Playoff predictions

[TribeFanInNC]

I kinda feel like there are 23 worthy teams. That last slot came down to Bethune-Cookman, SFA and maybe Bryant or Bucknell. All have negatives. The BCU win at FIU was the biggest plus in the group.

Sacred Heart @ SE Louisiana
R2: @ 1 UNH

Richmond @ E Kentucky
R2: @ 8 Fordham

Morgan State @ JMU
R2: @ 4 Jacksonville St

Chattanooga @ Liberty
R2: @ 5 Villanova

Sam Houston @ Montana State
R2: @ 3 E Washington

Bethune-Cookman @ N Iowa
R2: @ 6 Coastal Carolina

San Diego @ Montana
R2; @ 7 Illinois State

Idaho State @ S Dakota State
R2: @ 2 N Dakota State

[BDKJMU]

I kinda feel like there are 23 worthy teams. That last slot came down to Bethune-Cookman, SFA and maybe Bryant or Bucknell. All have negatives. The BCU win at FIU was the biggest plus in the group.

Sacred Heart @ SE Louisiana
R2: @ 1 UNH

Richmond @ E Kentucky
R2: @ 8 Fordham

Morgan State @ JMU
R2: @ 4 Jacksonville St

Chattanooga @ Liberty
R2: @ 5 Villanova

Sam Houston @ Montana State
R2: @ 3 E Washington

Bethune-Cookman @ N Iowa
R2: @ 6 Coastal Carolina

San Diego @ Montana
R2; @ 7 Illinois State

Idaho State @ S Dakota State
R2: @ 2 N Dakota State

You need to brush up on your geography.
-JMU and Morgan State are both a bus ride to Villanova. They're not going to put the winner on a plane to JSU. Doesn't matter that JMU and Morgan have already played VU. The only stipulation is 1st round no conference opponents. Ex Maine and UNH played last week regular season and again 2 weeks later 2nd round.
-Liberty is a rather short bus ride from JMU and UR. They're not going to match them up with UTC, which is a plane trip (over the 400 mile bus limit). And UR could play LU in the 1st round. Can have 1st round rematches from OOC teams (ex Ill State and EIU in 06')

Everything the NCAA does is to minimize plane trips.

[TribeFanInNC]

You need to brush up on your geography.
-JMU and Morgan State are both a bus ride to Villanova. They're not going to put the winner on a plane to JSU. Doesn't matter that JMU and Morgan have already played VU. The only stipulation is 1st round no conference opponents. Ex Maine and UNH played last week regular season and again 2 weeks later 2nd round.
-Liberty is a rather short bus ride from JMU and UR. They're not going to match them up with UTC, which is a plane trip (over the 400 mile bus limit). And UR could play LU in the 1st round. Can have 1st round rematches from OOC teams (ex Ill State and EIU in 06')

Everything the NCAA does is to minimize plane trips.

Fair criticisms all. Yeah, I could have swapped the seeding of Nova and Jacksonville State (or the games that feed into their R2 games) and it would solve some of those problems. I figured both JMU and Liberty would have higher bids, so they would both host in round 1. I didn't like Richmond at Liberty because they already played in Lynchburg during the season. True, that isn't part of the NCAA protocol, but I just think it is fairer not to have a rematch in R1. In a perfect world (one where the NCAA does not reside, sadly) the teams are seeded 1-24 and let the cards fall where they may.

Google shows it is 426 miles from Chattanooga to Liberty -- close enough.

[Aho Old Guy]

Idaho State should play @ Montana in the 1st Round, being that it's roughly 400 miles and they did not play during the regular season.

San Diego can fly to SDSU as easily as flying to Missoula.

[clenz]

idsu isn't getting in

[BDKJMU]

Idaho State should play @ Montana in the 1st Round, being that it's roughly 400 miles and they did not play during the regular season.

San Diego can fly to SDSU as easily as flying to Missoula.

IF ID St gets in (doubt it) they can't play Montana 1st round. Conference opponent. Doesn't matter that they dnp regular season. Dems the rules.

[93henfan]

I predict a riot.

[DSUrocks07]

I predict a riot.

I predict a lot of bitching and whining. Like every other year.

[kalm]

The committee just tweeted the top 4 early:

NDSU
UNH
JSU
EWU

Not necessarily in order

[BDKJMU]

I can't come up with a 24th team. The 1st 23 are pretty cut and dry. Then who?
-ID St (8-4/6-2). 6-4 vs Div I. Played 2 Div II and 2 I-A, 0-2 vs playoff teams.
-CSU (8-4/3-2). 6-4 vs Div I. Played 2 Div II and 2 I-A, 1-1 vs playoff teams.
-Lamar (8-4/5-3). 6-4 vs Div I. Played 2 Div II. 0-2 vs playoff teams.
-Samford (7-4/5-2). 6-4 vs Div I. 0-1 vs playoff teams.
-Ind St (7-5/4-4). Played 2 I-A, beat 1 (Ball St). 1-2 vs playoff teams.
-Bryant (8-3/4-2) 0-2 vs playoff teams.
-Bucknell (8-3/4-2. 1-1 vs playoff teams.
-BCU (9-3/6-2). 8-3 vs Div I. Played 2 I-A, beat 1 (FIU). 0-0 vs playoff teams.
-NC A&T (9-3/6-2). 8-3 vs Div I. 1-1 vs playoff teams.

