Brackets and Rankings: 2024-2025

[paulxu]

Playing as a 5 seed in Cleveland would certainly bring a smile to MOR.
With the lackluster performance this century, I guess the B1G needs to have 11 teams from the gun.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[GoMuskies]

A five seed in Wichita would be way better.

Bracketology in May is always pretty ridiculous, but in the portal era it's beyond silly to even attempt it. But better to have something to look at/talk about than not!

[X-band '01]

Never mind the portal era, how about the realignment era?

Keep in mind the B1G will have UCLA, USC and Oregon as serious NCAA contenders next year.

[Xville]

The big ten is going to have 18 members next year, that’s about as dumb as doing bracketology in May or acc coaches asking lunardi how to get teams in the tourney next year (this apparently actually happened which is mind boggling)

[paulxu]

Dropped a spot.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39895473/mens-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-rankings-2024-25-season

[bjf123]

And UC jumped 6?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[X-band '01]

They had a former 5-star recruit that played at Texas commit to them. Would explain that jump a bit.

[noteggs]

The crosstown is going to be more lit than normal. Wonder if sUCks will finally admit they still care about the game?

[drudy23]

I hope both teams live up to the hype. Crosstown Shootout is always awesome, but awesomer when both are legit.

[X-band '01]

They may actually sell the game out for a change. Managed to get a nosebleed seat 2 years ago for what was Xavier's fourth straight win against UC.

[Xuperman]

Wouldn't it be nice if Trump would get real and just step aside? I mean, do the right thing and remove the "butt plug" from this perverse pornographic comedy of politics. Otherwise, we are totally fucked here people. We are on a straight path to SOCIALISM, or worse, with this O'Biden agenda.

TRUMP, the man, is so toxic that it is going to hand these America killers 4 more years.

[XUGRAD80]

Wouldn't it be nice if Trump would get real and just step aside? I mean, do the right thing and remove the "butt plug" from this perverse pornographic comedy of politics. Otherwise, we are totally fucked here people. We are on a straight path to SOCIALISM, or worse, with this O'Biden agenda.

TRUMP, the man, is so toxic that it is going to hand these America killers 4 more years.

Me thinks thou has posted on the wrong thread….

[94GRAD]

Wouldn't it be nice if Trump would get real and just step aside? I mean, do the right thing and remove the "butt plug" from this perverse pornographic comedy of politics. Otherwise, we are totally fucked here people. We are on a straight path to SOCIALISM, or worse, with this O'Biden agenda.

TRUMP, the man, is so toxic that it is going to hand these America killers 4 more years.


Me thinks thou has posted on the wrong thread….

Posting that close to midnight is never a good thing

[X-band '01]

I miss Snipe's legendary 3 AM rants.

[paulxu]

Down another spot, so Go can watch them in person.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[GoMuskies]

I would like that.

[xukeith]

The seeds of these early brackets don't show it but I bet they would like to put Miller's X vs Mack's Charleston squad.

[paulxu]

Down again. What's going on? Now in Raleigh.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[MHettel]

Down again. What's going on? Now in Raleigh.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

I'm not surprised at all by this. If I look at this team in isolation, it could be the deepest most experienced XU team ever. Even our very best teams were usually only 7 deep, with a dropoff once the starters came out or with huys having to play a bit out of position. But next years team is loaded, with the possible reality that previous starters might not be playing AT ALL.

In a "normal" year, this would be a preseason top 10, if not top 5 team. But there is nothing normal about what happened during the portal season. As predicted, the talent across the D1 landscape has continued to migrate UP the ranks and into a smaller set of the "haves." I know we think we had a "haul" when it comes to new portal players, and we certainly did get ALOT (7) of them, but honestly they were mostly ranked in in the 100-200 range. So you literally have about 190 other guys who are arguably of the same caliber or better that also improved some other teams.

