It's a little different seedings from the field of 96 projection

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Interesting. He starts earlier and earlier every year. Lol. He's about out of a job, though, so can't say I blame him.

Lunardi's Last Four In:

New Mexico
Richmond
Ole Miss
North Carolina

reclegend22 wrote: Interesting. He starts earlier and earlier every year. Lol. He's about out of a job, though, so can't say I blame him.

Lunardi's Last Four In:

New Mexico
Richmond
Ole Miss
North Carolina

I busted his balls on twitter. I said to the effect of "90% of everybody who filled out a bracket did better than Lunardi, at what point does one lose the ability to call themselves a Bracketologist"

If Carolina is one of the last four in next season, I will no longer be on here. I will officially be placed in a padded room.

^^Haha.

And I will be watching through the two-way mirror, smiling

The committee would favor Baylor over Butler I think. BCS schools are going to get the nod. Hell, Butler hadn't lost since Christmas this year and only got a five seed.

I'm an Ohio State fan but if we get a 2 seed I will piss my pants. I see us more in the 4 to 6 seed range. Had ET returned they could have engraved the trophy already.

I also think UNC will bounce back better than that and that Michigan State won't be quite one seed quality. This will obviously change as well depending on the Purdue guys. If they all return they HAVE to be the favorite.

I would argue that if Singler returns (he won't), Duke is/would have been the clear favorite.

And I'm not partial or anything.

I definitely find Lunardi's placement of Carolina interesting to say the least, however. I've seen some say that with the Heels' class of Bullock, Barnes and Marshall (whom I'm still not sold on), UNC is a Final Four contender out of the gate, and then Lunardi has them as possibly missing the Tournament for a second straight year or getting in as the 65th team (well, in theory).

Personally, I think Carolina gets in as a five or six seed next year. Possibly a four. I see a 22-10 or 22-11 type season, similar to Carolina's '04 output. Then again, it is very hard to project how they will finish with knowing very little about what Carolina will have on the court next season. Still a lot to figure out. One thing is certain, though, UNC will be back in the NCAAs.

reclegend22 wrote: I would argue that if Singler returns (he won't), Duke is/would have been the clear favorite.

And I'm not partial or anything.

I can agree with that. If Purdue gets everyone back though you have a one seed (pre Hummel injury) returning their entire core for the third straight year. You could make an argument that a healthy Purdue squad may have been college basketballs best team last year. That isn't taking anything away from Duke but they won at MSU with Lucas playing and vs WVU. That's half the Final Four. They also defeated Elite 8 participant Tennessee before Tennessee got gutted and they also beat Ohio State at Ohio State with a healthy Evan Turner. Minnesota was a tourney team they defeated twice as well. There was just such a stark difference between them pre and post Hummel.

I watched pretty much all of those Purdue games you mentioned, but never really put all of that together. That is/was an impressive, impressive resume, and exactly why I was so concerned about the Boilermakers (even without Robbie) heading into the regional semifinals.

Purdue would be a beast and the certain Big Ten favorite if all came back. No doubt about it. I'd love to see a Purdue trip to Cameron to return the favor of Duke's trip to Mackey in '08, but early reports are saying that Ohio State at Duke could be the Blue Devils' ACC-Ben Ten Challenge game in November or December.

That'd certainly bolster the blood vessels on this board

Yea, they were rock solid with Hummel. Obviously injuries are part of the game and every title team in any sport has a bit of luck/fortune/whatever on their side along with just being better than everyone else in that given year. I mean Duke blasted WVU as well and took care of a Butler team that defeated MSU two days earlier. I saw Purdue play a lot and the only games with Hummel that I thought they lost playing the way they were capable of were at Wisconsin where nobody wins and vs Ohio State. I think blowing the huge lead vs OSU after controlling the entire game really led to the that slide they had. It wasn't until weeks after that that we realized Ohio State was much more of a fringe top five team that defeated Purdue and not a fringe top 20 team that went in and won there. Ifs and buts don't mean shit but I think if they hold on vs Ohio State and Hummel doesn't go down they win somewhere in the mid 30s in some way, shape, or form; not necessarily winning the whole thing.