Spec Sheet 2/8

2007 NCAA Spec SheetPicks as of 2/8
“This is for you new ones.”
I used a lot of terminology here. Words like numbers have been explained, the newest one is the slash “/” First number is referring to overall wins and the second is conference wins. All teams want to get the automatic bid but to get an at-large bid a number of factors go into selection process. Two that are crucial are overall wins (anything over 20 is good) and conference wins (10 or more in power conference, 12 or more in a smaller conference)

Key players are listed, and key matchups will be listed soon as well
These conferences will get multiple bids teams listed are the ones with the best chances

Atlantic Coast
Solid North Carolina, Duke, BC, Virginia, Florida St. Va. Tech
Work to do- Maryland, Clemson Lotsa moving in the ACC both ways, Clemson falls as their hot start is distant memory. The Cavs and Eagles are solid right now because they are 1-2 in the ACC thus they move up. The Hokies are in the most trouble of the solid teams, getting blasted at BC doesn’t help matters. But the UNC/Duke daily double keeps them safe and solid for now. Florida State needs to keep winning but they have the best numbers of the working teams. Maryland needs a win over Duke Saturday and then we can talk.
Player To Watch-Jared Dudley Sr/F-Boston College Keeping the Eagles the surprise leader in the ACC averaging better than 19 a game

Big East
Solid Pitt, Marquette
Work to do- West Virginia, G-Town, Notre Dame, Providence, Louisville Providence came dangerously close to taking an ill-timed L to Cincy, The Hoyas are on the cusp of solid and another couple wins should firm them up. If the Irish win 4 of their last 6, a doable task they’ll be solid. The Mountaineers have a brutal schedule still, but they can solidify themselves at that magical 20/10 win plateau with three wins two of those can be had with home wins over Seton Hall and Cincy
Players to Watch-Jerrel McNeal & Dominic James So./G-Marquette Speedy slasher (McNeal) works good with smallish point guard (James) to form a potent backcourt for the Golden Eagles

Big Ten
Solid-Wisconsin, Ohio State, Indiana
Work To Do- Michigan State, Illinois, Iowa, MichiganState has a brutal stretch run but 17 wins (as of 2/7 ) is too hard to ignore, Illinois have a lot of road work but if they can get to say 20 and 9. They’ll be hard to overlook
Player to Watch: Greg Oden Fr./C-Ohio State Just because I gave Alando Tucker props last time doesn’t mean that Oden isn’t a force. His impact cannot be ignored.

Big 12
Solid-Kansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State
Work To Do-Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas StateTech picked the worst time to take a home loss. The Red Raiders fall from ahead loss to Nebraska puts Knight’s gang in trouble. The Pokes are still solid, though any more losses to bottom feeders like Colorado will make them shaky. Texas’ have soft numbers but have respectable road losses, no shame in getting run down and out in College Station. K-State is getting hard to justify keeping out.
Player To Watch :Cartier Martin SR/G-F Kansas State-Huggins always make decent players better and Martin is no exception. A classic tweener who can score and plays tough defense

Missouri Valley
Solid- Southern Illinois, Creighton
Work To Do- Bradley, Northern Iowa, Missouri State
SIU is safe even if they lose to Creighton and the Blue Jays further solidify themselves if they win. Mo. State has the best shot of the workers, and can make their case better with a win in Bracket Busters against Winthrop. Northern Iowa took a pair of bad losses at a time they can ill afford them. The Shockers keep hangin’ round but they are getting close to the win it to get in it stage.
Player To Watch:Daniel Ruffin Jr/G-Bradley. A solid scorer who can drop a dime or two, Ruffin has the Braves still in the NCAA mix a year after their sweet 16 run.

Mountain West
Solid-Air Force, Brigham Young
Work To Do-UNLV
Air Force put itself in trouble with a puzzling loss to San Diego State. But can the MWC send three teams? With conferences like the A-10 and C-USA looking more and more like 1 bid conferences, it’s looking more and more possible.
Player to Watch: Dan Nwaelele, Sr/F Air Force- A solid scorer and hes in astronautics…that’s just cool in itself.

Pacific 10
Solid-UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Wash. St, SC
Work To Do-Stanford, Cal The Wildcats are trying to give their birthright NCAA bid away, but are still on the solid line…for now. Stanford is a ahead of nationally ranked Oregon, but has more work to firm up their numbers. Washington and Cal had better get right or they will get left too
Player to watch: Arron Afflalo, Jr/G UCLA-Keeping the Bruins thinking of a return trip to the Final Four

Southeastern
Solid-Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, UK
Work to do- Georgia, Vanderbilt
Tennessee is still okay right now, Alabama is back solid only because they are on top of the SEC West. Vanderbilt keeps making its case stronger and stronger. Georgia has a lot of work to do still but are in the picture. Player to Watch- Randolph Morris Jr/F-C-Kentucky Wildcats will need his solid post play to deal with Noah in Florida

Western Athletic
Solid-Nevada
Work To Do- New Mexico St
Aggies picked an awful time for a bad loss. They may need to run the table and get to the WAC final at home. Nevada is on that docket as well, can the Aggies take both games?
Players to watch: Jaycee Carroll Jr./G-Utah State Leading scorer in WAC leads Aggies to big upset and has them as a WAC Dark Horse.

West Coast
Solid-Gonzaga
Work to Do-Santa ClaraBulldogs took a bad L to Loyola and suddenly Santa Clara is in the mix. The Bulldogs have the better resume and with home games the rest of the way, get the inside track This conference on get multiples only if Broncos get the auto bid

1 Bid major conferences
Atlantic Ten
Solid-
Work To Do- Rhode Island Geo. Wash, Xavier, Rhode Island, UMass
Rhode Island sits on top here, but the Colonials and Muskies are still in contention and the Minutemen lurk. This conference still looks like it will only get one bid

Conference USA
Solid-Memphis
Memphis’ has yet to lose in the 2007 calendar year, I can’t see ‘em losing again till the big dance

Horizon
Solid-Butler
You can bank on the Bulldogs going and making some noise.

Teams also in consideration:
Drexel, Old Dominion, Appalachian State, Virginia Commonwealth and Hofstra. Bracket Buster Weekend on 2/17 will clear up a lot of grey area.

And of course the teams from the following get an automatic bid: Amer. East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy, MAC, MAAC, MEAC, Mid-Continent, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Southern, Southland, Sun Belt, SWAC Since this is an early spec, nothing here is solid and we haven't even brought up the possibility of upsets. But those never happen, right?