Add in the fact that this is the last year for 5th year COVID guys and I think you will see the MOST LOADED rosters ever in college basketball, and likely never to be matched. I think the quality of basketball will be outstanding and we will actually see a noticeable drop off next year when the 5th year and 4th year guys step away, which will lead to an abnormally high number of freshmen coming in to fill the rosters. I expect a huge drop off in the 25-26 season and then a gradual return to "normal" rosters.

In any case, i do think this XU team is more like a 4-6 seed and therefore us currently overlooked. but this season will be epic, and a dogfight.

As an aside, and I've mentioned it before, but I think its very possible that XU could roll out the MOST EXPERIENCED college basketball team EVER next year. In terms of games played, our roster has played a combined like almost 1000 games or something crazy like that. With the 5th year players going away, it will never be possible to assemble a roster like this again. Most experienced team ever....forever?

[xudash]

I'm not surprised at all by this. If I look at this team in isolation, it could be the deepest most experienced XU team ever. Even our very best teams were usually only 7 deep, with a dropoff once the starters came out or with huys having to play a bit out of position. But next years team is loaded, with the possible reality that previous starters might not be playing AT ALL.

In a "normal" year, this would be a preseason top 10, if not top 5 team. But there is nothing normal about what happened during the portal season. As predicted, the talent across the D1 landscape has continued to migrate UP the ranks and into a smaller set of the "haves." I know we think we had a "haul" when it comes to new portal players, and we certainly did get ALOT (7) of them, but honestly they were mostly ranked in in the 100-200 range. So you literally have about 190 other guys who are arguably of the same caliber or better that also improved some other teams.

Add in the fact that this is the last year for 5th year COVID guys and I think you will see the MOST LOADED rosters ever in college basketball, and likely never to be matched. I think the quality of basketball will be outstanding and we will actually see a noticeable drop off next year when the 5th year and 4th year guys step away, which will lead to an abnormally high number of freshmen coming in to fill the rosters. I expect a huge drop off in the 25-26 season and then a gradual return to "normal" rosters.

In any case, i do think this XU team is more like a 4-6 seed and therefore us currently overlooked. but this season will be epic, and a dogfight.

As an aside, and I've mentioned it before, but I think its very possible that XU could roll out the MOST EXPERIENCED college basketball team EVER next year. In terms of games played, our roster has played a combined like almost 1000 games or something crazy like that. With the 5th year players going away, it will never be possible to assemble a roster like this again. Most experienced team ever....forever?

It may sound stupid, probably because it is at least somewhat nuts, but this coming season more than any other season in our history is THE season for receiving a very generous spray of pixie dust in the NCAAT. We need to receive what UCONN seems to receive all too frequently in the tournament - some good luck coupled with some advantageous match ups and our guys playing lights out once they get there.

To your point, notwithstanding the experience we just hauled in, I keep pondering Freemantle AND Hunter down low. If our new centers deliver, and if they all stay healthy, watch out.

[Xville]

I think we are all discounting the fact that lunardi is really bad at his job.

Good at branding himself, bad at actual prognosticating.

[paulxu]

I was so spoiled as we seemed to always got to the NCAA's.
In the past 6 years we've been once.

I'd be very happy to return to the old ways.

[GoMuskies]

I think we are all discounting the fact that lunardi is really bad at his job.

Good at branding himself, bad at actual prognosticating.

And with the transfer portal that job is basically impossible now anyway. Just throw darts at a board to pick 3-11 seeds.

[xubrew]

I think we are all discounting the fact that lunardi is really bad at his job.

Good at branding himself, bad at actual prognosticating.

I both know and like Joe Lunardi. He doesn't really brand himself. He just sort of fell backwards into it. He used to be the editor of the Blue Ribboin, and they put out a print edition of it for the NCAA Tournament that had to be pressed and ready to go the night of the selection show. So, he sort of taught himself to guess who was getting in in order to cut down on the amount of work they needed to do and have it all done by that night.

