Beer's NCAA Brackets : CBSSports.com Blogs

Beer's Bracket - 03/15/13 NOON

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:22:22 EDT

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Washington DC (E) / Arlington (S) winner vs. Indianapolis (M) / Los Angeles (W) winner.

Washington DC (E)

(1E) DUKE (27-4) vs. (16E) LIU-BROOKLYN (20-13) @Philadelphia

(8E) Illinois (21-11) vs. (9E) Wichita State (26-8) @Philadelphia

Beer's Bracket - 03/10/13 PM

Sun, 10 Mar 2013 22:31:51 EDT

Records are not updated. Note: Middle Tennessee and Stony Brook losing at halftime... I will need to update again if either of them lose.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Washington DC (E) / Arlington (S) winner vs. Los Angeles (W) / Indianapolis (M) winner.

Washington DC (E)

(1E) DUKE (27-4) vs. (16E) NORFOLK STATE (21-10) / LIU-BROOKLYN (19-13) @Philadelphia

Beer's Bracket - 03/09/13 AM

Sat, 09 Mar 2013 0:34:12 EST

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Los Angeles (W) / Arlington (S) winner vs. Indianapolis (M) / Washington DC (E) winner.

Los Angeles (W)

(1W) GONZAGA (28-2) vs. (16W) NORFOLK STATE (21-10) / SOUTHERN (18-9) @Salt Lake

(8W) North Carolina (21-8) vs. (9W) San Diego State (19-8) @Salt Lake

Beer's Bracket - 03/01/13

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:23:05 EST

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Indianapolis (M) / Arlington (S) winner vs. Los Angeles (W) / Washington DC (E) winner.

Indianapolis (M)

(1M) INDIANA (24-4) vs. (16M) NORTHEASTERN (19-10) @Dayton

(8M) Oregon (23-6) vs. (9M) Missouri (20-8) @Dayton

Beer's Bracket - 02/25/13

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:56:14 EST

Records are prior to yesterday's games but seeding considers yesterdays results.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Indianapolis (M) / Los Angeles (W) winner vs. Washington DC (E) / Arlington (S) winner.

Indianapolis (M)

(1M) INDIANA (24-3) vs. (16M) MERCER (18-9) @Dayton

Beer's Bracket - 02/20/13

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 9:21:17 EST

I'll try to keep this current every few days or so... As always, it's extremely hard choosing those last few teams and even kind of hard choosing the top seeds. Records are prior to yesterday's games but seeding considers yesterdays results.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Indianapolis (M) / Los Angeles (W) winner vs. Washington DC (E) / Arlington (S) winner.

Indianapolis (M)

(1M) INDIANA (23-3) vs. (16M) NORTHEASTERN (17-10) / HIGH POINT (13-10) @Dayton

Beer's Bracket - 02/09/13 AM

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:47:44 EST

First bracket of the year... not proud of it since I started on Thursday and lots has changed since then. Not enough hours in the day to keep up with everything. Anyway, I will use this one as a starting point since it will probably be another week before I have time to do another one. They will get better as we get closer to the tournament… promise! Let me know if you see any procedural issues* and I always appreciate feedback regarding seeding, etc.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Indianapolis (M) / Los Angeles (W) winner vs. Arlington (S) / Washington DC (E) winner.

Indianapolis (M)

(1M) INDIANA (20-3) vs. (16M) NIAGARA (14-10) / NORFOLK STATE (14-10) @Dayton

Beer's Bracket - 03/11/12... FINAL!!!

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:58:23 EDT

Records are not updated... This might be the craziest bracket I've ever published. I do not expect to do as well as I have in previous years. Unfortunately, I'm too stubborn to ignore the fact that Marshall has 2 Top 20 wins (USM), 2 Top 45 wins (@Cincy, Iona), 2 Top 60 wins (UCF, Belmont) and made it to the Conference USA Finals. They have a Top 45 RPI, a Top 25 SOS , a Top 50 Out of Conference RPI, and a Top 10 Out of Conference SOS. They won 7 of their last 10 and have proven that they are a good team (only lost by 6 at Syracuse by outscoring them by 7 in the second half back in early December). 6 Top 75 wins (including 2 away from home) should be enough. I doubt the committee will agree...

Because of a last minute Ohio State / Michigan State swap, I have to make a few last second "location" changes (i.e. MSU / Gonzaga) to avoid rematches. However, seeding is FINAL!!!

Beer's Bracket - 03/11/12... Placeholder!

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 17:20:08 EDT

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: St. Louis (M) / Phoenix (W) winner vs. Boston (E) / Atlanta (S) winner.

St. Louis (M)

(1M) KENTUCKY (32-1) vs. (16M) NC-ASHEVILLE (21-9) @Louisville

(8M) Notre Dame (22-11) vs. (9M) Kansas State (21-10) @Louisville

Beer's Bracket - 03/04/12

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 19:44:51 EST

Again, no time for commentary tonight... been way too busy! Please note records have not been updated.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Atlanta (S) / Phoenix (W) winner vs. Boston (E) / St. Louis (M) winner.

