I tried to post this just now, but Firefox crashed on me so here goes attempt number two...

Southwest region champion will play the winner of the West region in the Final Four; winner of the Southeast region will play the winner of the East region.

Southwest Region (San Antonio)

Tulsa (Fr, Su)
1 Kansas vs. 16 HAMPTON
8 Old Dominion vs. 9 Minnesota

Tuscon (Th, Sa)
5 Kentucky vs. 12 UTEP
4 Syracuse vs. 13 VALPARAISO

Cleveland (Fr, Su)
3 Georgetown vs. 14 VERMONT
6 XAVIER vs. 11 Michigan State

Tuscon (Th, Sa)
7 St. John's vs. 10 Florida State
2 San Diego State vs. 15 MONTANA

West Region (Anaheim)

Tulsa (Fr, Su)
1 TEXAS vs. 16 LONG BEACH STATE
8 Tennessee vs. 9 GEORGE MASON

Tampa (Th, Sa)
5 North Carolina vs. 12 MISSOURI STATE
4 Purdue vs. 13 PRINCETON

3 FLORIDA vs. 14 BELMONT
6 ARIZONA vs. 11 Cincinnati/UAB

Denver (Th, Sa)
7 Temple vs. 10 Marquette
2 BRIGHAM YOUNG vs. 15 FAIRFIELD

Southeast Region (New Orleans)

Cleveland (Fr, Su)
1 OHIO STATE vs. 16 FLORIDA ATLANTIC/TEXAS ST.-SAN MARCOS
8 Ucla vs. 9 Boston College

Denver (Th, Sa)
5 Missouri vs. 12 UTAH STATE
4 Villanova vs. 13 OAKLAND

DC (Th, Sa)
3 Connecticut vs. 14 CHARLESTON
6 Vanderbilt vs. 11 Colorado State

Chicago (Fr, Su)
7 Illinois vs. 10 ST. MARY'S
2 Notre Dame vs. 15 KENT STATE

East Region (Newark)

DC (Th, Sa)
1 PITTSBURGH vs. 16 LONG ISLAND/TEXAS SOUTHERN
8 Unlv vs. 9 Georgia

Charlotte (Fr, Su)
5 Texas A&M vs. 12 Virginia Tech/Richmond
4 Louisville vs. 13 COASTAL CAROLINA

Chicago (Fr, Su)
3 Wisconsin vs. 14 BUCKNELL
6 West Virginia vs. 11 Butler

Charlotte (Fr, Su)
7 Washington vs. 10 Memphis
2 DUKE vs. 15 MURRAY STATE

FIRST FOUR (Dayton)

Tuesday
11(W) Cincinnati vs. UAB (AT-LARGE)
16 (E) LONG ISLAND vs. TEXAS SOUTHERN (AUTO BIDS)

Wednesday
16 (SE) FLORIDA ATLANTIC vs. TEXAS ST.-SAN MARCOS (AUTO BIDS)
12 (E) Virginia Tech vs. Richmond (AT-LARGE)

Last Four Out: Baylor, Oklahoma State, Cleveland State, Kansas State

Here is the next version of my NCAA bracketology. The bracket takes into account all games played through Saturday.

No changes on the #1 seeds, but there are a couple of changes on the last few teams in. Namely, a couple of teams (UAB and Butler) are knocked out of the bracket; for Butler this is partially due to their own struggles, but also due to "Bid Stealers". Bid Stealers are teams that are leading their conference and are therefore in the bracket as the auto bid but would not make the field as an At-Large. The two new bid stealers in this bracket are Alabama and UTEP. There are always a couple of these bid stealers come conference tournament time that turn a 1-bid league into a 2-bid league or get an extra team out of a power conference that they would not have otherwise gotten.

Once again, this bracket is only a snapshot if today was Selection Sunday (which we're only 5 weeks away from). The winner of the West Region will play the winner of the East Region in the Final Four, the winner of the Southwest Region will play the winner of the Southeast region. Automatic bids are in CAPS.