They advertised the book on ESPN, and the ad included a bracket he had made. It got so much attention that ESPN asked him to start doing it for them. And, the rest is history. He's actually the first one to tell you he's really just guessing. It was ESPN that kind of made it into what it is. I really like what he does. Having a bracket out every week is something that anyone can look at and get a quick snapshot of how the season is going, and I think that adds to peoples' enjoyment of the sport. He might not get the best "score" when it comes to selections and seedings, but he's probably got the most people following him, so...good for him! He also knows the actual game more than what he gets credit for. He'd be a pretty decent scout. He knows it better than most in the media. I sometimes wish they'd use him more for analysis instead of just having him guess brackets.

[Xville]

I'm not surprised at all by this. If I look at this team in isolation, it could be the deepest most experienced XU team ever. Even our very best teams were usually only 7 deep, with a dropoff once the starters came out or with huys having to play a bit out of position. But next years team is loaded, with the possible reality that previous starters might not be playing AT ALL.

In a "normal" year, this would be a preseason top 10, if not top 5 team. But there is nothing normal about what happened during the portal season. As predicted, the talent across the D1 landscape has continued to migrate UP the ranks and into a smaller set of the "haves." I know we think we had a "haul" when it comes to new portal players, and we certainly did get ALOT (7) of them, but honestly they were mostly ranked in in the 100-200 range. So you literally have about 190 other guys who are arguably of the same caliber or better that also improved some other teams.

Add in the fact that this is the last year for 5th year COVID guys and I think you will see the MOST LOADED rosters ever in college basketball, and likely never to be matched. I think the quality of basketball will be outstanding and we will actually see a noticeable drop off next year when the 5th year and 4th year guys step away, which will lead to an abnormally high number of freshmen coming in to fill the rosters. I expect a huge drop off in the 25-26 season and then a gradual return to "normal" rosters.

In any case, i do think this XU team is more like a 4-6 seed and therefore us currently overlooked. but this season will be epic, and a dogfight.

As an aside, and I've mentioned it before, but I think its very possible that XU could roll out the MOST EXPERIENCED college basketball team EVER next year. In terms of games played, our roster has played a combined like almost 1000 games or something crazy like that. With the 5th year players going away, it will never be possible to assemble a roster like this again. Most experienced team ever....forever?

I think Lunardi is simpler than what you describe here. If you look at the schools ahead of X, they are either "blue blood programs" or teams that have had quite a bit of recent success. That's why Lunardi has them preseason ranked ahead of Xavier....that and Xavier has for the most part been terrible since Mack left, so they aren't getting the benefit of the doubt.

If Lunardi looks objectively at rosters (which by some of his rankings, I can about guarantee he doesn't do), X would easily be in the top 5 seeds. It's just frankly laziness.

[profson]

I don’t know how you can rank this team now. Every one of the bigs has significant questions surrounding them. If those break the right way there is promise, but if not …

[XUGRAD80]

I don’t know how you can rank this team now. Every one of the bigs has significant questions surrounding them. If those break the right way there is promise, but if not …

And the same can be said for almost every other squad. That is why preseason rankings and even most in season predictions aren’t worth the paper they are written on or the time that it takes to read them. No reason to get excited over them one way or the other.

[paulxu]

More worthless paper. At least we're rising.
So strange to not have Villanova in the mix.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[GoMuskies]

Kelsey getting Louisville into the Tournament in his first year would be big news.

[X-band '01]

More worthless paper. At least we're rising.
So strange to not have Villanova in the mix.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

This is really going to be a make-or-break year for Kyle Neptune. I'm not bullish on Nova at all this upcoming year.

[MHettel]

More worthless paper. At least we're rising.
So strange to not have Villanova in the mix.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

8 seed? WTF?

No. This squad is (as my teenagers would say) "low key" dangerous.

there are too many excellent cards in his hand for Miller not to play this hand to some big money.

top 3 finish in the BE, and 4 seed. I see a range of 2-6 for our seed. you heard it here first. No more Gytis. No more Abou.

