g a r y w o n g . o r g

So I’m live blogging the NCAA Selection Show that’s about to start - does that make me too much of a sports geek?

Eh, who cares! I can’t wait to see the brackets as they’re revealed region by region. Plus, we get to see the bubble teams either rip-roaringly excited about sneaking into the dance or cursing the selection committee for relegating them to the NIT. Excitement abounds!

The Projected Field

Here’s the final breakdown of the field with all the championships having been played.

Conferences that will definitely only send an automatic qualifier. (18 teams)

• America East: UMBC
• Atlantic Sun: Belmont
• Big Sky: Portland State
• Big South: Winthrop
• Big West: Cal State Fullerton
• Horizon: Butler
• Ivy: Cornell
• MAC: Kent State
• MAAC: Siena
• MEAC: Coppin State
• NEC: Mount St. Mary’s
• Ohio Valley: Austin Peay
• Patriot: American
• Southern: Davidson
• Southland: Texas-Arlington
• Summit: Oral Roberts
• SWAC: Mississippi Valley State
• WAC: Boise State

Conferences that should only send an automatic qualifier but then the presumptive automatic bid went and lost in the conference tournament. (3 teams)

• Colonial: George Mason* Virginia Commonwealth
• Sun Belt: Western Kentucky*, South Alabama** (2)

* denotes team with the conference automatic bid.
** denotes presumptive automatic bid - in the field despite losing conference tournament.

Conferences that might send multiple teams based on merit - some of these could possibly have fucked over the BCS conferences by having their locks not win their conference tournament. (9 teams)

• Atlantic 10: Temple*, Xavier (2)
• Conference USA: Memphis*
• Missouri Valley: Drake*
• Mountain West: BYU, UNLV* (2)
• West Coast: Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, San Diego* (3)

* denotes team with the conference automatic bid.

BCS Conferences that will definitely be sending multiple teams. (31 teams)

• ACC: Clemson, Duke, Miami, North Carolina* (4)
• Big East: Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh*, West Virginia (7)
• Big Ten: Indiana, Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin* (4)
• Big 12: Baylor, Kansas*, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M (6)
• Pac-10: Stanford, UCLA*, Southern California, Washington State (4)
• SEC: Arkansas, Georgia*, Kentucky, Mississippi State, Tennessee, Vanderbilt (6)

* denotes team with the conference automatic bid.

So if I’ve done my math correctly, that’s a total of 61 teams safely in the field leaving 4 more at-large bids. This is where it becomes fun - who’s sneaking in and who’s going to be stuck with an NIT bid?

The Bubble. (4 teams)

• Last Four Teams In: Arizona₃, Oregon₂, Saint Joseph’s₁, Villanova₄
• Last Four Teams Out: Arizona State₄, Illinois State₂, Ohio State₃, Virginia Tech₁

Pre-Show

3:30pm: After the carnage of Thursday where multiple bubble teams lost, everything seemed to settle down and the bubble looked fairly solid. Then Georgia beat Kentucky on Saturday to reach the SEC final and, coupled with Illinois making a run to the Big Ten final, the bubble is looking very tenuous for some teams.

4:15pm: At the half, it’s Wisconsin on top of Illinois, 29-22. Bubble teams, take comfort in whatever you can get.

4:30pm: It’s halftime in the SEC final and while Georgia is leading Arkansas, 36-26, it was once a 19-point lead so you bubble teams might not want to jump off the ledge yet.

4:35pm: They’ve announced the opening round matchup on Tuesday night will be between Coppin State and Mount St. Mary’s. Forgive me if I refuse to give a fuck about the play-in game. Maybe if they expanded it to four games, I’d care.

4:48pm: Under-16 media timeout in the SEC final and Arkansas has closed to within 38-32. They’ll have the ball when play resumes.

4:50pm: Under-12 media timeout in the Big Ten final and Wisconsin’s starting to pull away with a 43-30 lead with the ball when play resumes.

4:57pm: It’s 53-35, Wisconsin at the under-8 timeout and 43-36, Georgia at the under-12 timeout. Wisconsin is looking really good to win the Big Ten championship and leaving a spot intact for a bubble team.

5:06pm: Wisconsin looks like they’ll win it as they lead 57-39 at the under-4 timeout.

5:08pm: Bubble teams can’t be feeling all too good as Georgia has stretched their lead to 12, leading 51-39 at the under-8 timeout.

5:14pm: Wisconsin beats Illinois 61-48, to the delight of bubble teams everywhere.

5:14pm: After falling behind by 15, Arkansas have closed to within 5, trailing 54-49 with over 5 minutes to go.

5:17pm: Just outside the under-4 media timeout but Georgia’s called a timeout as Arkansas is now within 3, trailing 56-53.

5:26pm: Georgia has gone on a 5-0 run and now lead 61-53 with 1:27 to go. Time may have run out on Arkansas and, in turn, a bubble team.

5:37pm: Georgia’s won it, 66-57 to take the SEC automatic bid. Which bubble team just got its bubble burst?

Selection Show

6:00pm: And we’re off! North Carolina is the overall #1 seed.

6:03pm: The #1 seeds by region: East - North Carolina, South - Memphis, West - UCLA, Midwest - Kansas.

6:04pm: In the Final Four, it will be East-Midwest and South-West.

6:06pm: I’d forgotten how many fucking commercial breaks there are in this broadcast. East region after the break!

6:09pm: North Carolina will get the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game. It’s pretty much a first-round bye for them.

6:10pm: Early exit costs Notre Dame a 4-seed as they drop to 5 and get 12-seed George Mason.

6:12pm: Ouch, Tennessee went from a possible 1-seed to the lowest 2-seed.

6:12pm: Bubble contender Saint Joseph’s is in!

6:14pm: Midwest region after the break!

6:15pm: BCS count: ACC (1), Big East (2), Big Ten (1), Big 12 (1), Pac-10 (1), SEC(2).

6:17pm: UNLV versus Kent State looks like a fun mid-major first-round matchup.

6:18pm: Bubble contender Villanova is in! They really benefited from Carnage Thursday even though they themselves lost.

6:19pm: Georgetown is the 2-seed in this region, making them the top 2-seed.

6:21pm: 7-seed Gonzaga versus 10-seed Davidson - why does the NCAA selection committee insist on pitting mid-majors against each other?

6:22pm: South region after the break!

6:23pm: BCS count: ACC (2), Big East (4), Big Ten (2), Big 12 (3), Pac-10 (2), SEC(3).

6:25pm: Bubble contender Oregon is in! They’re a 9-seed!? Pretty high for a last four in team.

6:27pm: Kentucky is in even after that horrendous pre-conference start.

6:29pm: West region after the break!

6:32pm: BCS count: ACC (3), Big East (6), Big Ten (3), Big 12 (4), Pac-10 (4), SEC(5).

6:34pm: How did Connecticut get a higher 2-seed than Pittsburgh?

6:35pm: Bubble contender Arizona is in!

6:36pm: How can you not be happy for Baylor?

6:36pm: 5-seed Drake versus 12-seed Western Kentucky - read comment from 7-seed Gonzaga versus 10-seed Davidson.

6:37pm: Final BCS count: ACC (4), Big East (8), Big Ten (4), Big 12 (6), Pac-10 (6), SEC(6).

6:40pm: Happy bracketing!