[Ibanez]

#7! Il take it. It's now up to us to not squander the opportunity.

[dal4018]

I kinda feel like there are 23 worthy teams. That last slot came down to Bethune-Cookman, SFA and maybe Bryant or Bucknell. All have negatives. The BCU win at FIU was the biggest plus in the group.

Sacred Heart @ SE Louisiana
R2: @ 1 UNH

Richmond @ E Kentucky
R2: @ 8 Fordham

Morgan State @ JMU
R2: @ 4 Jacksonville St

Chattanooga @ Liberty
R2: @ 5 Villanova

Sam Houston @ Montana State
R2: @ 3 E Washington

Bethune-Cookman @ N Iowa
R2: @ 6 Coastal Carolina

San Diego @ Montana
R2; @ 7 Illinois State

Idaho State @ S Dakota State
R2: @ 2 N Dakota State

Richmond takes on Morgan St.The loss to Hampton hurt Bethune Cookman.What no North Carolina A&T they are 9-2 best record in the MEAC made top 25 first time in school history.

[Aho Old Guy]

Idaho State should play @ Montana in the 1st Round, being that it's roughly 400 miles and they did not play during the regular season.

San Diego can fly to SDSU as easily as flying to Missoula.

IF ID St gets in (doubt it) they can't play Montana 1st round. Conference opponent. Doesn't matter that they dnp regular season. Dems the rules.

SE Louisiana @ Sam Houston State

[Ooops]

[BDKJMU]

IF ID St gets in (doubt it) they can't play Montana 1st round. Conference opponent. Doesn't matter that they dnp regular season. Dems the rules.

SE Louisiana @ Sam Houston State
[Ooops]

Can't find a link for the old selection criteria, but a few years ago (when it was 16 teams and maybe 20) it was cut and dry on the published NCAA selection criteria- no 1st round games between conference opponents.

The below is new (sometime after 09' when began expanding field):

"......The top eight teams in the 24-team bracket for the championship will be seeded. Team pairings will be determined according to geographical proximity. Teams from the same conference will not be paired for first-round games or for second-round games when both teams are playing their first games of the championship (except for teams from the same conference that did not play against each other during the regular season; such teams may play each other in the first and second round)......"
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/footb ... ampionship" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DSUrocks07]

I kinda feel like there are 23 worthy teams. That last slot came down to Bethune-Cookman, SFA and maybe Bryant or Bucknell. All have negatives. The BCU win at FIU was the biggest plus in the group.

Sacred Heart @ SE Louisiana
R2: @ 1 UNH

Richmond @ E Kentucky
R2: @ 8 Fordham

Morgan State @ JMU
R2: @ 4 Jacksonville St

Chattanooga @ Liberty
R2: @ 5 Villanova

Sam Houston @ Montana State
R2: @ 3 E Washington

Bethune-Cookman @ N Iowa
R2: @ 6 Coastal Carolina

San Diego @ Montana
R2; @ 7 Illinois State

Idaho State @ S Dakota State
R2: @ 2 N Dakota State

Richmond takes on Morgan St.The loss to Hampton hurt Bethune Cookman.What no North Carolina A&T they are 9-2 best record in the MEAC made top 25 first time in school history.

Can't lose the last game on the season with everything on the line and expect to back into the tourney as a MEAC team.

[Grizalltheway]

I predict a riot.

I predict a lot of bitching and whining. Like every other year.

I'm happy. Basically a first round bye without losing the momentum from last night's pistol whipping.

[dal4018]

Richmond takes on Morgan St.The loss to Hampton hurt Bethune Cookman.What no North Carolina A&T they are 9-2 best record in the MEAC made top 25 first time in school history.

Can't lose the last game on the season with everything on the line and expect to back into the tourney as a MEAC team.

Back to the drawing board for A&T the Aggies have multiple NFL prospects on this team that ,cost themselves more exposure.

[Aho Old Guy]

SE Louisiana @ Sam Houston State
[Ooops]

Can't find a link for the old selection criteria, but a few years ago (when it was 16 teams and maybe 20) it was cut and dry on the published NCAA selection criteria- no 1st round games between conference opponents.

The below is new (sometime after 09' when began expanding field):

"......The top eight teams in the 24-team bracket for the championship will be seeded. Team pairings will be determined according to geographical proximity. Teams from the same conference will not be paired for first-round games or for second-round games when both teams are playing their first games of the championship (except for teams from the same conference that did not play against each other during the regular season; such teams may play each other in the first and second round)......"
http://www.ncaa.com/championships/footb ... ampionship" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

With expanded playoff opportunities, the rise of the mega-conference and the loss of round-robin play, it was a stupid rule anyway.

The NCAA is using the first round as a championship game for the Southland. As long as they 'generally' follow all other pertinent rules, I'm okay with that.