I'm happy to report that for the ninth straight year I can say with full confidence that I'm one of the incredibly few who take time off from work just to watch Championship Week.  As such, I've just digested 14 hours of basketball.  Now that might sound a bit geeky but I like to think that gives me a bit of an edge so I will enter the fray of those who project what the NCAA Tournament will look like. 

As of now, and this will change by the hour between now and 5 p.m. Sunday,  I have Massachusetts grabbing the last at-large spot.  The bubble got a bit smaller when Atlantic 10 favorite Xavier lost to St. Joseph's.  As I see it, the winner of the St. Joseph's-Temple game gets the automatic bid and the loser goes to the NIT.  UMass has a slightly stronger resume than the other two and thus gets the second bid for the A-10.  The Pac 10 is strong this year, so for the second-to-last spot Oregon gets in over Arizona State.  The Sun Devils have a pathetic RPI and did not play well down the stretch. 

For the local schools, I see Wisconsin as a three seed with the possibility of jumping to a two seed.  The Badgers must be impressive tomorrow if they want to get the bump up.  With the late Sunday tip-off for the Big 10 title, it's likely the selection committee will already have the top eight seeds in place, meaning the outcome of a potential Badgers win over say Michigan State won't have an impact on Wisconsin's resume.  Marquette had a nice run in the Big East tourney but the Golden Eagles won't get higher than a five seed.  Even if the Eagles had won tonight I don't think Marquette would've gotten a bump to a four seed.  So Marquette gets an extra day of rest in preparation for the Big Dance.  The projections are below.  We'll have plenty to talk about on the Saturday extravaganza, so tune in after the Brewers game for more bracketeering.

   EAST REGION                    MIDWEST REGION                    SOUTH REGION                  WEST REGION

  1-North Carolina                  Tennessee                                   Memphis                              UCLA

16-Ala State/Mt St Mary's      American                                      Morgan State                        UM-Balt County

 8-Gonzaga                             Davidson                                      West Virginia                        Kent State 

 9-Mississippi State              Kansas State                               Arizona                                  Texas A&M

  4-Connecticut                       Notre Dame                                 Indiana                                  Purdue

13-Oral Roberts                     Temple                                         Cornell                                  George Mason

  5-Butler                                  Wash State                                      Drake                                          Marquette                                    

12-Massachusetts                South Alabama                            Western Kentucky                Kentucky

  6-Clemson                            Michigan State                           USC                                          Vanderbilt

11-Ohio State                          Oregon                                        Illinois State                           Stephen F Austin

  3-Louisville                            Xavier                                          Wisconsin                               Stanford

14-Austin Peay                       Utah State                                   UC-Santa Barbara               Siena  

  7-BYU                                     Oklahoma                                   Miami                                       Pittsburgh

10-Arkansas                           UNLV                                           Baylor                                      St. Mary's 

  2-Texas                                  Duke                                            Georgetown                           Kansas

15-Belmont                             Winthrop                                      San Diego                             Portland State