East Region (Newark)

Cleveland (Fr, Su)
1 OHIO STATE vs. 16 TEXAS SOUTHERN/NORTHWESTERN STATE
8 Boston College vs. 9 Ucla

Tuscon (Th, Sa)
5 Florida vs. 12 WICHITA STATE
4 Texas A&M vs. 13 PRINCETON

Tampa (Th, Sa)
3 Georgetown vs. 14 BELMONT
6 Minnesota vs. 11 CLEVELAND STATE

Cleveland (Fr, Su)
7 Unlv vs. 10 Oklahoma State
2 Connecticut vs. 15 FLORIDA ATLANTIC

West Region (Anaheim)

Tulsa (Fr, Su)
1 TEXAS vs. 16 NORTHERN COLORADO
8 St. John's vs. 9 Florida State

Denver (Th, Sa)
5 Kentucky vs. 12 UTAH STATE
4 Purdue vs. 13 COASTAL CAROLINA

DC (Th, Sa)
3 Villanova vs. 14 VERMONT
6 ARIZONA vs. 11 Michigan State/Memphis

Charlotte (Fr, Su)
7 Tennessee vs. 10 Temple
2 DUKE vs. 15 MURRAY STATE

Southeast Region (New Orleans)

DC (Th, Sa)
1 PITTSBURGH vs. 16 CHATTANOOGA/LONG ISLAND
8 Illinois vs. 9 Old Dominion

Chicago (Fr, Su)
5 West Virginia vs. 12 Virginia Tech/Richmond
4 Missouri vs. 13 ALABAMA

Tampa (Th, Sa)
3 Syracuse vs. 14 KENT STATE
6 Vanderbilt vs. 11 Penn State

Denver (Th, Sa)
7 Washington vs. 10 Cincinnati
2 BRIGHAM YOUNG vs. 15 FAIRFIELD

Southwest Region (San Antonio)

Tulsa (Fr, Su)
1 Kansas vs. 16 HAMPTON
8 Georgia vs. 9 ST. MARY'S

Charlotte (Fr, Su)
5 Wisconsin vs. 12 UTEP
4 Louisville vs. 13 OAKLAND

Tuscon (Th, Sa)
3 San Diego State vs. 14 BUCKNELL
6 North Carolina vs. 11 Marquette

Chicago (Fr, Su)
7 XAVIER vs. 10 GEORGE MASON
2 Notre Dame vs. 15 LONG BEACH STATE

Last Four In (First Four Participants): Michigan State, Memphis, Virginia Tech, Richmond
Last Four Out: Kansas State, UAB, Colorado State, Butler

I have been busy with numerous church, work and just life activities and haven't had the time to produce any brackets yet for the upcoming March Madness.

For those who've never seen my bracket in previous years I am humbled to say that I've actually done very well as a bracketologist in past years including beating many of the experts. To know how your favorite bracketologist (which may not be me) did last year visit the Bracket Project here . The Bracket Project also does a Matrix which shows how each team is doing in each bracket that they track this year.

All seeds are as of 1/31; they are not a projection of how teams will end up, but merely a snapshot if Selection Sunday were today. Automatic Bids are in CAPS.

I try and follow all NCAA Principles & Procedures (the ones that the Committee uses to develop a bracket) so if you see anything not following these Procedures let me know. Sometimes teams are moved around to accomodate the Procedures.

Differences this year: There are new names for two of the regions this year, the Midwest and South are now called the Southwest and Southeast. The winner of each of these two regions will play in the Final Four against each other; the winners of the East and West regions will also play each other. There are two sets of First Four games featuring the Last Four at large teams and the bottom four automatic qualifers; all of these games will be played in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday. Winners of the Tuesday games will play in a Thursday 1st round site; winners of the Wednesday games will play in a Friday 1st round site.

Without further ado here is the bracket; feel free to give feedback:

East Region (Newark)

1st/2nd Round Games in Cleveland (Fr, Su):

1 OHIO STATE vs. 16 LONG ISLAND/McNEESE STATE
8 Cincinnati vs. 9 ST. MARY'S

1st/2nd Round Games in Denver (Th, Sa):

5 Syracuse vs. 12 Virginia Tech/UAB
4 Missouri vs. 13 COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON

1st/2nd Round Games in Cleveland (Fr, Su):

3 Villanova vs. 14 COASTAL CAROLINA
6 FLORIDA vs. 11 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH (VCU)

1st/2nd Round Games in Chicago (Fr, Su):

7 XAVIER vs. 10 Michigan State
2 Notre Dame vs. 15 FAIRFIELD

West Region (Anaheim)