[xukeith]

8 seed? WTF?

No. This squad is (as my teenagers would say) "low key" dangerous.

there are too many excellent cards in his hand for Miller not to play this hand to some big money.

top 3 finish in the BE, and 4 seed. I see a range of 2-6 for our seed. you heard it here first. No more Gytis. No more Abou.

We can hope.
Freemantle. Hunter, Hugley and Traore (if healthy and productive in BE) might help X get to top 4 in BE.

[Xville]

If x is below a 5 seed, we had injuries. There is too much experience, too much versatility and too much miller to be lower than a 5.

[paulxu]

If x is below a 5 seed, we had injuries. There is too much experience, too much versatility and too much miller to be lower than a 5.

Up to 7 and playing in Lexington. Would be nice.
But, the injury bug did bite us again.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[GoMuskies]

It's only been one day, but we've already had an impact on Bracketology: Texas Southern joined the field in the latest Bracketology, presumably based on their respectable performance in Cintas last night.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[Xville]

I did see that they were at least picked to finish second and it was close to first in the swac. It’s the swac so take with that what you will, but hoping that once they get into conference, they win it, or at least not be a drag on the numbers

[drudy23]

I did see that they were at least picked to finish second and it was close to first in the swac. It’s the swac so take with that what you will, but hoping that once they get into conference, they win it, or at least not be a drag on the numbers

They had some decent pieces, and they played hard and physical. I could certainly see them making the tournament out of the SWAC.

Still should have won by 20+.

[GoMuskies]

We're fourth among others receiving votes in the AP top 25.

[paulxu]

Still in Lexington.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[muskiefan82]

Xavier defeats Alabama in the second round in the "What is defense?" game of the year, 134-123

[paulxu]

Now in Cleveland.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[Xville]

Should we ranked this week with both Rutgers and St. John's losing...Lets go ahead and stay there the rest of the year :)

[Xville]

X checks in at #22. Stay in it the rest of the year!

[bleedXblue]

We're in b/c of other's misfortune and I'm ok with that. Let's win a couple of Tier 1/2 games this week and EARN a better ranking!

[xubrew]

Xavier's SOR is now 44th, which is kind of nuts considering that three of the teams they've beaten have no D1 wins, but I guess when you consider that X is the only team to beat Wake and Siena actually did win a road game, the metric sees that as being two good wins.

UConn's current SOR is 100th. If they hold on to beat Memphis they'll probably jump ahead of us. But if X ends up beating Michigan they'll also shoot way up.

Most of the metrics are all scattershot right now, so the polls probably are the best frame of reference until most teams have played a football season. But, SOR is probably the metric/poll I value the most. It's not the only one by any means, but it measures what I personally think matters. How hard was it to win the games that you've won??

And no matter what you look at (NET, SOR, AP, Coaches, KenPom, Torvik, etc), by the end of the year they're all generally consistent. Not identical, but generally close.

[GoMuskies]

X is down to #67 in KenPom.

[Xville]

If what I'm seeing is correct, 64 in the net. X has a lot of work to do.

TCU is in the 40s so a chance to pick up a Quad 1 quickly. South carolina is #51...that could turn into a quad 1 with a little bump...cut off is 50 at neutral sites.

Edit: Ok it was wrong...X is 103...holy crap that's horrible. X has a LOT of work to do. TCU is 121 geezus.

X has all Quad 3 and Quad 4 wins at this point; 0-1 in Quad 1.

[xubrew]

If what I'm seeing is correct, 64 in the net. X has a lot of work to do.

TCU is in the 40s so a chance to pick up a Quad 1 quickly. South carolina is #51...that could turn into a quad 1 with a little bump...cut off is 50 at neutral sites.

Edit: Ok it was wrong...X is 103...holy crap that's horrible. X has a LOT of work to do. TCU is 121 geezus.

X has all Quad 3 and Quad 4 wins at this point; 0-1 in Quad 1.

