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It appears the Pac 10 is this year’s SEC. Last season, Mississippi State had to win the SEC Tournament to get in and by doing so the Bulldogs saved the conference a lot of embarrassment.  For the Pac 10, it looks like Washington is in for sure. California is iffy, but still the second most solid team on paper. Where is a third (or fourth) tournament team coming from?

I don’t like picking on conferences. Actually, I’m totally against conference arguments. The comparisons between this year’s Pac 10 and last season’s SEC exist because there aren't multiple great teams in the Pac 10 this year. Last season that was the problem for the SEC’s teams. Since none of the bubble teams were able to pick up big wins outside of conference, every team was depending on winning games in conference to get into the NCAA Tournament. The problem was that there wasn’t a dominant team to get an impressive victory against.

The Pac 10 has the same problem. On paper, Washington is the dominant team in the conference. The Huskies should be a team you can get a big win against in conference play.  The problem is that there isn’t a Pac 10 team with a big out of conference win right now. The best wins the conference have are LSU (by Arizona State) and Iowa State (by California). Neither the Tigers or Cyclones are definite NCAA Tournament teams.

I realize it’s early, but time is running out during non-conference play to grab big wins. The entire conference needs to start grabbing some Ws to increase its national recognition before conference play begins. Once conference play starts, it’s too late to get national credibility as a conference.

The Rest of my breakdown on the Pac 10 | Bracketology: December 5th

This probably sounds corny to half of the people reading. Some will understand, some won't.

As a Florida fan. I have experienced two basketball national championships, two football championships, and a Heisman Trophy winning season over the last five seasons. Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey, and Al Horford were an incredible team and went back to school for each other , an incredible display of selflessness in today's world shaped by athletes like Carlos Dunlap.

Our football team, outside of Percy Harvin, all returned to try to win another championship.

Tim Tebow was the most selfless person I've ever seen in the national spotlight. Yesterday he cried after losing to Alabama, but who can blame him? Would you not cry in the same situation? I know I would.

The defense was incredible until yesterday. Led by Brandon Spikes and Joe Haden, I believed our defense was one of the best I've ever seen.  The entire starting defense could conceivably be picked by a NFL team.

Tebow is one of the best to ever play the game. I will let others rank him when it's all said and done, but I enjoyed watching his career play out before us. Even in defeat, he graciously took an interview crying. I hate all the jokes about his tears, because their unfair.

As for Alabama, being a Florida fan living near Tuscaloosa isn't a great thing right now. Even with that, congratulations to the Crimson Tide. Florida's defense didn't show up and got whipped all over the field. Tebow couldn't pull a miracle because Alabama kept him on the sideline. Nick Saban's strategy worked and Urban Meyer's didn't.

22 straight wins is a hell of a run. All great runs have to come to an end, but I was hoping this one could last one more year. It was fun to watch and be a part of. As a Florida fan, I can't show any more gratitude than this by thanking the team.  The team is one of the best in SEC history. Next time you see 22 wins in a row think of these Gators. 

Thank you Gators. It was a fun ride. Thanks for taking all of us Gator fans along with you.

Tonight's bracket has tons of changes, including Wisconsin and UNLV making a major move. The bracket is being based more and more off of what has happened this season and less off of preseason expectations. A lot of preseason top 25 teams are on the outside looking in right now.

Rising: Wisconsin, UNLV, Texas Tech
Falling: Michigan (out), Minnesota (out)

Tonight's Bracket: http://www.onlinesportsfanatic.com/
?page_id=27
As always, I will answer any questions (that are reasonable) posted here as in my "daily question" section.

How about tonight's hoops action?

The Big Ten wins the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, thanks to the effort of Wisconsin against Duke. Michigan continues to fade with its third loss in six days.

Other big losers tonight were Minnesota, BYU, and Portland.

My recap of tonight's action is here , along with how each win/loss will affect my bracketology (which will be updated soon).

Tonight's Mailbag Question (Ask yours by posting it in a comment below):
Dan where do you think Wisconsin and Maryland both stack up now? IMO, I think the Terrapins are a tad overrated. Wisconsin played a great game tonight. They did a very good job containing Vasquez. If he takes over a game, it could easily be over inn the first couple of minutes and the Badgers didn't let that happen. I have to give them props. They will have to play some stellar defense if they plan on competing in the Big Ten. -GTucker
First off GTucker, let me personally apologize for not getting to this question earlier. As I wrote in an earlier blog entry from this week, I had surprise surgery and am still recovering (just soreness mainly).

