Road to Selection Sunday: Preseason Field of 68 Projection + This & That

Road to Selection Sunday: Preseason Field of 68 Projection + This & That
By SelectionSunday on Twitter @Fieldof68Freak

http://www.gopherhole.com/news_article/show/840629?referrer_id=331171

DESTINATION SWEET 16, U.S.A. -- With the Twins season now over, it's time to hone in our focus on Richard Pitino's 2017-18 Minnesota Golden Gophers basketball team. Prior to key rotation forward Eric Curry's season-ending knee injury, I felt pretty comfortable saying the Gophers would be a Sweet 16-caliber (at least) squad. Now, sans sophomore Curry, the Sweet 16 remains a reasonable goal, but in my mind it definitely knocks the Gophers down a peg or two. Sixth or 7th men off the bench the quality of Curry don't grow on trees.

The Gophers are now one key rotation-player injury away from being more like a bubble team than a sure-fire NCAA Tournament qualifier. Let's cross our fingers and knock on wood that Amir Coffey, Reggie Lynch, Nate Mason, Dupree McBrayer, Jordan Murphy, and Isaiah "Jelly" Washington (and to a lesser extent Bakary Konate) make it through the season unscathed. Those are the core guys now. Any significant contributions the Gophers get from oft-injured junior wing Davonte Fitzgerald, unproven sophomore wing Michael Hurt, or freshman guard Jamir Harris would be an added bonus.

Fear not, the Gophers remain in our preseason Field of 68 projection, but the B1G is going to be a crap-shoot this season (after Michigan State) 2 through 10, despite the fact that, as a whole, conference teams scheduled very poorly for the non-conference season. The only teams I see with no chance of reaching the NCAA Tournament are Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Rutgers. Anywhere from 6 to 8 teams are likely to make the field. I'm going with a B1G all-time best of 8. One or two of the B1G teams making the Field of 68 may surprise you, as will most assuredly one of the teams getting left out. What fun are projections if one goes with all chalk?

PRESEASON FIELD OF 68 PROJECTION (October 3)
America East (1): Vermont

AAC (4): Cincinnati, Connecticut, Temple, Wichita State

ACC (7): Duke, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Virginia, Virginia Tech

ASUN (1): North Florida

Atlantic 10 (2): Rhode Island, Saint Bonaventure

Big East (6): Butler, Marquette, Providence, Seton Hall, Villanova, Xavier

Big Sky (1): Montana

Big South (1): NC Asheville

B1G (8): Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin

Big XII (5): Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma, TCU, West Virginia

Big West (1): UC Irvine

CAA (1): Northeastern

Conference USA (1): Middle Tennessee

Horizon (1): Oakland

Ivy (1): Princeton

MAAC (1): Monmouth

MAC (1): Ball State

MEAC (1): Coppin State

MVC (1): Illinois State

Mountain West (2): Colorado State, Nevada

NEC (1): FDU

OVC (1): Belmont

Pac 12 (4): Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, USC

Patriot (1): Bucknell

SEC (6): Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Ole Miss, Tennessee

SoCon (1): Western Carolina

Southland (1): Houston Baptist

SWAC (1): Texas Southern

Summit (1): ORU

Sun Belt (1): Georgia Southern

WCC (2): Gonzaga, Saint Mary's

WAC (1): New Mexico State
____________________________________
Last 4 In: Colorado State, Connecticut, Marquette, Penn State

First 4 Out: Maryland, Oregon, Saint Joseph's, Texas A&M

Non-Power 6 At-Larges (6): Colorado State, Connecticut, Gonzaga, Saint Bonaventure, Temple, Wichita State

Keep An Eye On (16): Arizona State, College of Charleston, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Grand Canyon, Harvard, Indiana, La Salle, Oregon State, San Francisco, SMU, Texas Arlington, Texas Tech, UAB, UCF, VCU

Gophers 2017-18 Power 6 Peer Group (like the Gophers, these P6 programs have appeared in 5 NCAA tourneys since 2000): Colorado, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall, Texas Tech

Destined to Disappoint? Maryland, Oregon, SMU, Texas A&M, TCU

Ready to Make A Big Jump? Georgia Tech, La Salle, Oregon State, Texas Tech, UCF

Sweet 16 Sleepers: Alabama, Nevada, Oakland, Rhode Island, Stanford

Final 4: Arizona, Duke, Michigan State, USC

National Champions: Michigan State

B1G Predictions
1 Michigan State
2 Purdue
3 Minnesota
4 Northwestern
5 Michigan
6 Iowa
7 Wisconsin
8 Penn State
9 Maryland
10 Indiana
11 Illinois
12 Ohio State
13 Rutgers
14 Nebraska

Road to Selection Sunday NCAA Tournament trivia stumper: Can you name the 5 programs that have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since the year 2000?

Good stuff Hodger, though I liked your last projection which had wisconsin as one of the first four out.

I'll take a stab at the trivia stumper: Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, wisconsin, Gonzaga...if not Gonzaga, then maybe Xavier.

Go Gophers!!

BleedGopher said:

Good stuff Hodger, though I liked your last projection which had wisconsin as one of the first four out.

I'll take a stab at the trivia stumper: Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, wisconsin, Gonzaga...if not Gonzaga, then maybe Xavier.

Go Gophers!!

Click to expand...

Duke, yes. North Carolina, no.

Shaka Smart might feel some heat if he finishes this season with just one tournament appearance in 3 years at Texas. Though he has been recruiting well.

You guys covered the 5. ... well done

Duke
Gonzaga
Kansas
Michigan State
Wisconsin

BleedGopher said:

Good stuff Hodger, though I liked your last projection which had wisconsin as one of the first four out.

I'll take a stab at the trivia stumper: Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina, wisconsin, Gonzaga...if not Gonzaga, then maybe Xavier.

Go Gophers!!

Click to expand...

Bleed, in the end just figured somehow, some way, Badgers will work their way into the field. Part of it is I'm really high on the Davison kid. Having Happ is a great place to start, too.

Cayman said:

Shaka Smart might feel some heat if he finishes this season with just one tournament appearance in 3 years at Texas. Though he has been recruiting well.

Click to expand...

I'm not high on the Longhorns this year. The shine definitely will be off Shaka if no NCAA in back to back seasons.

Interesting take on the Terps, did they lose anyone besides Melo

Terps have 3 really good sophomores returning. I had to leave someone out. My leap of faith is Penn State.

Fair enough. It'll be an exciting year

I don't think the Big Ten has ever sent more than eight teams to the dance, but I think Maryland will make it. I don't know who they have around their three stud sophomores (maybe it's a big drop off and that's why they're being picked lower in the conference by most), but I think Huerter and Jackson especially can carry that team. The Big Ten is going to be very deep this year...

They seem to constantly recruit top 50-100 talent, Maryland should have depth

Interested in hearing your reasoning for picking ORU as the Summit League rep. They finished last and didn't even make the conference tourney last season, and were just picked to finish 7th out of 8 in the preseason poll of the coaches, AD's and SID's.

bigticket1 said:

Interested in hearing your reasoning for picking ORU as the Summit League rep. They finished last and didn't even make the conference tourney last season, and were just picked to finish 7th out of 8 in the preseason poll of the coaches, AD's and SID's.

Click to expand...

I always take a few Hail Marys in the preseason projection. Coppin State, Houston Baptist, Western Carolina, and Colorado State (as an at-large) are a few others.