I get that it's early, but for a team to be 7-1 and only be 103rd in the NET is pretty crazy. Xavier certainly didn't look like a top 100 team in their last two games, and 4 of those 7 wins were against teams that probably wouldn't be anywhere close to making the D2 tournament, and they barely won a couple of those, so I guess it makes sense, but it still seems kind of crazy.

[Xville]

I get that it's early, but for a team to be 7-1 and only be 103rd in the NET is pretty crazy. Xavier certainly didn't look like a top 100 team in their last two games, and 4 of those 7 wins were against teams that probably wouldn't be anywhere close to making the D2 tournament, and they barely won a couple of those, so I guess it makes sense, but it still seems kind of crazy.

I hate the NET. I think it's a shit metric TBH. Case in point, UC is 7-0...all their wins are Q3 and Q4 and they are 11. They won 2 road games against powerhouse NKU and Georgia Tech who will be at the very best in the middle of a shit ACC. Such a shit way to group teams.

[xubrew]

I hate the NET. I think it's a shit metric TBH. Case in point, UC is 7-0...all their wins are Q3 and Q4 and they are 11. They won 2 road games against powerhouse NKU and Georgia Tech who will be at the very best in the middle of a shit ACC. Such a shit way to group teams.

I can't figure that one out.

When something seems out of whack I can usually find which of the five variables is causing it to be out of whack, but with UC I really can't. They're 11th. How?? They're 2-0 on the road, and I know having a 1000 road record is a big deal, but the teams they've beaten aren't particularly good at home, much less good overall. About 60 teams would be unbeaten against that schedule and have those same margins of victory.

I'm also not the biggest fan of the NET. I don't mind the concept of it, meaning I don't mind trying to find something that's a hybrid of merit rankings and efficiency ratings, but I just think this one misses more than it hits. But...whatever. At the end of the day it's just a sorting tool. and we have a ton of games to go.

UCLA at 16th also doesn't make any sense. All their games have been at home and they lost to the one decent team they played.

[GoMuskies]

KenPom rates UC #9. I'm kind of afraid they're going to murder us this year.

[xubrew]

KenPom rates UC #9. I'm kind of afraid they're going to murder us this year.

That one I can explain. It’s an adjusted efficiency rating. They’ve been very efficient against bad teams, but the adjusted rating isn’t being adjusted to account for how bad the teams are because it’s still too early to make a proper adjustment, so it’s still basically just a strait efficiency rating.

[waggy]

The NET is a scam. It's not that's it's not accurate in my mind. I'm reasonably sure it's as good as any of the other metrics. It's the whole quad thing that's the scam. Basically it allows the committee to move the target depending on who they want to let in. Which of course will always be the case regardless, but the fact they don't release the actual formula tells you all you need to know.

[xubrew]

The NET is a scam. It's not that's it's not accurate in my mind. I'm reasonably sure it's as good as any of the other metrics. It's the whole quad thing that's the scam. Basically it allows the committee to move the target depending on who they want to let in. Which of course will always be the case regardless, but the fact they don't release the actual formula tells you all you need to know.

It's ridiculous to not release the formula.

"Well if we did then no one would really understand it anyway."

Well, that's bullshit. Not everyone would understand it, but I bet most people who wanted to understand it would understand it.

[bleedXblue]

KenPom rates UC #9. I'm kind of afraid they're going to murder us this year.

Feels like they have a definitive edge this year. We will see how they play at Nova tomorrow. Skilling is still out.....

Feels like they will be a 8-10 PPG favorite.

[paulxu]

Dropped to the "last team in" and a play-in spot in Dayton.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[xukeith]

Dropped to the "last team in" and a play-in spot in Dayton.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

That is insane. Creighton out and X in. lol

[X-band '01]

That was before Creighton beat Kansas and X losing at TCU.

Then again, Kansas is going to fall further with a loss at Mizzou.