Atlanta (S)

(1S) KENTUCKY (29-1) vs. (16S) NC-ASHEVILLE (21-9) / SAVANNAH STATE (19-10) @Louisville

Beer's Bracket - 02/26/12

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 0:51:44 EST

No time for commentary tonight...

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Atlanta (S) / Phoenix (W) winner vs. Boston (E) / St. Louis (M) winner.

Atlanta (S)

(1S) KENTUCKY (27-1) vs. (16S) VALPARAISO (18-10) @Louisville

Beer's Bracket - 02/18/12

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 17:26:57 EST

** 5:25PM Edit - Swapped Arizona and Washington **

So, I started this last night and I’m just finishing it up now. Records have not been updated to reflect Friday or Saturday results but results through 2/18 @ 2:30PM EST have been taken into consideration. Some assumptions for games in action:

- Miami (Fla). wins (up by 19 with 1 to play) while NC State loses (down by 16 with 7 to play).

- Alabama beats Tennessee (up by 4 at half)

Beer's Bracket - 02/11/12

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:31:35 EST

Here is my bracket as of right now… Saturday, February 11 @ 11:55 AM EST. Results from yesterday’s games were taken into consideration even though team records were not updated. Principles & procedures are extremely hard to follow this year (especially avoiding rematches from recent years). If I’m not mistaken, all of these rules come into play (among many others) when creating a bracket:

- BYU can’t play on Sundays.

- St. Louis can’t play in the Midwest Regional.

- Ohio State can’t play in Columbus.

Beer's Bracket - 02/02/12

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 0:10:43 EST

Here is my bracket as of right now… Thursday, February 02 @ 11:55PM EST. Team records were updated earlier today. I had an incredibly hard time following all of the procedural rules withBYU and St. Louis participating in play-in games as 12 and 13 seeds… resulting in 3 play-in games in the East (the selection committee will not do that. I’m sure I could rearrange but it’s too late at this point.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Atlanta (S) / St. Louis (M) winner vs. Boston (E) / Phoenix (W) winner.

Atlanta (S)

(1S) KENTUCKY (22-1) vs. (16S) TEXAS-ARLINGTON (15-5) @Louisville

Beer's Bracket - 01/28/12

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:59:08 EST

Here is my bracket PRIOR to Saturday’s games. The last 10 or so teams are ridiculously hard to choose with each team having major drawbacks offset by limited upside. Let me know what you would have done differently. If you see any procedural issues, please let me know.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Atlanta (S) / Phoenix (W) winner vs. Boston (E) / St. Louis (M) winner.

Atlanta (S)

(1S) KENTUCKY (20-1) vs. (16S) TEXAS-ARLINGTON (13-5) @Louisville

Beer's Bracket - 01/22/12

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:55:20 EST

As always, I’ll put a disclaimer on my first bracket of the year... if there are glaring mistakes, please let me know. This one is a few week’s later than usual as I’ve spend the past four weeks recovering from a torn ACL… ouch! Anyhow, I started this bracket just over 24 hours ago so team records are a day behind. I tried to account for the results of all of yesterday’s games. I’m not sure how much Duke’s loss will impact my next bracket but here are a few things that I used to determine the top few teams:

Syracuse (2 Top 15 wins, RPI:1, SOS:5)

Kentucky (2 Top 15 wins including Kansas and UNC, won 11 in a row)

Duke (2 Top 5 wins including Kansas, RPI:2, SOS:1)

Beer's FINAL Bracket - 03/13/11 as of 5:15PM ET

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 17:54:49 EDT

That's it... I'm putting the FINAL STAMP on it right now. Too late to make any changes... at least I should get at lesat half of my NIT bracket right! Note: Win-Loss records have not been updated.

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Newark (E) / New Orleans (SE) winner vs. San Antonio (SW) / Anaheim (W) winner.

Newark (E)

(1E) OHIO STATE (30-2) vs. (16E) TEXAS-SAN ANTONIO (15-13) / ALABAMA STATE (14-17) @Cleveland

Beer's Bracket - 03/13/11 as of 1AM ET

Sun, 13 Mar 2011 12:58:23 EDT

I've been working on this most of the day... I’m totally going out on a limb here with VCU. As we all know, this is the first 68 team bracket in history. I just can’t see the committee give ALL of the extra bids to BCS schools. Since there weren’t any bids stolen, this is the hardest time I’ve ever had with creating a bracket (only been doing it for a few years). I can easily miss 4 or more teams this year… Who knows? Maybe I’ll have a total change of heart overnight.

