Crystal Basketball

NCAA Tournament Crystal Ball

by Dan Hauptman and Michael Protos

March 11, 2007

V-day is in February, D-Day is in June, and B-Day is today. No, Crystal Basketballers Dan Hauptman and Michael Protos are not talking about Beyonce’s latest album. They have only one thing in mind: Today is Bracket Day. The selection committee will release the brackets later this afternoon, creating inevitable debate, disappointment and jubilation across the college basketball nation.

Here are the three hottest topics of B-Day, circa 2007:

Arkansas and North Carolina State are public enemies No. 1 and No. 2 for fans of the bubble teams. A Sunday win by one of those underdogs would eliminate West Virginia, the last at-large team in Dan Hauptman’s field, while a remarkable Razorbacks/Wolfpack sweep would eliminate the Mountaineers and the Stanford Cardinal, Hauptman predicts.

Protos sees Texas Tech and Air Force sweating out the ACC and SEC championship games, with the Red Raiders the first to go in the event of an upset.

The committee might need to submit its bracket to CBS while the Wisconsin/Ohio State Big Ten final is still in action. As a result of this unfortunate timing, Hauptman envisions the committee making Wisconsin a No. 1 seed, even if the Badgers lose and Ohio State, Kansas, Florida and North Carolina win their respective conference championships today. Hauptman believes that if the outcome is not in doubt early, with Ohio State defeating Wisconsin, and the Jayhawks, Gators and Tar Heels also win, then the committee should, and would, drop UCLA and Wisconsin to No. 2 seeds.

Protos concurs with Hauptman’s analysis of the No. 1 seeds on most points, especially the latter scenario. However, he feels that Kansas has the most to gain today. If the Jayhawks win, they will wrap up a No. 1 seed regardless of other results. Protos also sees North Carolina still in play for a No. 1 seed, but the Tar Heels need to beat North Carolina State and have Kansas and Florida lose.

Despite all the conference tournament madness Saturday, the 34 at-large teams did not change in Hauptman’s field.
Purdue, Kansas State and Oklahoma State could have done wonders by beating Ohio State, Kansas and Texas, respectively, but none of the three hopefuls was able to stamp its ticket to the Big Dance.

Let’s take a final look at the field according to Hauptman and Protos.

Hauptman’s Hoops Horoscope	Protos’ Prognostications
Ohio State Florida UCLA Wisconsin	Ohio State Wisconsin UCLA Kansas
Kansas North Carolina Georgetown* Memphis*	Florida North Carolina Georgetown* Memphis*
Texas A&M Texas Pittsburgh Oregon*	Texas A&M Pittsburgh Texas Oregon*
Washington State Southern Illinois UNLV* Virginia Tech	UNLV* Washington State Southern Illinois Virginia Tech
Maryland Tennessee BYU Nevada	Tennessee BYU Marquette Maryland
Marquette Creighton* Notre Dame Boston College	Nevada Creighton* Boston College USC
Louisville Virginia Kentucky USC	Arizona Duke Kentucky Indiana
Arizona Duke Butler Villanova	Notre Dame Butler Michigan State Louisville
Gonzaga* Vanderbilt Texas Tech Indiana	Vanderbilt Villanova Virginia Georgia Tech
Michigan State Georgia Tech Syracuse Xavier	Xavier Missouri State Syracuse Stanford
Illinois Air Force Winthrop* VCU*	Winthrop* VCU* Gonzaga* Illinois
Stanford Wright State* Davidson* West Virginia	Air Force Texas Tech Davidson* New Mexico State*
New Mexico State* George Washington* Holy Cross* Long Beach State*	George Washington* Holy Cross* Oral Roberts* Wright State*
Penn* Miami, Ohio* Oral Roberts* Weber State*	Albany* Penn* Miami, Ohio* Texas A&M – Corpus Christi
Eastern Kentucky* Niagara* Albany* North Texas*	Long Beach State* Niagara* Eastern Kentucky* Belmont*
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Central Connecticut St.* Belmont* Jackson State* Florida A&M*	North Texas* Weber State* Central Connecticut St.* Jackson State* Florida A&M*
Bubble Bursting: Old Dominion Purdue Missouri State Florida State	Bubble Bursting: Drexel Arkansas Alabama Florida State
Conference Breakdown: Big East: 8 ACC: 7 Pac-10: 6 Big Ten: 5 Big 12: 4 SEC: 4 Mountain West: 3 Atlantic 10: 2 Horizon: 2 Missouri Valley: 2 WAC: 2 20 one-bid conferences	Conference Breakdown: ACC: 7 Big East: 7 Pac-10: 6 Big Ten: 5 Big 12: 4 SEC: 4 Missouri Valley: 3 Mountain West: 3 Atlantic 10: 2 Horizon: 2 WAC: 2 20 one-bid conferences

* denotes won conference’s automatic bid.

Selection Sunday is here. Let the celebration begin.

Whose field looks more accurate to you? Or are both Hauptman and Protos off target? E-mail us your comments on the Crystal Basketball or give us your own NCAA Tournament prognostications. The calendar reads March. Madness ensues.