Bracketology | Cincinnati Bearcats Are In The Field For Now, Barley

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The 2011-12 Basketball season is winding to a close. There are two games left before the Big East tournament, Wednesday against Marquette for Senior Day and Saturday at Villanova. There is no real point in discussing the resume at this point. We all know the deal. The terrible non conference schedule is dragging down the rest of the resume which is outstanding. That schedule is doing a fierce battle to the death with the positives, a 3-2 record against RPI top 25 teams and a 5-4 record against the top 50.

If you look at the Bracket Matrix you can clearly see those two ideas waging war in the heads of people. The Matrix gives the Bearcats an 11.5There are about a dozen brackets that don't have UC on them at all, most of which I have never heard of in my life, like this one. Of those that do include the Bearcats the vast majority have UC as a 10,11 of 12 seed. There are some stragglers who put UC at a 9 or two who put the Cats at 13. Quotes and comments after the jump.

Bracketology 2012: Kentucky Is Your New Overall No. 1 Seed - SBNation.com

A trio of Big East teams--Cincinnati, Connecticut, and Seton Hall--are just above this group after dropping crucial weekend games to South Florida, Syracuse, and Rutgers , respectively. Southern Mississippi is also just hanging on, thanks to a pair of late free throws, which helped give them a victory over Rice on Saturday night, snapping a two-game losing streak in the process.

Our resident in house bracket guy Chris Dobbertean has UC at 11 matched up with the suddenly lost Florida Gators.

Bubble Watch: 02.27.12 " Rush The Court

Cincinnati (20-9, 10-6)- The Bearcats are in at the moment, but their margin for error down the stretch is thinner than most teams due to a #322 non-conference SOS dragging down their RPI to #74 in the country. Their profile is certainly at-large worthy after Thursday’s win over Louisville coupled with wins at Georgetown, at Connecticut and home vs. Notre Dame and Seton Hall. They have a golden opportunity Wednesday with Marquette coming to town. Mick Cronin should be punished seed-wise for his scheduling, but if Cincy beats the Golden Eagles to get to 11-7 minimum in the Big East, they deserve a bid.

Rush present one of the outliers with a 9

NCAA College Basketball Tournament Bracket Predictions - CBSSports.com News, Scores, Stats, Schedule and RPI Rankings
And Jerry Palm, the newly anointed king whipping boy of UC fans, has UC as a 12 seed.

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It goes without saying that a win tomorrow puts the entire question to bed. For now though everything is tentative. Winning the last two games makes the Bearcats a lock. Losing the last two...well I'd rather not talk about that.