12/17 recap

We're in the middle of the annual finals lull, which should be evident by the listing of the best game from Thursday:

@Middle Tennessee 83, Belmont 62

Cupcake winners:  SMU, West Virginia (on a neutral site, at least)

12/17 S-CURVE

It's obviously still early, so there's a blend of performance and projection in this S-Curve.  Don't take the exact seed of any team too seriously for now.  We've got time to sort this out.

The post below this has your bracket.

The 1 line:  Michigan St (11-0), Oklahoma (7-0), Kentucky (9-1), Duke (9-1)
The 2 line:  Kansas (7-1), Iowa St (9-0), Maryland (9-1), Xavier (10-0)
The 3 line:  North Carolina (8-2), Purdue (11-0), Arizona (10-1), Virginia (8-1)
The 4 line:  Villanova (8-1), Butler (8-1), Miami (8-1), West Virginia (9-1)
The 5 line:  George Washington (9-1), Louisville (8-1), Providence (10-1), Texas A&M (8-2)
The 6 line:  Oregon (8-2), Dayton (7-2), Cincinnati (9-2), USC (9-2)
The 7 line:  UCLA (8-3), Gonzaga (6-3), Texas (7-3), Monmouth (7-3)
The 8 line:  Utah (8-2), Syracuse (7-3), Wichita St (4-4), Baylor (7-1)
The 9 line:  Notre Dame (7-2), Valparaiso (7-2), Indiana (8-3), Vanderbilt (6-3)
The 10 line:  UT-Arlington (8-2), UNLV (6-3), South Carolina (9-0), UConn (6-3)
The 11 line:  Pittsburgh (7-1), Iowa (7-3), Davidson (6-1), Arkansas-Little Rock (7-0)
The 12 line:  California (8-2), Georgetown (6-4), Northwestern (9-1), Northern Iowa (5-3), Colorado (7-1), Tulsa (7-3)
The 13 line:  South Dakota St (7-2), Chattanooga (6-2), Charleston (6-2), Akron (6-2)
The 14 line:  UC Irvine (6-4), Middle Tennessee (6-2), Belmont (6-5), Yale (5-5)
The 15 line:  Sacramento St (5-3), North Florida (6-4), Stephen F Austin (3-3), Albany (6-4)
The 16 line:  Army (7-2), New Mexico St (5-5), Southern (4-3), High Point (6-3), Hampton (4-4), Wagner (4-3)

Next 4 in:
Davidson
Arkansas-Little Rock
California
Georgetown

Last 4 in:
Northwestern
Northern Iowa
Colorado
Tulsa

Last 4 out:
New Mexico (7-2)
Oregon St (5-2)
Florida (6-3)
Michigan (7-3)

Next 4 out:
Seton Hall (8-2)
San Diego St (5-4)
Rhode Island (6-4)
Oklahoma St (7-3)

Other names on the consideration board:  Arizona St, Marquette, Alabama, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Houston, St Mary's
Pity mention because of how far they're off the bubble right now:  LSU

Break it down!
ACC 8
Pac-12 7
Big 10 6
Big 12 6
Big East 5
SEC 4
A-10 3
American 3
MVC 2
Sun Belt 2
WCC 1
Mountain West 1

12/16 recap

Signature win of the day:
Arizona St 66, @UNLV 56 - okay, now I'm taking ASU seriously

Notables:
@Richmond 77, Old Dominion 61
@Texas Tech 79, South Dakota St 67 - this kinds of mellows my buzz on SDSU for now
Arkansas-Little Rock 77, @Central Arkansas 54 - road wins matter
Tennessee-Martin 72, @St Louis 76 - just in case you thought SLU was relevant
@Florida St 90, Mississippi St 66
@New Mexico 79, New Mexico St 61

Cupcake winners:  UNC, Arizona, Baylor, SMU, Louisville, LSU (although no win is a cupcake win for LSU these days), Ohio St, NC State, Tennessee, Utah, Alabama, St Mary's

12/15 recap

Signature win of the day:
Monmouth 83, @Georgetown 68 - now there's wiggle room with regards to an at-large bid

Catastrophic loss of the day:
@Georgia Tech 77, VCU 64 - VCU probably done in the at-large picture

Notables:
@Ole Miss 99, Louisiana Tech 80

Cupcake winners:  Duke, UCLA, Cincinnati, Chattanooga (which has graduated to the level where each game matters), Michigan, South Carolina, Memphis, Texas, Northwestern, Oklahoma St, Wisconsin, Stanford, Oregon

12/14 recap

Cupcake winners:  Gonzaga, St Mary's

Wait, that's it? Not a single power conference school in action, so yeah, that's it.

12/13 recap

Signature win of the day:
@St John's 84, Syracuse 72 - still not really buying into St John's, but hey, a good win is a good win

Catastrophic losses of the day:
@Nebraska 70, Rhode Island 67 - in a vacuum, not awful, but if you accumulate too many of these, URI...
@Houston 105, LSU 98 - when you schedule soft, at least win the games you're supposed to, LSU
@Northern Colorado 73, Colorado St 64

Notables:
@USC 68, Yale 56
St Joseph's 66, @Temple 65 (OT)
@Washington St 84, UTEP 68
Alabama 51, Clemson 50

Cupcake winners:  Iowa St, Villanova, Arizona (over Missouri, yes that's a cupcake), West Virginia, Notre Dame, Seton Hall, Tulsa (it was on the road, though), Florida St, NC State, Pitt, Northwestern

12/12 recap

Signature wins of the day:
@Texas 84, North Carolina 82 - useful home win
@Xavier 65, Cincinnati 55 - Xavier could be looking at the 2 or 3 line soon
UCLA 71, @Gonzaga 66 - a road win with values
@Wichita St 67, Utah 50 - a team desperately needing a good win got it

Catastrophic losses of the day:
@Boise St 74, Oregon 72 - I guess Boise needed it, but it's worse for Oregon to lose it
Marquette 57, @Wisconsin 55
Chattanooga 61, @Dayton 59 - the good news here is Dayton did a lot of good before this game

Notables:
@Kentucky 72, Arizona St 58
@Kansas 82, Oregon St 67
@Michigan St 58, Florida 52
@Butler 94, Tennessee 86
@UConn 75, Ohio St 55 - OSU is dead
@Middle Tennessee 88, Auburn 81 (OT)
@Georgia St 68, Old Dominion 64
@California 63, St Mary's 59
@Texas A&M 78, Kansas St 68
@Washington 92, Montana 62
@Colorado 92, BYU 83
Oklahoma St 62, @Minnesota 60
UC Irvine 73, @Utah St 63
@New Mexico 76, Northern Iowa 57

Cupcake winners:  Maryland, Oklahoma, Purdue, Providence, Louisville, Michigan, Pepperdine (on the road!), Georgetown, George Washington, Indiana, Davidson, Memphis