Back Iron Bracketometry Feb. 9: Signs of Life for Kentucky, Illinois

I was once a Professor of Sports Philosophy on 4 Quarters Radio (still in occasional podcast form) before I got a doctorate in Bracketometry. As a fully accredited doctor, I'm qualified to pronounce college basketball teams' tournament hopes alive and dead.

There are a few schools who looked to be on life support a couple of weeks ago that are recovering nicely. Conversely, we've got some patients who are deteriorating before our eyes.

Read on to see if any of your loved ones are approaching terminal status.

Back Iron Bracketometry: Could Kentucky vs. Bucknell Happen?

In the second week of the expanded Back Iron Index, we see that the struggles of teams near the top of the human polls can certainly have some bearing on the computer ranks as well.

While we may not have much use for the SEC as a whole, only myopic jingos can deny that Florida has been playing some strong basketball. That solid ball has earned them five number-one rankings among the 10 BII metrics, good for the new No. 1 overall seed.

Don't expect Duke to go away quietly, though. The Blue Devils are still the only team ranked in the top five all the way across the BII board. Ryan Kelly is still conspicuous by his absence, but freshman Amile Jefferson is getting his legs under him in ACC play. Jefferson has potted averages of 10 points, seven rebounds and almost two blocks per game over his last four. Now, perhaps he can work on learning not to foul everyone he sees (15 fouls in those four games).

At the other end of the Bracketometry projections, Big Blue Nation now needs to go into a Big Red Panic. More explanation after the jump.

NEW and IMPROVED Back Iron Bracketometry: January 22

Those of you who have read in the past about the Back Iron Index (both of you) have seen brackets pitting the real 68 best college basketball teams in the nation. But, it was an incomplete sample.

Where were all the teams that might be on the bubble? Was I missing someone? How many more teams would make up the NIT pool, and possibly rank ahead of the ones that I was already listing?

From here on, the arduous process of ranking the best teams in America will include nearly ALL of the teams in America. Every team in every conference with an NCAA automatic bid has been ranked in the 10 BII metrics (including our newcomer TeamRankings.com, which replaces the pointless Bilas Index).

This does leave out the two independents and the last handful of teams left in the Great West, who'll just about all join the WAC soon enough anyway. Still, anyone want to take odds that a selection committee member will throw NJIT out there for an at-large bid? ("Hey, they nearly beat Providence." "Shut up and go pay the pizza guy.")

Yeah, me neither.

Read on to see what other improvements have been made to the Index.