I don't exactly put a lot of stock in "bracketology." Each March the big websites happily tout their experts who have picked "63 of 65 tournament teams and had them all within one seed line for the last five years." That sounds impressive, at least until you realize that more than 30 of the teams with auto bids, another 30 or so are virtual locks based on resume and getting a team within one seed line means you were able to accurately pick a 12-team group they fit in to. So yeah, bracketology really isn't much besides grafting conventional wisdom onto the s-curve and marketing.
However, useless as it may be, it sure is a lot of fun, especially when your team is doing well. That's about as good as I'm going to do for a reintroduction of our TheBracketWatch feature. We did this back in 2009 when we were trying to figure out what 16-seed would get crushed by UConn, but, unsurprisingly didn't spend a lot of time talking about the NCAA tournament last year. Still, thinks to the magic of Kemba Walker, the watch is back from the dead and with luck will be a weekly feature checking out where various arm-chair prognosticators have UConn lined up for the NCAA's.
I'm happy to report that for now, the Huskies are in fantastic shape. We'll be using four main projections for this feature (ESPN, SBNation, SI and CBS) and all four have the Huskies as a two-seed playing in Washington, D.C. Yes, please. Hit the jump for a breakdown of the four and where UConn is sitting.
ESPN Bracketology
Region: Southwest (San Antonio)
Seed: 2
First-round location: Washington, D.C.
Opponent: Florida Atlantic
Top 4 Seeds in region: 1) Kansas 2) UConn 3) Kentucky 4) Washington
Let's get this straight: I will be thrilled if UConn ends up with a 2 seed. I think that's clearly a bit high at the moment and gun-to-my-head I'd say that UConn winds up as a 3 or a 4. However, whatever they end up as, I want no part of Kentucky. Yes, UConn took apart the Wildcats in Maui, but they're playing much better basketball now and though I think Calhoun could outcoach Calipari in his sleep, I still don't want fake-Cal getting a second shot at us. Kansas also scares me -- probably not as much as Duke or Ohio St., but that doesn't mean I want them.
SB Nation Blogging The Bracket
Region: Southwest (San Antonio)
Seed: 2
First-round location: Washington, D.C.
Opponent: Florida Atlantic
Top 4 Seeds in region: 1) Kansas 2) UConn 3) Kentucky 4) Purdue
This is ESPN's bracket but with Purdue swapped in for Washington, which I'm not sure is a good trade for UConn if they were to get to that point. Again: please no Kentucky.
Sports Illustrated Bracket Watch
Region: Southeast (New Orleans)
Seed: 2
First-round location: Washington, D.C.
Opponent: Florida Atlantic
Top 4 Seeds in region: 1) Ohio St. 2) UConn 3) BYU 4) West Virginia
I love this setup. Not because I think UConn would beat Ohio St. (I doubt it), but because it would set up everyone's dream matchup of Kemba Walker vs. BYU's Jimmer Fredete in the Sweet 16. The selection committee always says they don't pick the bracket to create sexy matchups, but I don't by that for a second. If UConn and BYU both continue to play at a high level this matchup seems likely simply because everyone would want to watch it.
CBS Predicting the 2011 NCAA Tournament Field
Region: West (Anaheim)
Seed: 2
First-round location: Washington, D.C.
Opponent: Florida Atlantic
Top 4 Seeds in region: 1) San Diego St. 2) UConn 3) Texas A+M 4) West Virginia
Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I would do terrible, horrible, disgusting things to get UConn in this bracket. None of these teams scare me and SDSt. is about as favorable a 1 seed as you can get. The one worry? If they met up with the Aztecs, UConn would once again be playing a virtual road game in the NCAA tourney. Here's a brief history of UConn's experience with that in the NCAA's: '95: UCLA in California, '98: North Carolina in North Carolina, '03: Texas in Texas, '06: George Mason in Washington, D.C. What do all those games have in common? UConn lost.