1st/2nd Round Games in Tulsa (Fr, Su):

1 TEXAS vs. 16 FLORIDA ATLANTIC
8 Florida State vs. 9 Georgia

1st/2nd Round Games in Charlotte (Fr, Su):

5 Minnesota vs. 12 Richmond
4 Georgetown vs. 13 Butler/George Mason

1st/2nd Round Games in Tucson (Th, Sa):

3 San Diego State vs. 14 MONTANA
6 Vanderbilt vs. 11 Penn State

1st/2nd Round Games in Washington, DC (Th, Sa):

7 Arizona vs. 10 MEMPHIS
2 Connecticut vs. 15 MAINE

Southeast Region (New Orleans)

1st/2nd Round Games in Washington, DC:

1 PITT vs. 16 TEXAS SOUTHERN/BETHUNE COOKMAN
8 Illinois vs. 9 Boston College

1st/2nd Round Games in Denver:

5 West Virginia vs. 12 UTAH STATE
4 Texas A&M vs. 13 HARVARD

1st/2nd Round Games in Chicago:

3 Purdue vs. 14 KENT STATE
6 North Carolina vs. 11 Ucla

1st/2nd Round Games in Tucson:

7 Tennessee vs. 10 Marquette
2 BYU vs. 15 LONG BEACH STATE

Southwest Region (San Antonio)

1st/2nd Round Games in Tulsa:

1 Kansas vs. 16 AUSTIN PEAY
8 Old Dominion vs. 9 St. John's

1st/2nd Round Games in Tampa (Th, Sa):

5 WASHINGTON vs. 12 Temple
4 Louisville vs. 13 OAKLAND

3 Kentucky vs. 14 BELMONT
6 Wisconsin vs. 11 MISSOURI STATE

1st/2nd Round Games in Charlotte:

7 Unlv vs. 10 CLEVELAND STATE
2 DUKE vs. 15 BUCKNELL

Last Four In (First Four matchups in Dayton): Virginia Tech vs. UAB, Butler vs. George Mason
Last Four Out: Colorado State, Valparaiso, Clemson, Washington State

There are some interesting matchups in there; ones I particularly like are:

Southeast Region- 6 North Carolina vs. 11 UCLA; two storied basketball programs meet in a game that 30 years ago might have been in the Final Four

Southwest Region- 5 Washington vs. 12 Temple; contrast in styles between the uptempo Huskies and the defensive-minded Owls

East Region- 7 Xavier vs. 10 Michigan State; both teams are battle-tested after playing difficult non-conference schedules but Xavier is playing better right now having won all 7 of their A-10 contests

I have not been able to devote as much time to Bracketology as I would like, as I am getting ready to move to Texas next week. So you may get one more bracket out of me on Sunday and then probably not again for another week until I can get down to Texas and get internet installed and everything.

Anyway, the latest edition of my bracketology is up on the Ya Sports! website, here

Purdue gets a #1 seed for now, but who knows how long that will last with Hummel out for them. Tough break for a really great player. We'll see how Purdue does the rest of the year, but I think if they slip up even once, the committee is going to give them a #2 seed (assuming Duke wins the ACC tournament and gets the last #1 seed).

#1 seeds: Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, Purdue
#2 seeds: Duke, Villanova, Kansas State, West Virginia
#3 seeds: Georgetown, New Mexico, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin
#4 seeds: Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Texas, Michigan State

There were a lot of Principles & Procedures (P & P) adjustments made to the bracket. My spreadsheet looks all colorful with all of the changes made from the original S-curve (when teams change regions in my bracket the region next to a team's name changes from green to blue). Before these changes were made my bracket had sorts of other colors in it; when a procedural issue occurs in the bracket it is programmed (thanks to my friend Beer) to highlight that in red or yellow depending on the type of issue that is occuring. Of the 65 teams in the bracket, only 11 are in their original spots (the Top 5 teams Kansas through Duke and 6 others). Most of the time the teams stayed on their original seed line; however, Connecticut and Virginia Tech were swapped seed lines to fit the P & P.

Regional balance is as follows: Midwest = 523, East = 517, West = 523, South = 517

I tried to keep teams as close to home as possible while following the P & P, Beer can use his analysis of the distance traveled to check and see how I did.

