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Projecting the Tournament: Feb. 5 edition
February 5, 2009
By Benjamin Miraski
Well, this feels a little strange, considering how badly the projected championship team lost last night.
Duke picked such a great night to have only the second-worst lost ever under Coach K. The only loss that was worse was one to a talent-heavy UNLV team in the finals of the NCAA tournament.
That loss could be forgiven, but a loss to a fellow ACC team like this? No, that one can't be forgiven which is why Coach K said that the team better not forget this loss.
So it is with a sense of irony that I post this week's tournament projections, which still have the Blue Devils capturing the title in Joe Lunardi's latest bracket.
On to the projections.
One and Done:
Midwest: Morgan State, UNLV, St. Mary's, Northern Iowa, Utah State, Vemont, Virginia Tech, Robert Morris
West: Holy Cross, Syracuse, South Carolina, North Dakota State, Penn State, East Tennessee State, USC, Arkansas-Little Rock
South: Long Beach State, Boston College, Georgetown, Buffalo, Baylor, Stephen Austin, Cal, VMI
East: Morehead State, Alabama State, Ohio State, Minnesota, Northeastern, Siena, Cornell, Florida State, Weber State
Two and Out:
Midwest: West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan State, Florida
West: Dayton, Purdue, Tennessee, Utah
South: Arizona State, Butler, Villanova, Wake Forest
East: Davidson, Texas, Kentucky, Marquette
Sweet Sixteen Departures:
Midwest:Kansas, Washington
West: UCLA, Clemson
South: Gonzaga, Xavier
East: BYU, Missouri
Not-So-Elite Eight:
Midwest: Louisville
West: Pittsburgh
South: LSU
East: Memphis
Final Four Matchups:
Connecticut vs. North Carolina -- Winner: North Carolina
Oklahoma vs. Duke -- Winner: Duke
National Champion: Duke
The MRI Rankings are copyright 2009 by MRISports.com. Ben Miraski is a freelance reporter, edits and writes for MRISports.com and is a featured blogger on FanIQ. He also is the Northwestern Wildcats Examiner for Examiner.com. Readers can contact Ben at bmiraski@mrisports.com
Posted February 5, 2009 12:02 PM
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