On the other hand, what a great time to answer this question .

Wisconsin is clearly in my NCAA Tournament field now. I know you asked this the night after the Wisconsin/Maryland game, but the Badgers win over Duke (paired with Ws over Maryland and Cincinnati) give Wisconsin one of the best resumes in the country early on. As for Maryland, the Terps victory over Indiana left them in the same position they were in after their loss to Wisconsin. I think Maryland will get in the field, but right now it would be hard to seed them.

If I had to seed the two teams right now I'd give Wisconsin a top 5 seed and Maryland around a 10 seed. That is subject to a lot of changes, but today, on December 2nd that's about where they'd be.

Thanks for your question, and next time I won't take so long to get to it!

Link: http://www.onlinesportsfanatic.com/
?page_id=27

Overview: First off I must apologize for not having the “daily bracketology” up over the last few days. On Thanksgiving, I had to be taken to the emergency room and yesterday I had my appendix removed. I was released from the hospital today and got this up as soon as possible. Over the last three nights we’ve had some huge movers. Florida knocked off #2 Michigan State, Portland has rolled through ranked teams, Marquette has knocked off Michigan and Xavier, and Duke beat Connecticut. That leaves us with the Blue Devils as a #1 seed, Florida and Marquette as #4 seeds, and Portland as a #10 seed. There are a lot of changes in the bracket below. Six teams fell out of at large bids and were replaced by six others. At this point the bracketology is 75% on court performance and 25% preseason expectations.
Fell Out: Oklahoma, UCLA, Illinois, Wake Forest, LSU, Tulsa, Notre Dame
Moved In: Wisconsin, Marquette, Portland, Northwestern, UTEP, Missouri State

I will write more later, but for now I must get some rest. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

It's not the best preview in the world, but we put together a Duke-Connecticut podcast preview. If you like the podcast let us know so that we can do more. My bracketology should be up tomorrow night (it's a holiday so I took a day off ) in updating the bracket.

http://www.onlinesportsfanatic.com/
?p=359



Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

Bracketology: Purdue is now a #1 seed, Cincinnati storms into the bracket

Tonight's Bracket (a little info): We have a new #1 seed in the daily bracketology as Purdue grabs a #1 following its victory over Tennessee. The Vols fall to a #2 seed for now. Cincinnati storms into the field after reaching the Maui Invitational Finals (where the Bearcats will meet Gonzaga). Wisconsin and Arizona, two teams that met last night, have been unimpressive in their two wins in Maui and dropped out of the field. Florida rises a spot for its impressive victory over Florida State.  Vanderbilt drops the farthest in this addition in part due to their lackluster play versus Cincinnati (and even for the first half against Chaminade) and in part due to Florida’s win. The Gators take Vandy’s spot in the SEC pecking order at this point.

Risers:

Purdue: The Boilermakers are now a #1 seed (in the South Region) after their win over Tennessee.

Cincinnati: The Bearcats have wins over Maryland and Vanderbilt on back to back days. A win over Gonzaga would help add to what appears to be an incredible out of conference resume for the Bearcats.

Florida: The Gators jumped out early on FSU, allowed a huge Seminoles run, and then finished off the game with a big run of their own. We will know more about Florida when they play Michigan State on Friday, but for now they rise one spot.

Fallers:

Arizona/Wisconsin: Many have described the Wildcats/Badgers game on Monday as "ugly" and "hard to watch". Neither team was extremely sharp. Arizona went on to be taken to overtime by Colorado (after leading by eight with :40 left) before pulling out a win. Wisconsin lost to Gonzaga in a game the Bulldogs controlled most of the way. Both teams are out of my bracket for now.

Vanderbilt: The Commodores fell mainly due to their loss to Cincinnati, but also because they did not impress me during their win over Chaminade. Florida's win moves them temporarily ahead in the SEC's "pecking" order for at large bids, but there's a whole league season left to be played to decide the true pecking order.

Every other move in today's edition is mainly due to other teams moving up/moving down. Teams do not have to be in action on a given night to move up or down. A lot of the movement is based on what other teams do around the country.

Opening the Mailbag....
I will begin answering questions each night for anyone that has a bracketology question. For now, I ask that you just post the questions here. I may answer it in a comment and still use it for this section of my blog. Who knows, I may not get any questions.