This is going to be a pretty quick description for now, with more in-depth explainer to come.

As a reminder, we take the automatic bids, and we take the NCAA’s selection criteria, and we project the at-large bids, then create a bracket out of it.

The one Pool B bid went to Chapman and the 20 Pool C bids went as selected, in the following order:
Kean
Bowdoin
UW-Whitewater
Greensboro
Rochester
Johns Hopkins
Louisiana College
UW-La Crosse
Colby
Williams
Eastern Connecticut
Messiah
Hope
St. Vincent
Lewis and Clark
Washington U.
Gallaudet
Medaille
Ithaca
Simpson

The teams left on the board: Mary Washington, Wheaton (Ill.), Oneonta State, Baldwin-Wallace, Gettysburg, Bates and Maryville. Wartburg was next in the West when Simpson was taken with the last spot.

I talked to one former committee member tonight who said that when they were on the committee, if you weren’t ranked, you didn’t get in. In men’s basketball we know that the regional committees rank extra teams so that there are more at-large candidates available in case they run out. In women’s, they said that didn’t happen — if a region ran out, they simply had an empty spot on the board.

I called that “ludicrous” — thankfully I don’t think that’s the case anymore. If it is, Thomas More doesn’t get in.

And from that, here’s our bracket: Projected 2011 women’s basketball bracket

The NCAA makes its announcement starting at 3 p.m. ET on Monday.

Here’s the Matt Snyder bracketology. I’m copying and pasting it over with their permission, but here’s the link, so please visit them.

Following that, I’ll give my take and we’ll work from there.

Here’s the official D3hoops.com men’s basketball bracket projection.

The Matt Snyder Bracketology Pool C bids
Listed Alphabetically: Amherst, Becker, Carleton, Concordia (Wis.), Gwynedd-Mercy, Hanover, Ithaca, Keystone, Oswego State, Penn State-Behrend, Ramapo, Texas-Dallas, UW-River Falls, Virginia Wesleyan, Western Connecticut, Williams, Wittenberg, WPI

I italicized the spots where we differ. We think Mary Hardin-Baylor will hope Texas-Dallas in the South Region rankings. (And the South Region rankings are a mess after this weekend!) UMHB beat UTD two out of three. And we project Keystone out in favor of Kean. We think Kean remains ahead of St. Joseph’s (L.I.) in the Atlantic Region ranking.

I’m going to say the same sort of thing I said the last time around, in that I don’t think the third CSAC team gets in. Given the criteria, there are certainly cases you could make for several teams in the final spot, and it’s like that every year.