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The purpose of this post is simple: to try to forecast where Baylor will fit in the 2016 NCAA Tournament. Since I'm not an expert on these things, the best way I can think of to do this is to stand on the shoulders of those that are.
- First thing first, our resident bracketologist, David Fankhauser, had the Bears as a #6 seed in the Midwest Region facing the winner of a play-in game between St. Bonaventure and Syracuse. That 6-seed will end up being a theme in this post if you pay any sort of attention.
- Moving outside of the ODBverse, the latest from ESPN's bracket genius Joe Lunardi has Baylor in much the same position: the #6 seed in the Midwest Region facing the winner of a play-in game, this time between San Diego State and Michigan. That's a change in region from yesterday's bracket, which had us as a #6 seed in the West Region against #11 Cincinnati.
- SB Nation's own Chris Dobbertean agrees with a 6-seed, although he sees us slotted in the South facing Chattanooga and looking forward to the winner of Utah-Fresno State. Chris might want to check his location placements, since I don't think the South Region will play in Denver. Looking over others now, are those not yet set? I don't know.
- CBSSports agrees with the Baylor vs. play-in winner trend, having Baylor in the West Region as the #6 awaiting the winner of Monmouth-Syracuse. Win that game and we'd face the winner of SFA-Purdue.
- USAToday largely agrees with Fank and Lunardi, putting Baylor as the #6 seed in the Midwest against Chattanooga. Win that game and then we'd probably get #3 Utah.
- Stewart Mandel of FoxSports.com is the only one I've seen so far with Baylor in the East Region, where he has us as a 6-seed against the winner of Vandy-St. Mary's and looking forward to, once again, Utah!
- Finally, Sports Illustrated's latest (as of yesterday) agrees with the 6-seed trend and pits us against the winner of Michigan-St. Bonaventure. Win that game and we get Miami in the next round.
If you're trying to draw conclusions from any of this, there appears to be a consensus that Baylor will come in as a 6-seed (I'm having a hard time finding anyone that says otherwise at the moment), probably in the Midwest, and probably against someone like Chattanooga or the winner of a play-in game. Clear as mud, right?
The selection show starts tonight at 5:30 on CBS, and we'll have an Open Thread here to talk about it.