2009 NCAA Bracket Projection: pre-season field of 65

Using only my pre-season rankings of 341 college basketball teams, here is a projection of the 65 teams in the 2009 tournament and their seedings. [NOTE!!: Click here for our most recent NCAA tournament projection]

I'll make three other bracket projections this year, one on December 10th (1 month into the season), January 12th (mid-point), February 9th (3/4 of the way), and March 9th (just before conference tournaments). Conferences are listed after the team; those underlined are the conference's highest-seeded team and are pegged as the conference's automatic bid.

• [1] North Carolina    ACC
  
• [1] Connecticut     Big East
  
• [1] Louisville     Big East #2
• [1] Wake Forest    ACC #2
• [2] Memphis     C-USA
  
• [2] Tennessee    SEC
  
• [2] UCLA    Pac-10
  
• [2] Florida     SEC #2
• [3] Duke     ACC #3
• [3] Florida St.     ACC #4
• [3] Michigan St.    Big Ten
  
• [3] Marquette     Big East #3
• [4] Villanova    Big East #4
• [4] Kansas    Big 12
  
• [4] Oklahoma    Big 12 #2
• [4] Xavier     Atlantic 10
  
• [5] Arizona St.    Pac-10 #2
• [5] Washington     Pac-10 #3
• [5] Notre Dame    Big East #5
• [5] Purdue    Big Ten #2
• [6] Texas    Big 12 #3
• [6] West Virginia    Big East #6
• [6] Wisconsin     Big Ten #3
• [6] Baylor     Big 12 #4
• [7] Pittsburgh     Big East #7
• [7] Minnesota     Big Ten #4
• [7] Ohio St.    Big Ten #5
• [7] Missouri     Big 12 #5
• [8] Gonzaga    West Coast
  
• [8] St. Mary's    West Coast #2
• [8] San Diego St.    Mountain West
  
• [8] Georgetown    Big East #8
• [9] Providence    Big East #9
• [9] Alabama     SEC #3
• [9] Miami (FL)     ACC #5
• [9] Syracuse    Big East #10
• [10] Virginia Tech     ACC #6
• [10] South Carolina    SEC #4
• [10] North Dakota St.    Summit #1
  
• [10] Clemson     ACC #7
• [11] Utah    Mountain West #2
• [11] Kentucky    SEC #5
• [11] Rutgers    Big East #11
• [11] Washington St.    Pac-10 #4
• [12] Nevada Las Vegas    Mountain West #3
• [12] Siena    Metro Atlantic
• [12] Wisconsin Green Bay    Horizon
• [12] Davidson    Southern
• [13] Northeastern    Colonial Ath
• [13] Drake    Missouri Valley
• [13] Stephen F. Austin    Southland
• [13] Cal State Northridge    Big West
• [14] Cornell    Ivy League
• [14] Buffalo    Mid-American
• [14] Middle Tenn. St.     Sun Belt
• [14] Nevada     WAC
• [15] Belmont    Atlantic Sun
• [15] Boston U.    America East
• [15] American    Patriot League
• [15] Mount St. Mary's    Northeast
• [16] Murray St.    Ohio Valley
• [16] Portland St.    Big Sky
• [16] Gardner-Webb    Big South
• [16x] Hampton    Mid-Eastern
• [16x] Alabama St.    SW Athletic

Conference breakdown: How many teams in projected field; likely range of possibilities

• Big East: 11 (9-12)
• ACC: 7 (4-8)
• Big Ten: 5 (5-6)
• Big Twelve: 5 (5-6)
• SEC: 5 (3-6)
• Pac Ten: 4 (3-5)
• Mountain West: 3 (1-4)
• West Coast: 2 (2-3)
• C-USA: 1 (1-2)
• Atlantic Ten: 1 (1-2)
• Summit: 1 (1-2)
• Metro Atlantic: 1 (1)
• Horizon: 1 (1)
• Southern: 1 (1)
• Colonial Athletic: 1 (1)
• Missouri Valley: 1 (1)
• Southland: 1 (1)
• Big West: 1 (1)
• Ivy League: 1 (1)
• Mid-American: 1 (1)
• Sun Belt: 1 (1)
• WAC: 1 (1)
• Atlantic Sun: 1 (1)
• America East: 1 (1)
• Patriot: 1 (1)
• Northeast: 1 (1)
• Ohio Valley: 1 (1)
• Big Sky: 1 (1)
• Big South: 1 (1)
• Mid-Eastern: 1 (1)
• SW Athletic: 1 (1)

I for one would like to see how the Big East is going to cram 11 teams into the tournament! In the next projection that should be toned down a bit, unless they're all as impressive as advertised! We'll see.

Comments

[STew]

yeah, when the Big East teams start playing each other it is mathmatically impossible for enough of them ot have winning records in there division to do that. They could maybe get 8 or 9 teams and then someone else get in by winning the BE tournament.