[Xville]

Aren’t a tournament team right now. I’d like to see some changes in the starting lineup. Either go small with Maddox and take the good with the bad or put hunter in there and slide Swain over. Not getting off to great starts, and need something to inject some life into the team at the beginning.

[A Fan]

When I look at Xavier’s Big East schedule and try to predict the outcome I can’t get comfortable with having confidence in winning any games other than.
Georgetown and DePaul Home and Away . 4
Seton Hall at home . 1
Butler and Providence at Home 2 .

To get to 9 I need to add both Butler and Providence away.
To get to 10 I need to add St. John’s or Villanova at Home.

How do you see it?

[Xville]

When I look at Xavier’s Big East schedule and try to predict the outcome I can’t get comfortable with having confidence in winning any games other than.
Georgetown and DePaul Home and Away . 4
Seton Hall at home . 1
Butler and Providence at Home 2 .

To get to 9 I need to add both Butler and Providence away.
To get to 10 I need to add St. John’s or Villanova at Home.

How do you see it?

Here’s how to get to 12 wins in conference. I hope they get more but this I feel at least decent about:

Seton hall 2
Gtown 2
DePaul 2
Providence 1
Butler 1
Nova 1
Creighton 1
St. John’s 1

Either nova/providence on the road.

[XUMIOH12]

When I look at Xavier’s Big East schedule and try to predict the outcome I can’t get comfortable with having confidence in winning any games other than.
Georgetown and DePaul Home and Away . 4
Seton Hall at home . 1
Butler and Providence at Home 2 .

To get to 9 I need to add both Butler and Providence away.
To get to 10 I need to add St. John’s or Villanova at Home.

How do you see it?

Seton Hall is horrible. Losing 1 game to them would be a potential killer. With that being said, as of right now, I have a tough time believing this team will win 12 conference games. Lots of time to go and lots of mediocre BE teams though, so maybe they can pull out some of the close ones.

[X-band '01]

I wouldn't be taking a sweep of DePaul for granted this year. Also agree with Xville that sweeping Seton Hall is now becoming a must.

[Xavier]

Xavier moved up to 75 in the NET. For what that’s worth.

[Xville]

Xavier moved up to 75 in the NET. For what that’s worth.

Moved up to #61 in kenpom as well. Pretty evident that beating really shitty teams is the way to move up quickly in these things, and make your team "look good." How stupid

[X-band '01]

Beating a shitty team by 61 is why they moved up considerably. Nearly losing to South Carolina State (along with struggles against Texas Southern and IU-Indy) is also keeping the metrics down.

[Xville]

Need to win at least 1 of the next 3, then the schedule gets "easier" for five games after that, where they will really need to capitalize.

[Xville]

Lunardi https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

still has 5 big east teams in with Creighton being one of the last teams in. One of the most peculiar things is he has Providence safely in with a 7-5 record. That's an interesting take. I'm not sure if he is taking into account Hopkins being out earlier as to why all those losses shouldn't count or what. Weird.

He has them as the AQ? wtf

[drudy23]

There was no part of me that thought we'd be out of bracket projections before Christmas.

And Dayton would be a 7 seed...not even 2 months after they looked like a D2 squad.

I hate life.

[GoMuskies]

Lunardi https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

still has 5 big east teams in with Creighton being one of the last teams in. One of the most peculiar things is he has Providence safely in with a 7-5 record. That's an interesting take. I'm not sure if he is taking into account Hopkins being out earlier as to why all those losses shouldn't count or what. Weird.

He has them as the AQ? wtf

Providence is 1-0 in the league. They currently lead the league. That's why.

[Xville]

Providence is 1-0 in the league. They currently lead the league. That's why.

Ah ok! I was convinced it was just a misprint

[paulxu]

Not a good look that the BE is down to 3 teams.

https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/page/bracketology/ncaa-bracketology-2025-march-madness-men-field-predictions

[SkyWalker]

At this point, that seems about right.