LAST FOUR IN: New Hampshire, Austin Peay, Eastern Washington, South Dakota
FIRST FIVE OUT: Furman, Montana, Northern Arizona, Delaware, Nicholls
The year of 2017 will go down in bracketology history associated with one word - crowded. A whole host of other words could be used also; cloudy, stressful, sleepless. Okay, those last couple are for the bracketologist themself. Still, what a crazy season.
And the final week did nothing to disappoint the trend of the rest of the year. Ten Top 25 teams lost on Thursday/Saturday, creating madness and mayhem that are saved for the first round of the basketball tournament and auto insurance commercials. Numerous teams cost themselves bids by losing their final game, including the likes of powers Montana and Delaware. The last few bids could have been claimed by as many as five or six teams on the outside, all of which had legitimate arguments for being included.
Here’s to hoping I could climb inside the minds of ten different people’s opinions and put together a solid bracket. It looks good, but as crowded and cloudy as it is, this process has been very stressful and sleepless. Check out ESPNU Sunday morning at 11E/10C to find the official pairings.
Big Sky (3): Southern Utah*, Weber State, Eastern Washington
Big South (2): Kennesaw State*, Monmouth
Colonial (4): James Madison*, Stony Brook, New Hampshire, Elon
Missouri Valley (5): North Dakota State*, South Dakota State, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa, South Dakota
Northeast (1): Central Connecticut State*
Ohio Valley (2): Jacksonville State*, Austin Peay
Patriot (1): Lehigh*
Pioneer (1): San Diego*
Southern (2): Wofford*, Samford
Southland (3): Central Arkansas*, Sam Houston State, McNeese
* League Champion and automatic bid
