Mid-season bracketology

Charlie Creme discusses whether losing to Connecticut really counts. He concludes, "... while losing to UConn might not matter much in the regular season, no one wants to put themselves in that position for it to happen in March."

He currently places Auburn at the dreaded eighth spot on the S-curve, which translates to their being placed in the same regional as UConn and, for all intents and purposes, basically eliminating a realistic shot at the Final Four. He didn't find it difficult to determine the first eight teams on the S-curve this week:

UConn
Oklahoma
Cal
Duke
Louisville
Texas A&M
Baylor
Auburn

He places four Pac-10 teams in the bracket:

Cal as the #1 seed in Raleigh. Devanei Hampton's putback saved the Bears on Saturday against USC and preserves the best start in school history. Creme reminds us that Cal is in Raleigh instead of Berkeley because no team can play the regional on its home floor.

Stanford as the #3 seed in Berkeley. The loss to Cal in one of the most intensely played games of the year cost the Cardinal control in the Pac-10, but not a shot at a top-four seed.

Arizona State as the #6 seed in Trenton. Charli Turner Thorne is not afraid to use the talent she recruits. Ten SunDevils average double figures in minutes.

UCLA as the #11 seed in Oklahoma City. Geting the Bruins back to the NCAA tournament in her first year on the job would be a huge accomplishment for coach Nikki Caldwell.

Here are Creme's article and the bracket.