November 11, 2012 – CSN’s Bracketologist has issued his final projections of the 2012 NCAA Tourney field based on the latest RPI issued and the information now available regarding conference champions. The Bracketologist has projected the forty-eight teams in the 2012 NCAA Tournament field, the sixteen seeds, and the match-ups. The NCAA selection committee will announce the 2012 NCAA Tourney field on Monday, November 12 at 5:30 ET.
#1 Notre Dame Region:
First Round – Western Illinois (Summit Automatic) at SIUE (MVC #2)
Second Round – Winner at #1 Seed Notre Dame (Big East Automatic)
First Round – Michigan State (Big Ten Automatic) at Elon (So. Con. Automatic)
Second round – Winner at #16 Seed Wake Forest (ACC #3)
First round – Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun Automatic) at UAB (CUSA #4)
Second round – Winner at #9 Seed Saint Louis (A-10 Automatic)
First round – Coastal Carolina (Big South #2) at Old Dominion (CAA #2)
Second round – Winner at #8 Seed North Carolina (ACC #2)
#2 Georgetown Region
First round – Northeastern (CAA Automatic) at Brown (Ivy #2)
Second round – Winner at #2 Seed Georgetown (Big East #2)
First round – Winthrop (Big South Automatic) at Virginia (ACC #4)
Second round – Winner at #15 Seed Charlotte (A-10 #2)
First round – Air Force (MPSF Automatic) at SMU (CUSA #2)
Second round – Winner at #10 Seed Creighton (MVC Automatic)
First round – Niagara (MAAC Automatic) at Michigan (Big Ten #2)
Second round – Winner at #7 Seed Marquette (Big East #4)
#3 Maryland Region:
First round – UMBC (America East Auto) at Drexel (CAA #3)
Second round – Winner at #3 Seed Maryland (ACC Automatic)
First round – San Diego (WCC Automatic) at CS Northridge (Big West Auto)
Second Round – Winner at #14 Seed Washington (Pac 12 #2)
First round – Cleveland State (Horizon Automatic) at VCU (A-10 #3)
Second round – Winner at #11 Seed Tulsa (CUSA Automatic)
First round – Lafayette (Patriot League Automatic) at Boston College (ACC #5)
Second round – Winner at #6 Seed Connecticut (Big East #3)
#4 Akron Region:
First round – Syracuse (Big East #7) at Cornell (Ivy Automatic)
Second round – Winner at #4 Seed Akron (MAC Automatic)
First round – FDU (NEC Automatic) at St. John’s (Big East #6)
Second round – Winner at #13 Seed Indiana (Big Ten #2)
First round – Xavier (A-10 #4) at Kentucky (CUSA #3)
Second round – Winner at #12 Seed Louisville (Big East #5)
First round – UC Davis (Big West #2) at New Mexico (MPSF #2)
Second round – Winner at #5 Seed UCLA (Pac-12 Automatic)
Last Four At-Large Selections
UC Davis
Coastal Carolina
Syracuse
Xavier
Last Four Out
South Florida
Rutgers
California
Northwestern
* CSN’s Bracketologist uses the following process:
A. The twenty-two automatic qualifiers are determined by taking each school that is currently in first place in its conference. In the event two teams are tied with identical conference records, the team that has the highest RPI is selected.
B. Seeds, home teams, and at large selections in general are selected largely using the RPI ratings. Consideration is also given to geographical location and cost containment strategies, meaning an attempt is made to keep first round matches within driving distance and also second round match-ups against seeded teams.