What exactly is Bracketology? According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, "Bracketology is a slang term for predicting the field of the NCAA Basketball Tournament."

Our definition: a bunch of hoops geeks with slide rules who spend most of basketball season devoted to mental masturbation, only to make obvious predictions the second week of March, which they then claim shows their omnipotent powers of prognostication.

Let's face it: Early season predictions of March brackets are a meaningless waste of time. And by the time Selection Sunday arrives, there really are few mysteries. With automatic bids and the now very public RPI numbers, is it really any wonder that most of the folks on the Web who claim to have psychic Bracketology powers boast that they get most of the final field of 64 correct.

We understand the fans getting excited about this stuff, especially nowadays in the Patriot League. It once was assumed that the league's champion was an automatic No. 16, or maybe a 15 if some good mid majors in one-bid leagues get bumped off in their conference tournaments,

In the first 15 seasons of Patriot League basketball, the league's entry in the Big dance has been seeded 16th six times, 15th three times. Two other seasons they have been relegated to the play-in game.

In two of the last three seasons, though, the Patriot League champ has gone in as a No. 14 seed, the best the league has seen since Holy Cross landed a 13 seed in 1993.

Bucknell was a 14 last season, and its success then, and since, has bracketologists everywhere expecting the Bison to land what would be the highest seeding ever by a league team. Many are even suggesting BU should get a single digit seed.

Folks who visited this site regularly last season might recall regular posts on what the bracketologists were thinking. This season we made a decision to ignore that stuff since, frankly, it seems like a lot of BS.

So why are we posting a bracketology roundup today? Easy answer: We have had something new to post every day since the beginning of November, could not find any real news on the league today, and we didn't want the streak to end.

Silly? sure. So is bracketology, so it seems only fitting to put together a quick wrapup of the rampant dance card speculation, which has become a cottage industry on the Web.

Bracketology 101 has the Bison as an eight seed, along with Wichita State, Arkansas, Alabama. By their figuring, that would put the Bison in home unis for a first round matchup with a No. 9. Their current projected nines include Arizona, George Mason, Missouri State, Kentucky.

Greg Doyel at CBS Sportsline has Bucknell projected as a No. 9 seed, along with Missouri State, Kentucky and UAB. That would mean, according to Doyel, a first round matchup with one of these No. 8 seeds: Arkansas, Creighton, Alabama, California.

The folks at Bracketography.com are predicting a first round meeting between two Patriot League football members, No. 6 Georgetown and No. 11 Bucknell. The bad news about their prediction, should it come true, is an expectation that Bucknell would get sent to Detroit for the first two rounds.

The guy generally credited with starting this craze is ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi. Lunardi's day job is at Saint Joseph's, where among other duties he does the color commentary on the Hawks' radio broadcasts.

Like the others, Lunardi updates every week. If we are not mistaken, last week he had Bucknell as a single digit seed with a little red arrow that indicated the Bison were trending up. This week, after winning their final two regular season games, Bucknell has dropped to an 11 seed, with a blue down arrow next to its name. Sounds like science to us.

By the way, Lunardi also predicts a Bucknell-Georgetown first round matchup, but instead of Detroit, he has the Bison headed to Jacksonville, Fla.

Some dude calling himself "Coop" (we are being presumptuous calling Coop a dude, but we have not encountered any women wasting their time on this stuff) claims he is Lunardi's "nemesis." Dunno about that, but his Bracket Racket site says Bucknell will get a 10 seed, with a first round matchup against No. 7 Washington in Dayton, Ohio.

BacketExpress, part of the Draft Express Web site, also has Bucknell seeded No. 10 and playing in Dayton, though they claim the Bison will meet Alabama.

Of course all these predictions will change by Selection Sunday, when the only bracketologists that count will share their thoughts.