- Ky McKeon
Jim got his try at the (meaningless) 2020 bracket, so now it’s my turn. As I’m sure my colleague would agree, these are mainly for posterity - fun things we can look back on at the end of the season and laugh, fist pump, or cry about.
Also, I’d like to point out that the bracketing process and S-curve does not necessarily match my top 40 rankings or gambling power rankings. I haven’t really thought of a satisfying reason for this other than the bracket is where I see things going in the future whereas current top 40 and power rankings represent the “here and now’’. To boot, bracketing (especially in preseason) and power rankings are much more about “feel” than anything else. Anyways, on to the good stuff…
Bracket
Bubble
Inklings
Missouri gets included in my 2020 bracket because I’m a homer and I will be actively rooting for this to happen. Despite the Tigers being picked 13th in the SEC media poll (that’s ridiculous), they actually have a real shot at crashing the Field of 68. KenPom ranks Mizzou 39th in his preseason rankings and Bart Torvik has them 12th. Algorithms aren’t perfect, but neither are media members.
The bubble is always impossible in the preseason (and up until the final week of the regular season). So many teams could be included in the Field, it’s really a “choose your own adventure” story. I’ve cooled on Alabama, Mississippi State, and Iowa State since the start of the offseason and feel good about a West Virginia bounce back and a strong year from Dayton in the (much improved) A-10.
What’s great about preseason brackets is you get to see just how tough a Field could be with the inclusion of the best mid-majors from every conference. Vermont, New Mexico State, Liberty, East Tennessee State, Belmont, and Harvard are going to be scary good this year, but unfortunately it’s almost a certainty we won’t see all of them in the Dance in March.