The Big East was impossible for me to seed: 2 #1 seeds, 2 #3 seeds, a #4 seed, 2 #5 seeds, 2 #6 seeds, and 2 #10 seeds… Sure, Uconn won the tourney over Louisville but the Cardinals beat them twice during the regular season. I have them as a #4 seed but I may end up changing that tomorrow (it was too late to adjust it tonight).

Daily Picks: 03/11 - 03/13 Finals Set C

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 9:55:05 EDT

As you all know, I'm having a hard time keeping up with all of these games so let me know where I messed up... I will have time to catch up on results tomorrow.

1-Akron over Kent State

2-Alabama over Kentucky

3-Arizona over Washington/Oregon

Daily Picks: 03/11 - 03/13 Finals Sets A&B

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 8:25:26 EST

I will update results tomorrow... These are my picks:

Set A

19-Utah State over San Jose State

18-Long Beach State over Santa Barbara

Beer's Bracket - 03/10/11 as of 12AM ET

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 15:09:48 EST

So, it's not quite a bracket but you get the idea...

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Newark (E) / Anaheim (W) winner vs. New Orleans (SE) / San Antonio (SW) winner.

Seed: Newark (E), Anaheim (W), New Orleans (SE), San Antonio (SW)

1: OHIO STATE (29-2), Notre Dame (25-5), KANSAS (29-2), PITTSBURGH (27-4)

Daily Picks: 03/07 - 03/10... FF Sets D-F

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 9:56:56 EST

Set D

1-Air Force over UNLV

2-Bowling Green over Western Michigan

3-Cal State Fullerton over Northridge

Daily Picks: 03/07 - 03/10... FF Sets B & C

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 0:34:04 EST

Yes... these are my actual picks:

03/07 - 03/10 Set B

15-Marshall over Houston

14-Missouri over Texas Tech

Beer's Bracket - 03/06/11 as of 10PM ET

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:35:07 EST

The only significant changes have to do with the automatic bids... Records have not been updated. I’m sure the NIT will be happy that they are looking at 6+ regular season conference champions…

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Newark (E) / Anaheim (W) winner vs. New Orleans (SE) / San Antonio (SW) winner.

Seed: Newark (E), Anaheim (W), New Orleans (SE), San Antonio (SW)

1: OHIO STATE (28-2), Notre Dame (25-5), KANSAS (29-2), PITTSBURGH (27-4)

Daily Picks: 03/07 - 03/10... Final Four Set A

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 2:43:11 EST

1-Butler over Wisconsin-Milwaukee

2-Central Michigan over Buffalo

3-Dayton over Massachusetts

4-DePaul over Connecticut

Beer's Bracket - 03/06/11 as of 12PM ET

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:36:53 EST

Auto bids are in CAPS and First Four games are italicized. Championship: Newark (E) / Anaheim (W) winner vs. New Orleans (SE) / San Antonio (SW) winner.

Newark (E)

(1E) OHIO STATE (28-2) vs. (16E) NORTHERN COLORADO (17-10) @Cleveland

(8E) GEORGE MASON (26-5) vs. (9E) UTAH STATE (27-3) @Cleveland

Beer's Bracket - 03/05/11 as of 12PM ET

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:19:20 EST

Usually as we get to the last week of the season, I make a minor change to my bracket methodology. I start projecting the winners for the next few days and incorporate the results into my bracket. If I don’t do that, then I basically need to do a complete overhaul of my bracket when the games finish. Since I know I that I will get around 25% of my picks wrong, I only need to adjust for the exceptions. Win-Loss records have not been updated… please consider all of that if you decide to leave some feedback.

For example, I put Clemson in my bracket and knocked Memphis out. Clemson is in fifth place in the ACC while Memphis is in fifth place in Conference USA. I expect Clemson to win at home on “Senior Day” over Virginia Tech… The winner of that game will earn the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye for next week's ACC Tournament.

Daily Picks: 03/05 & 03/06... F9

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 23:04:22 EST

70 games and 648 points available... I guarantee I get at least 4 games right!

Set A 03/05/11 12:00PM - 2:30PM

1-Binghamton over Vermont

2-Dayton over George Washington

Daily Picks: 03/04... The Fine Nine

Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:30:50 EST

Since I’m feeling generous, I’m going to award TWO more automatic bids because the other top 5 players from the regular season deserve them:

hoosierguy1019 finished in third place with bonus points and fourth place without them.

Lobofan2003 is one of only 4 players with a pick percentage above .700. That was good enough for third place without bonus points and fifth place with them.

Tongneri7 , in his first year of the competition, finished in fourth place overall with a .683 pick percentage… which was good enough for our final AUTOMATIC bid and the #6 overall seed. Unfortunately, he stopped making picks!

Daily Picks: 03/02 - 03/03... BIT Play-In Round

Fri, 04 Mar 2011 0:12:56 EST

Set A

1-Bradley over Drake

2-Cincinnati over Marquette

3-Clemson over Duke