New Hampshire DB Jake Kiley Commits to Penn State
July 26, 2011 – | No Comment

States like New Hampshire are often overlooked by college recruiters scouring the northeast. With a population of a little over 1.3 million (barely 14.5% of the population of New York City), the talent pool in …

Read the full story »

Nittany White Out Bracketology – Version 2

Submitted by on January 25, 20112 Comments

Two teams, UCLA and Central Florida, had very intense weeks. After being on the outside looking in, UCLA vastly improved their NCAA Tournament resume with wins over California and Stanford to launch themselves into the bracket. Central Florida meanwhile continues to fall flat in Conference USA play. They have lost four straight and have a must win against Memphis on Wednesday. Marcus Jordan, the son of Michael, needs to step up and play like his father as he tries to battle the Knights back into the NCAA Tournament picture. San Diego State debuts as a 1-seed for the first time after Kansas blew a gigantic lead to Texas. I have said all year that Texas has been a more impressive team than Kansas. Yeah Texas did lose to USC on the road, but Kansas needed a strong surge in the final minutes at home to knock off USC. I give the edge to Texas and have them above Kansas on the overal seed line. In my write-up about last weekend’s games, I said Kansas needs to do more to impress and convince me that they are really a Top 5 team. Well, I am still waiting for that to happen. I once again have Pittsburgh winning the National Championship, and if you look closely you will see a few upsets. I won’t get into teams like Oakland, Belmont or Coastal Carolina until late February/early March, but keep an eye on those teams for now.

The next post will be in the next 24 hours or so when I finish up a story on BYU.

Nittany White Out Exclusive: Penn State has two huge games this week. Wednesday night is a 100% must win against Iowa at home, and Saturday is a near must win against Wisconsin at home. If Penn State loses to Iowa they will basically guarantee themselves no chance at earning an at-large into the NCAA Tournament. A loss on Saturday would mean that Penn State will almost certainly have to beat Ohio State when they come to town in March. A win on Saturday would put Penn State right back on the line between in the Big Dance and just out of the Big Dance. Their two last second losses to Purdue and Ohio State hurt, but Penn State is still alive in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament.

The bracket and the breakdown after the jump

JeffDLowe Bracket: 1/24/11
JeffDLowe Bracket: 1/24/11

Who made the bracket:

Conference Conference Bids # of Teams last week Teams
American East 1 1 Maine
Atlantic Coast 5 6 Boston College, Duke*, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia Tech
Atlantic Sun 1 1 Belmont
Atlantic 10 3 2 Richmond, Temple*, Xavier
Big East 11 11 Cincinnati, Connecticut, Georgetown, Louisville, Marquette, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh*, St. John’s, Syracuse, West Virginia, Villanova
Big Sky 1 1 Northern Colorado
Big South 1 1 Coastal Carolina
Big Ten 6 6 Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State*, Purdue, Wisconsin
Big XII 5 6 Kansas State, Kansas*, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M
Big West 1 1 Long Beach State
Colonial 2 1 Old Dominion, Virginia Commonwealth
Conf USA 1 2 Memphis
Horizon 2 1 Butler, Cleveland State*
Ivy 1 1 Harvard
Metro Atlantic 1 1 Fairfield
Mid American 1 1 Ball State
Mid Eastern 1 1 Hampton
Missouri Valley 2 2 Missouri State*, Wichita State
Mountain West 3 3 Brigham Young, Nevada-Las Vegas, San Diego State*
Northeast 1 1 Long Island
Ohio Valley 1 1 Austin Peay
Pacific 10 3 2 Arizona, UCLA, Washington*
Patriot 1 1 Bucknell
Southeastern 5 5 Florida, Georgia, Kentucky*, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Southern 1 1 Charleston
Southland 1 1 McNeese State
Summit 1 1 Oakland
Sun Belt 1 1 Florida Atlantic
Southwestern 1 1 Jackson State
Western (WAC) 1 1 Utah State
West Coast 2 1 Gonzaga, St. Mary’s*

