. 7) William & Mary (17-9)

1) Alabama (16-11) vs. 8) Evansville (22-7)
4) Princeton (17-5) vs. 5) Georgia Tech (16-12)
3) Georgia (14-12) vs. 6) UNC-Wilmington (19-7)
2) Florida St (16-12) vs. 7) Ohio (17-9)

And now, welcome to the last CIT/CBI/Vegas projections of the year.  Always remember that these are loose projections as best, as we don't know who will turn down a bid to these tournaments.  The purpose here is to show the types of teams in play for each tournament, not to make concrete predictions for any individual team.

The Vegas 16. Again, remember that Vegas begins their own postseason tournament this year. A 16 team bracket, every game at a neutral site in Vegas. This is very wild speculation about who will show up. Take these not with a grain of salt but an entire salt factory. My guess is we see upper and high majors take spots in these tournaments as a preference to the CBI where you pay to host. I think Vegas will get first pick of many of the best teams available, since the neutral site format along with the quick nature of the tournament (the entire thing will take place over about 5 days) will attract many teams who would otherwise pass on the CBI and CIT.

Therefore, I'm taking the best 16 teams not in the NIT and projecting them here:

Arizona St (14-14) vs. Pepperdine (16-11)
Grand Canyon (22-4) vs. Nevada (15-10)
Virginia Tech (15-13) vs. Penn St (15-13)
Rhode Island (15-13) vs. Iona (17-10)
Marquette (18-10) vs. Illinois St (17-12)
Buffalo (15-12) vs. Marshall (15-13)
James Madison (19-10) vs. Oakland (20-10)
Texas-Arlington (17-9) vs. Omaha (16-12)

Next, the CIT, which will house the next 32 best mid-major teams.

Northeastern (15-14) vs. Albany (22-7)
Columbia (17-8) vs. Siena (19-11)
NJIT (16-13) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (13-14)
Towson (18-10) vs. Lehigh (13-14)

Middle Tennessee (16-9) vs. Tennessee St (17-9)
Ball St (17-10) vs. High Point (16-9)
Northern Illinois (14-10) vs. Green Bay (16-11)
Southern Illinois (21-9) vs. Wright St (16-12)

East Tennessee St (18-10) vs. UNC-Asheville (17-10)
Tennessee Tech (16-10) vs. South Carolina St (14-12)
Louisiana Tech (19-7) vs. Louisiana-Monroe (14-12)
Louisiana-Lafayette (13-11) vs. Jackson St (13-12)

Northern Iowa (17-12) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (19-6)
Weber St (18-7) vs. North Dakota St (16-11)
Long Beach St (13-13) vs. Cal-St Bakersfield (16-8)
UC-Santa Barbara (13-12) vs. San Francisco (14-13)

And finally, the CBI:

Duquesne (14-13) vs. Vermont (17-12)
Old Dominion (16-12) vs. Fairfield (18-11)

Richmond (14-13) vs. Memphis (15-13)
North Carolina St (14-14) vs. Charleston (15-12)

New Mexico (16-12) vs. Sam Houston St (12-11)
Colorado St (13-13) vs. Denver (14-14)

Arkansas (14-14) vs. Morehead St (15-11)
Toledo (16-11) vs. Milwaukee (16-11)

Best available left out of postseason:
Fordham (13-12), Elon (13-15), Eastern Michigan (11-13), UNLV (14-13)
Utah St (11-13), Georgia St (12-12), Furman (15-13), Mercer (16-12)
Detroit (13-13), Boston (16-13), Murray St (13-13), Tennessee-Martin (16-12)
UTEP (16-12), New Hampshire (15-11), Army (17-11), Navy (17-12)
Eastern Washington (14-11), Coastal Carolina (14-11), Idaho (15-11), FGCU (13-13)

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