Here is the latest version of my Bracketology, updating through the results of Wednesday's games.

Lobofan2003 Bracket

Nothing changes on the 1 or 2 seed lines, but there is a big shakeup on the 3 and 4 lines. New Mexico and Vanderbilt move up to 3 seeds; while Texas and Michigan St. due to their multiple losses within the last couple of weeks move down to the 4 seed.

#1 seeds: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Villanova
#2 seeds: Duke, Purdue, West Virginia, Georgetown
#3 seeds: Kansas State, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt
#4 seeds: Texas, Michigan State, Wake Forest, Temple

Last Four In: Florida, Old Dominion, Louisville, Notre Dame
Last Four Out: Marquette, Charlotte, South Florida, Virginia Tech
Next Four Out: Washington, Cincinnati, Minnesota, Texas Tech

This does not take into account all of today's results, only the Noon ET games (specifically the ND/South Florida was included).

#1 seeds: Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky, Villanova
#2 seeds: Duke, Purdue, West Virginia, Georgetown
#3 seeds: Kansas State, Wisconsin, Texas, Michigan State
#4 seeds: New Mexico, Tennessee, Temple, Georgia Tech

Last Four In: Louisville, Dayton, Old Dominion, Cincinnati
Last Four Out: Marquette, Notre Dame, VCU, South Florida
Next Four Out: Minnesota, Washington, Virginia Tech, Illinois

The entire bracket and matchups can be found here .

As always questions and comments are appreciated and special thanks to Beer for helping me with making the bracketing process easier.

It's funny how things can change so quickly. Last week, prior to Saturday, Oklahoma State was the last team out of my bracket. Now with wins in the last week over Kansas State and Texas A&M, the Cowboys are all the way up to a #6 seed.

Things also changed quickly for Kentucky who was the #1 overal seed just briefly, before losing their undefeated mark at South Carolina. The Wildcats hang on to the last #1 seed for now, but they must watch out for Texas, Kansas State and Duke who all have better computer numbers.

Without further ado my top seeds:
#1 Seeds: Kansas (#1 overall seed), Villanova, Syracuse, Kentucky
#2 Seeds: Duke, Kansas State, Texas, Michigan State
#3 Seeds: Georgetown, West Virginia, Purdue, Vanderbilt
#4 Seeds: Pittsburgh, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Temple

You can find the rest of my bracket, including pairings and locations, here .

A couple of notes on procedural changes made within the bracket:

Kansas would normally get the winner of the Play-In (Opening Round) Game as the #1 Overall Seed, but they are given geographic prefence and placed in Oklahoma City for the 1st two rounds. Oklahoma City is a Thurs./Sat. site; the Play-In winner must play in a Fri./Sun. site and is thus placed against Villanova in Buffalo in my bracket.

Xavier and Rhode Island were switched spots in order to avoid a rematch between Kansas St. and Xavier in the 2nd Round. Otherwise Xavier would have been a 7 seed and Rhode Island an 8 seed.

As always questions and comments are appreciated.

I usually post my bracketology on Friday, but this week I had to fly out of town for a job interview on Thursday, so this is a day late. It does not take into account any of the results from Saturday.

The biggest shakeup in this week's bracket is on the 1 and 2 seed lines. With Kansas St.'s victory over Texas they move up to a 2 seed and knock the Longhorns down to a 2-seed. It was a really close call between Syracuse and Texas for the final #1 seed, in reality both are deserving of a 1 seed, but Syracuse's better RPI and SOS gave them the nod. Below you see all of the top seeds:

#1 seeds: Kentucky (#1 overall seed), Kansas, Villanova, Syracuse
#2 seeds: Texas, Kansas St., Georgetown, Duke
#3 seeds: Pittsburgh, Purdue, Michigan St., W. Virginia
#4 seeds: Wisconsin, Temple, Tennessee, Gonzaga

The other difficult part was the last four teams in and the last four teams out. You could just easily switch any or all of the last four teams in and out.

As of Friday:
Last Four Temas In- Florida St., Louisville, St. John's, Wichita St.
Last Four Teams Out- Oklahoma St., VCU, Illinois, Richmond

See the entire bracket here: Lobofan's 2003 Bracketology

Thanks for all your comments and questions.