College basketball fanatics, weigh in.

[Chiyo-chichi]

I'm in a basketball poll that goes all season. We're not playing for money - it's just for fun. Four of us each chose six teams at the beginning of the season. Dick Vitale's Preseason Top 16 are off limits until the tournament, but we could pick anyone else. I am currently in first place by virtue of having chosen Texas A&M.

Now... we get to pick ONE additional team tomorrow. I am looking to pick the team (from among the teams that are available) that will be seeded highest in the tourney.

These are my candidates:

Oklahoma State
Butler
Clemson
Air Force
Oregon
West Virginia
Washington State
Notre Dame

I am leaning heavily toward Oklahoma St. It might be bad strategy to take another Big 12 team, but I've enjoyed watching OSU play this season. JamesOn Curry and Mario Boggan are good. The upside is that they're the highest ranked available team and if anyone other than Kansas or Texas A&M wins the Big 12, it will be OSU, so maybe I oughta go ahead & wrap up the conference and hope that the Big 12 champ earns a two or three seed. If I don't pick OSU, someone else will and I would hate for one of my competitors to have them.

However... what Butler accomplished in the Preseason NIT was no small feat. They had some quality wins.

What about Clemson? They're undefeated, but they've got to play North Carolina, Duke, Maryland, and other good ACC teams. They're certainly going to lost their share of conference road games.

Air Force is going to remain ranked highly by virtue of not playing anyone. My hunch is that won't get them a high seed.

Oregon just knocked off #1 UCLA. They are going to lose some games on the road in the very tough Pac 10.

I was leaning toward Notre Dame until they got blown away at Georgetown this weekend. If it had been a close game, I might still have picked the Irish.

I want to have the highest-seeded teams come tournament time so that I can pick first - and get the first chance to choose the national champion. Which of those teams above would you pick?

This is a fun type of pool. You can find info about it here, though I really just maintain this site for the four of us who are playing.
http://basketballpool.spaces.live.com/

[Strawman]

1. Butler might run the table into the tourney

Bracketology had them as a 5 seed I think on 1/3. They would be the safe pick. Teams from power conferences like Clemson are more likely to get beat up. Butler is probably a safe 4 seed, but then again, how far will Clemson drop even if they lose a few games? Probably not below a 4 either. Tough call, but one of those two.

[Chiyo-chichi]

2. Bracketology

has Oklahoma State, Butler, and Oregon as three seeds today. They have Texas A&M as a four, even thought A&M is currently ranked higher.

Ken Pomeroy is down on Ok. State, but is it going to be hard for me to pass them up. If I could put it off one more day & see how OSU does against Kansas, that'd be cool... but I can't.

Two or three weeks ago, I thought Butler was the obvious choice. If I were to take them... and Oklahoma State finished ahead of Texas A&M... that would be a bummer.

Thanks for your input, Strawman.

[CatholicEdHead]

3. Not on the list, but Wisconsin

They are VERY good in basketball this year.

(Hockey is another story for the defending champs)

[Chiyo-chichi]

4. Yes.

I wouldn't want to face them in the tourney. I won't be a bit surprised if they win the Big Ten over the much-hyped Ohio State. Since Wisconsin was in Vitale's Preseason top 16, they're not in play yet in my pool.

In fact, Wisconsin & Ohio State play tomorrow, don't they?