BRACKETS! Here is your 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket. Your 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket was announced at the 2010 NIT Bracketology Selection Show today.

After the NIT Show, D-I Basketball Committee Chairman Dan Guerrero opened the floor to questions about which teams made the NCAA Basketball Tournament, why some teams found themselves placed on the NCAA Basketball Tournament bracket as they did, and why other teams were not invited to the Tournament all together.

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NCAA Tournament Bracket

The Tournament Bracket came with explanations by Guerrero about “at large” schools, specifically UETP and Utah State.

“Q. UTEP and Utah State got in as at larges, didn’t have the non conference body of work. How much did the committee respect them winning convincingly their regular season titles of their respective conferences? Secondly, I know you try to avoid a little bit of a home advantage in a first round. An 11 seeded Minnesota is playing in nearby Milwaukee.”

“DAN GUERRERO: You’re right as it relates to Utah State and UTEP. Frankly, we felt that they were both outstanding teams. You know, they had great runs during their season; in fact, both of them had significant winning streaks. In fact, probably the longest winning streaks in the country till they both were upset in their conference tournaments.”

“But, once again, these are teams that had I think eight and 10 top 100 wins respectively. The committee had high respect not only for what they did in conference but certainly what they did on the road, which was significant, and that’s why they got in.”

“As relates to Minnesota’s group, you know, it just so happened that, once again, you’ve been in the mock selection process, so you understand how that works, the pod that they’re in just created a situation that allowed them the opportunity to be sent there. You know, we protect only the first five lines, as you well know, in the first round. So this gave us an opportunity to put them where we did against Xavier as a 6 seed.”

The good news is that the NCAA Basketball Tournament comes to towns across the U.S. over the next few weeks. Tickets are reasonably priced.

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTABLE BRACKET

(TO PRINT, SEE LINK IN UPPER RIGHT)

He also explained how the selection process works beginning in November.

“DAN GUERRERO: Okay. As we go through the entire season, and we start obviously in November, the 10 members of the committee are involved in what we call a conference monitoring program. Each committee member is assigned three or four conferences, and it’s their responsibility to really dig deep throughout the course of the year on every one of those conferences.

“Collectively the committee looks at all of the teams across the country, as well. We have access to them via, you know, television just like everyone else. Teams send us videos. We personally go to a number of games and watch them over the course of the year. I think that’s where your eyeball test comes in. We get a lot of information from a number of good basketball people, great basketball people. There’s a variety of information available to us, not only quantitatively, but qualitatively.

“Obviously from our own perspectives as we watch games and as we talk to other coaches, legends of the game itself, there’s a regional advisory committee comprised of 31 present day coaches that are in each of the regions, and they provide us with input as who they feel are the strongest programs in the country.

“So the collection of all that information and all that expertise, if you will, allows us to prepare when we get into this room.

“In the end, when you talk about the eyeball test, as we’re deliberate between one team and another, if we see teams, if we’ve actually watched them play against, for example, other teams that are being compared, that does have a bearing on decisions that we make.

“And as it relates to the last 12 games, last 10 games, it can enhance a résumé, there’s no question about it. I think you’ve probably seen in a couple of cases there are teams who finished pretty strong. If it didn’t get them into the field, it certainly helped them with the seed.”

LINKS

CLICK HERE FOR TV SCHEDULE OF GAMES

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

CLICK HERE FOR A BLANK BRACKET (PDF)

2010 BRACKETS

• Opening-Round Game
March 16, 2010
UD Arena (Dayton, Ohio)

• First Two Rounds
March 18, 20, 2010
New Orleans Arena (New Orleans)
Dunkin Donuts Center (Providence, R.I.)
HP Pavilion (San Jose, Calif.)
Ford Center (Oklahoma City, Okla.)

March 19, 21, 2010
HSBC Arena (Buffalo, N.Y.)
Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Bradley Center (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
Spokane Memorial Arena (Spokane, Wash.)

• East Regional
March 25, 27, 2010
Carrier Dome (Syracuse, N.Y.)

• West Regional
March 25, 27, 2010
Energy Solutions Arena (Salt Lake City, Utah)

• Midwest Regional
March 26, 28, 2010
Edward Jones Dome (St. Louis)

• South Regional
March 26, 28, 2010
Reliant Stadium (Houston)

• National Semifinals
April 3, 2010
Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

• Championship Game
April 5, 2010
Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis)

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Championship March Madness. For continuing coverage of the Road to the Final Four on LALATE click here: http://news.lalate.com/category/college-basketball.