It's a 4-peat for the men of Troy!!
 

The bracket is revealed tomorrow. It will be on ESPNU at 4:30 et. This year it looks like the cutoff will be around #45.

This is what things look like

My best guess for 1st/2nd round hosts:
USC
UCLA
Pepperdine
Stanford
Georgia
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Florida
Auburn
Ohio State
Oklahoma
Virginia
Duke
North Carolina
Illinois

Cal & Tennessee passed over.

(Bold teams are currently in Top 16)
West Coast Teams: 12 teams/4 hosts/0 travel
USC
UCLA
Pepperdine
Cal
Stanford
San Diego
Washington
Santa Clara
Fresno State
Boise State
Cal Poly
Sacramento State

Southeast Teams: 18 teams/6 hosts/0 travel
Georgia
Kentucky
Mississippi State
Ole Miss
Florida
Auburn
Tennessee
LSU
Florida State
Memphis
Vanderbilt
South Carolina
East Tennessee State
South Carolina State
Middle Tennessee State
Eastern Kentucky
College of Charleston
Alcorn State

Mid-West Teams: 11 teams/2 hosts/3 teams travel
Ohio State
Illinois
Michigan
Indiana
Notre Dame
Minnesota
Louisville
Northwestern
Western Michigan
UW-Green Bay
Drake

Southwest Teams: 8 teams/1 host/4 teams travel
Oklahoma
Texas
Texas A&M
Baylor
Texas Tech
Tulsa
Univ Texas-San Antonio
Univ Missouri-Kansas City


Atlantic Coast Teams: 15 teams/3 hosts/3 teams travel
UVA
Duke University
North Carolina
Harvard
VCU
NC State
Columbia
Virginia Tech
UNC Wilmington
Binghamton
George Washington
Fairfield
Fairleigh Dickinson
Navy
Radford

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament
 

There a few things we can count on each year.

The NCAA will screw things up somehow with some boring matchups.
At least two teams will get royally screwed.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament
 

I never thought I would say this but excellent bracket. It puts more importance on ranking rather than geography which is good. Too many teams in the past have been screwed because of where they are located in the nation. Auburn goes to Illinois rather than Georgia or Mississippi State.

Lots of good matchups and none of the tired conference matchups like we have seen in years past. Some fresh unpredictable ones coming up.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

Draw: in PDF format

*USC (1)
Fairfield
Texas A&M
South Carolina
Auburn
Drake
Western Michigan
*Illinois (16)

*Mississippi State (9)
Alcorn State
Baylor
Memphis
LSU
Northwestern
Georgia Washington
*Duke (8

*Ohio State (5)
East Tennessee State
Notre Dame
Vanderbilt
Harvard
Virginia Tech
Navy
*Florida (12)

*Ole Miss (13)
Binghamton
Michigan
Middle Tennessee State
San Diego
Fresno State
Eastern Kentucky
*UCLA (4)

*Virginia (3)
Fairleigh Dickinson
VCU
Columbia
Texas Tech
Cal-Poly
UTSA
*Cal (14)

*Stanford (11)
Sacramento State
Texas
Santa Clara
Indiana
Louisville
Radford
*Kentucky (6)

*Pepperdine (7)
Green Bay
Washington
North Carolina State
Tulsa
Minnesota
UMKC
*Oklahoma (10)

*North Carolina (15)
College of Charleston
Tennessee
UNC Wilmington
Florida State
Boise State
South Carolina State
*Georgia (2)

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

any thoughts? I will post my analysis in a few days.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

I have no idea who I'm going to cheer for. I'm sad Maryland didn't make it.

In individuals, let's go Cunha in singles and Maryland doubles, Collins/Horny

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

I guess I just cheer for the local teams: Duke, UNC, NC State, and UNC Wilmington

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

How can you pull for all Tobacco road teams? they are bitter rivals in most sports haha.

I will be pulling for UCLA to win the whole thing out of the contendors. I have always been a fan of Giron and Meister. I also like Puget and Mkrchtian.

I also like Ole Miss,Oklahoma,Kentucky,Pepperdine.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

as far as the Tobacco road teams chances; UNC will have to get by Tennessee a team that had a surprisingly good year after losing Smith,Sandgren and Williams. Libietis the freshman from Latvia came on strong as the year rolled on. And even if they beat Tennessee they will be an appetizer for UGA in Athens in the round of 16.

Duke has a tough draw. Not only do they have a dangerous LSU team in the 2nd round but they have the dreaded 8/9 slot. They will have to face a very fit and workmanlike team in Mississippi State and of they can beat the Bulldogs its Southern Cal waiting.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

Well, I really don't see Washington going past Pepperdine if they get past NC State. I hope Pepperdine does well after what happened last year.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

Because I have no preference really since my alma mater is not an option. I'm surrounded by many Duke, UNC, and NC State fans and sometimes wish that I could disappear during March Madness :lol:. A lot of times I would pull for Duke because they are the most hated in the state :p. Maybe I should pull for NC State since I was admitted there (even though I decided to go elsewhere).

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

The line-ups submissions for the tournament



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notable changes:

UCLA does in fact put Thompson at 1 and Meister at 2. I wonder if this is specifically for the USC matchup.

Florida switches Carleton and Slilam. Carleton now at 2, Slilam at 3

Ohio State puts Callahan at 6 and moves Connor Smith down to 7

Washington moves Bots to 2 and moves down Egger to 3

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

Bots played #2 and Egger #3 during the Pac-12 championships. I thought it was strange but there weren't any protests that I know of. The UCLA switch is also interesting. Personally I think Meister > Thompson but they are both pretty good.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

Miss State moves Cant to 5 and Coupland to 5. I do not understand that switch. Shouldn't be playing with the line-up at this time.

Re: 2012 NCAA tournament: Draw released!
 

I'm pretty excited about the tourney this year, the field looks really awesome. I mean UVA is 3rd seed, come on. I think it will be interesting to see Illinois, if they do beat Auburn, to challenge USC in the 3rd round after their Big Ten tourney performance.

I like Ohio State to beat UCLA and challenge USC. I don't think they can beat them, but it could get interesting with that great OSU lineup.

On the other side, I think Kentucky, if they beat Stanford, who beat them earlier this year, could knock off Virginia. UK is a great tourney team with a very scary lineup when they are on. But I think UVA will prevail, and I like the UGA crowd to push the Dogs, but I think UVA has better matchups with UGA and we will see another USC-Virginia final.

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Virginia winning it. Kinda crazy, huh? The first year that they've lost a few matches and aren't 1 or 2 seed, they are my pick to win.

But as Jeff said, I'd love to see UCLA beat USC. I'll also be pulling for Texas A&M, Kentucky (gotta love Quigley and that lineup), Coll. of Charleston, and my WAKE FOREST DEMON...wait, no. nevermind. I guess I'll be pulling for the Cavs too since they are my pick...ehh.