Bracketology experts showing mixed feelings for Cougars

There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, but I know a lot of you are watching the NCAA bracket predictors to get a feel for the thoughts on the local teams. Here’s one that kind of surprised me. A group of journalist met in Indianapolis last week and came up with their field. They showed a lot of respect for BYU, expecting the Cougars to end up winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and getting the automatic bid. They gave Utah an at-large bid, but left UNLV, San Diego State and New Mexico out of the tournament. Here’s what they came up with:

Notable results from the 65-team field journalists assembled in a mock selection panel on Thursday:

No. 1 seeds: North Carolina, Connecticut, Oklahoma and Pittsburgh.

The ACC and Big East each posted eight teams in the bracket and the six major conferences as a whole accounted for 29 of the 34 at-large spots. The other five were filled out by Davidson, Dayton, Siena, Utah State and Utah. (BYU was the conference winner for the Mountain West.

Leagues with multiple bids:
Big East: 8
UConn, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Georgetown, West Virginia, Syracuse, Marquette, Villanova

ACC: 8
North Carolina, Duke, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Miami (Fla.)

Pac-10: 6
UCLA, Washington, California, Arizona State, Arizona, Southern California

Big Ten: 5
Michigan State, Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, Ohio State

Big 12: 4
Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Texas

Southeastern Conference: 4
Florida, Tennesee, LSU, South Carolina

Atlantic 10: 2
Xavier (conference champ), Dayton

Metro Atlantic: 2
Fairfield (conference champ), Siena

Mountain West: 2
BYU (conference champ), Utah

Southern: 2
College of Charleston (conference champ), Davidson

WAC: 2
Boise State (conference champ), Utah State

Notable omissions: Baylor, Cincinnati, Kentucky, Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s.