Perception and reality rarely come to a confluence in sports gambling. The media hypes teams just as gamblers are ready to bet against them while the schools with their back's against the wall (like Minnesota) Tuesday, end up offering the outstanding betting value. Despite the hate mail, "your a moron" tweets, and expletive laced tirades from fans, we figured the Vegas bracket sparked enough good discussion to make a weekly appearance from now until selection Sunday. Again this week I'll tell Butler Bulldog fans to refrain from hurling expletives while Middle Tennessee State fans should be confident in their future but not tempt the fates by losing in the Sun Belt conference tournament again this year.
As for the rest of you, it's time to step inside and see how Vegas sees your squad compared to the rest of the college basketball world.
Below you'll see the hotly anticipated Vegas bracket. Quick disclaimer that normal seeding procedures like conference affiliation considerations were not adhered to when we set our field. For our purposes, the bracket is driven purely by power numbers which will be different for every bettor / bookmaker. Special thanks to @Payneinsider again this week for sharing his numbers to help seed the field. Some of the major differences between our bracket and that of bracketologist include:
#1 Overall Seed: Indiana
(1) Indiana vs (16) Southern / Charleston Southern
(2) Wisconsin vs (15) Iona
(3) Syracuse vs (14) Weber State
(4) Ohio State vs (13) Denver
(5) Oklahoma State vs (12) Colorado
(6) New Mexico vs (11) Illinois
(7) San Diego St vs (10) UCLA
(8) Marquette vs (9) Cincinnati
#2 Overall Seed: Florida
(1) Florida vs (16) Robert Morris / North Carolina Central
(2) Michigan vs (15) Harvard
(3) Pittsburgh vs (14) Valparaiso
(4) Arizona vs (13) Stephen F Austin
(5) Minnesota vs (12) Akron
(6) St Mary's vs (11) Oklahoma
(7) Kansas St vs (10) NC State
(8) St Louis vs (9) North Carolina
#3 Overall Seed: Gonzaga
(1) Gonzaga vs (16) Mercer
(2) Kansas vs (15) South Dakota State
(3) Michigan State vs (14) Davidson
(4) Middle Tennessee State vs (13) Bucknell / Lasalle
(5) Wichita State vs (12) Baylor
(6) Virginia vs (11) Oregon
(7) Creighton vs (10) Kentucky
(8) Missouri vs (9) Iowa
#4 Overall Seed: Duke
(1) Duke vs (16) Long Beach State
(2) Louisville vs (15) George Mason
(3) Miami vs (14) Stony Brook
(4) Georgetown vs (13) California / Butler
(5) Colorado State vs (12) Ole Miss
(6) VCU vs (11) Memphis
(7) Belmont vs (10) Iowa State
(8) UNLV vs (9) Notre Dame
Power 68 (teams in bold are either ineligible or miss the Vegas tournament because of automatic qualifiers)
| 1 | Indiana |
| 2 | Florida |
| 3 | Gonzaga |
| 4 | Duke |
| 5 | Michigan |
| 6 | Louisville |
| 7 | Kansas |
| 8 | Wisconsin |
| 9 | Syracuse |
| 10 | Pittsburgh |
| 11 | Michigan State |
| 12 | Georgetown |
| 13 | Miami |
| 14 | Middle Tennessee State |
| 15 | Arizona |
| 16 | Ohio State |
| 17 | Oklahoma State |
| 18 | Minnesota |
| 19 | Wichita State |
| 20 | Colorado State |
| 21 | VCU |
| 22 | Virginia |
| 23 | St. Mary's |
| 24 | New Mexico |
| 25 | San Diego State |
| 26 | Kansas State |
| 27 | Creighton |
| 28 | Belmont |
| 29 | UNLV |
| 30 | Missouri |
| 31 | St. Louis |
| 32 | Marquette |
| 33 | Cincinnati |
| 34 | North Carolina |
| 35 | Iowa |
| 36 | Notre Dame |
| 37 | Iowa State |
| 38 | Kentucky |
| 39 | N.C. State |
| 40 | UCLA |
| 41 | Illinois |
| 42 | Oklahoma |
| 43 | Oregon |
| 44 | Memphis |
| 45 | Mississippi |
| 46 | Baylor |
| 47 | Akron |
| 48 | UCONN |
| 49 | Colorado |
| 50 | Denver |
| 51 | Stephen F Austin |
| 52 | LaSalle |
| 53 | Bucknell |
| 54 | Butler |
| 55 | California |
| 56 | BYU |
| 57 | Stony Brook |
| 58 | Stanford |
| 59 | Tennessee |
| 60 | Illinois State |
| 61 | Temple |
| 62 | Davidson |
| 63 | Maryland |
| 64 | Villanova |
| 65 | Northern Iowa |
| 66 | Louisiana Tech |
| 67 | Southern Mississippi |
| 68 | Detroit Mercy |