* – Automatic Bid / italic - New Team

—————————————————

The Breakdown

CONFERENCE TEAM
Big East 11
Big Ten 6
Big XII 5
Atlantic Coast 5
Southeastern 5
Mountain West 3
Atlantic Ten 3
Pacific 10 3
West Coast 2
Colonial Athletic 2
Missouri Valley 2
Horizon League 2
Conference USA 1
Last Four In
  • Old Dominion
  • Butler
  • Kansas State
  • Wichita State
First Four Out
  • Washington State
  • Oklahoma State
  • Colorado State
  • Baylor
Next Four Out
  • Central Florida
  • UAB
  • Miami (FL)
  • Penn State
Also Considered
  • Alabama
  • Maryland
  • Colorado
  • Dayton
  • Duquesne
  • Portland
  • Northwestern
  • New Mexico

New Additions (Power Conferences)

- Richmond

- Memphis

- Cleveland State

- UCLA

Dropped Out (Power Conferences)

- Central Florida

- Miami (FL)

- Colorado

- Southern Miss

1st Round Games

12 – Kansas State vs. Old Dominion

12 – Butler vs. Wichita State

16 – Northern Colorado vs. McNeese State

16 – Long Beach State vs. Jackson State

—————————————————

NCAA Tournament Seeding

#1 Seeds -

- Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Duke, San Diego State

#2 Seeds -

- Connecticut, Texas, Villanova, Kansas

#3 Seeds -

- Syracuse, Brigham Young, Texas A&M, Notre Dame

#4 Seeds -

- Missouri, Kentucky, Purdue, Wisconsin
#5 Seeds -

- Washington, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida

#6 Seeds -

- Minnesota, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Louisville

#7 Seeds -

- Florida State, Temple, Nevada-Las Vegas, Tennessee

#8 Seeds -

- Michigan State, Xavier, North Carolina, Cincinnati

#9 Seeds -

- Arizona, St. John’s, Georgia, Boston College

#10 Seeds -

- Saint Mary’s, UCLA, Missouri State, Utah State

#11 Seeds -

- Virginia Tech, Memphis, Gonzaga, Richmond

#12 Seeds -
- Marquette, Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion vs. Kansas State, Butler vs. Wichita State

#13 Seeds -

- Cleveland State, Belmont, Harvard, Oakland

#14 Seeds -

- Charleston, Ball State, Coastal Carolina, Fairfield

#15 Seeds -

- Long Island, Bucknell, Maine, Florida Atlantic

#16 Seeds -

- Austin Peay, Hampton, Northern Colorado vs. McNeese State, Long Beach State vs. Jackson State

—————————————————

The Bracket

JeffDLowe Bracket: 1/24/11
JeffDLowe Bracket: 1/24/11

(Click to view full-size image)

—————————————————

Any thing to say to @JeffDLowe about the brackets?

Contact on Twitter: @JeffDLowe or E-Mail:

/* Old Social Media
*/
top related stories

  • Pjb927

    Penn State’s resume is waaaay better than Gonzaga’s right now

  • http://twitter.com/JeffDLowe Jeffrey Lowe

    Gotta disagree with you there. Gonzaga has 5 RPI Top 100 victories compared to Penn State’s 3. Michigan State and Illinois just aren’t the same type of wins that they were a few weeks ago. Both teams have a poor 150+ RPI loss so that cancels out. However Gonzaga is 12-7 to Penn State’s 10-8. Right there, with similar RPI’s included, Gonzaga has the edge. Gonzaga has lost to 5 NCAA Tournament contenders, while Penn State has lost to 3 NCAA Tournament contenders.

    Two arguments you could make for Penn State: Better SOS and common opponent advantage. The better SOS doesn’t mean much when you fail to beat the top teams. Yes Gonzaga did lose to Illinois, but it would not be enough for me to jump Penn State over them.

    Penn State has a chance to make the tournament. But they have no quality road victories, they have no signature victory, they failed to impress in OOC play and they carry that dreadful Maine loss. Respect your opinion, but they are barely in a spot where I am giving them a serious look.