The College Basketball Rundown
Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:21 Written by Ben Pogany
With March Madness just around the corner, here is how the top teams stack up. Remember, 31 teams get automatic bids by winning their conference championships (or finishing as their conference's regular season champ in the case of the Ivy League). The other 34 teams rely on securing an at-large bid by the selection committee. Because we can project that roughly 14 automatic bids (conference championship winners) will be given to teams that would otherwise be in the top 34, we can assume that the top 48 teams on this list will be finding their way onto the big bracket. Let the madness commense...
1)Syracuse (Big East)-Jim Boeheim-Wesley Johnson
2)Kentucky (SEC)- John Calipari-John Wall, Patrick Patterson
3) Kansas (Big 12)-Bill Self-Cole Aldrich, Sherron Collins, Xavier Henry
4) West Virginia (Big East)- Bobby Huggins- Devin Ebanks, Da'Sean Butler
5) Kansas St (Big 12)-Frank Martin-Jacob Pullen
6) Duke (ACC)-Mike Krzyzewski-Kyle Singler
7) Ohio St (Big Ten)- Thad Matta-Evan Turner
8) New Mexico (Mountain West)- Darington Hobson, Jonathan Gibson
9) Villanova (Big East)- Jay Wright- Scottie Reynolds
10 Purdue (Big Ten)-Matt Painter-Robbie Hummel
11) Michigan St (Big Ten)- Tom Izzo- Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan
12) Maryland (ACC)-Gary Williams- Greivis Vasquez
13) BYU (Mountain West)- Dave Rose
14) Vanderbilt (SEC)-Kevin Stallings
15) Wisconsin (Big Ten)
16) Tennessee (SEC)- Bruce Pearl-Tyler Smith
17) Pitt (Big East)-Jamie Dixon
18) Gonzaga (West Coast)-Mark Few
19) Georgetown (Big East)-John Thompson III-Greg Monroe
20) Temple (Atlantic 10)
21) Baylor (Big 12)
22) Butler (Horizon)- Brad Stevens
23) Texas A&M (Big 12)-Mark Turgeon- Donald Sloan
24) Xavier (Atlantic 10)- Chris Mack- Jordan Crawford
25) UTEP (Conference USA)
26) Richmond
27) Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley)
28) Texas (Big 12)-Rick Barnes- Avery Bradley, Damion James, Pittman
29) Cornell (Ivy)
30) Oklahoma St (Big 12)-Travis Ford- James Anderson
31) Marquette (Big East)
32) Missouri (Big 12)-Mike Anderson
33) Illinois (Big Ten)- Bruce Weber
34) Utah State (WAC)
35) Virginia Tech (ACC)-Seth Greenberg- Malcolm Delaney
36) Mississippi St (SEC)-Rick Stansbury-Jarvis Varnado
37) UAB (Conference USA)
38) Louisville (Big East)-Rick Pitino
39) Notre Dame (Big East)-Mike Brey- Luke Harangody
40) Florida St (ACC)-Leonard Hamilton
41) Clemson (ACC)-Oliver Purnell- Trevor Booker
42) UNLV (Mountain West)
43) Saint Mary's (WAC)
44) Mississippi (SEC)- Chris Warren
45) Georgia Tech (ACC)-Paul Hewitt- Derrick Favors
46) Cal (Pac-10)- Mike Montgomery-Jerome Randall
47) Texas Tech (Big 12)
48) Wake Forest (ACC)-Dino Gaudio- Ishmael Smith, Al-Farouq Aminu
Bubble Teams
49) Arizona St (Pac-10)
50) Seton Hall (Big East)
51) Minnesota (Big Ten)
52) Old Dominion (CAA)
53) Memphis (Conference USA)
54) Florida (SEC)- Billy Donovan
55) Cincinnati (Big East)
56) San Diego St (Mountain West)
57) Washington (Pac-10)- Lorenzo Romar- Quincy Pondexter
58) Missouri St (Missouri Valley)
59) Rhode Island
60) Dayton (Atlantic 10)- Brian Gregory
Projected Conference Champs
Big East*- Syracuse
ACC*- Duke
Big 12*-Kansas
Big Ten*- Ohio State
SEC*- Kentucky
Pac-10*- Cal
Mountain West*- New Mexico
Atlantic 10*- Temple
Southern- Wofford
West Coast*- Saint Mary's
Horizon*-Butler
WAC*-Utah St
America East
Mid-Eastern- Morgan State
MAAC- Siena
Missouri Valley*- Northern Iowa
Atlantic Sun- ETSU
Southland- Sam Houston State
Big South- Winthrop
Patriot- Lehigh
Big West- UC Santa Barbara
NEC
Ohio Valley- Murray State
Big Sky
Sun Belt- North Texas
Ivy*- Cornell
Mid-American
CAA- Old Dominion
SWAC- Jackson State
Conference USA*- UTEP
Summit- Oakland
Independents- Seattle
Great West- South Dakota
Final prediction: Syracuse over Kentucky
