1 Seeds:
Duke (2-0), Auburn (0-2), Houston (2-0), Florida (2-0)
2 Seeds:
Tennessee (1-1), Michigan State (2-0), St. Johns (2-0), Alabama (1-1)
It turns out that Auburn is mortal, after all. Losing twice in one week only drops them to number two overall, with how stacked their resume is at the moment. Duke benefits from the dip and is currently sitting as the number one overall seed. The rest of the one and two seeds are sitting relatively comfortable going into the conference tournaments. Even if there are upsets, expect these teams to stay steady.
3 Seeds:
Texas Tech (2-0), Iowa State (1-1), Maryland (2-0), Clemson (2-0)
4 Seeds:
Wisconsin (1-1), Texas A&M (2-0), Purdue (1-1), Kentucky (2-0)
Wisconsin losing to Penn State sucks. Obviously, there were concerns with fouls and injuries related to the game, but that shouldn’t be an excuse to lose to a Big Ten team that didn’t even make the conference tournament. Greg Gard better hope his team can rebound in the postseason, otherwise, we might be hearing some “Fire Gard” chants coming soon. Elsewhere, Maryland and Clemson are two hot teams going into their respective tournaments and could move up with a good showing. Texas A&M, Purdue, and Kentucky all were sliding a couple of weeks ago but have been able to right the ship.
5 Seeds:
Michigan (0-2), St. Mary’s, Arizona (1-1), Mizzou (0-2)
6 Seeds:
Louisville (2-0), Marquette (0-2), Kansas (1-1), Oregon (2-0)
Michigan, Mizzou, and Marquette all had weeks to forget and should drop accordingly on the seed lines. They all still have respectable resumes and could move higher with their conference tournaments, but I would not count on it at the moment. Louisville and Oregon keep winning games they should, while Kansas finally won a game. If Bill Self can win the Big 12, his streak of never being lower than a 5 seed should hold strong. But again, I wouldn’t count on it.
7 Seeds:
Gonzaga, UCLA (2-0), BYU (2-0), Illinois (2-0)
8 Seeds:
Vanderbilt (0-2), Memphis (2-0), Creighton (2-0), Miss State (0-2)
Watch out for BYU! They have been unstoppable as of late, winning 8 straight games against stiff competition in the Big 12. I have them as a team to watch for when we get to the March Madness tournament. UCLA, Illinois, and Creighton are also getting hot at the right time. Mississippi State and Vanderbilt had rough weeks and might be showing evidence of the SEC not being as good as everyone is hyping them up to be. No matter, though, almost the entire SEC will make the tournament, whether they deserve it or not.
9 Seeds:
UConn (2-0), VCU (1-1), New Mexico (2-0), Ole Miss (1-1)
10 Seeds:
Xavier (2-0), Georgia (2-0), Arkansas (2-0), San Diego State (1-1)
UConn has stopped its fall, ensuring they have a spot in March Madness and a chance to three-peat. VCU dropped a game for the first time in a while and is now on shaky ground should they not win the A10. Otherwise, there wasn’t a ton of movement around the bubble this week. The most interesting thing for the NCAA committee to consider will be what to do with the mess of Mountain West teams in the 40s for NET ranking.
11 Seeds:
Baylor (1-1), West Virginia (2-0), Ohio State (1-1), Utah State (1-0), Oklahoma (2-0), Indiana (1-1)
While the bubble teams had several losses to beatable teams, the teams looking in all had worse weeks. Oklahoma replaces Boise State after the Sooners had a bounce back week. Expect one or two of these teams to be cut from the field depending on if we get any bid stealers this year.
12 Seeds:
UC San Diego (2-0), Drake (3-0), McNeese (1-0), Yale (1-0)
13 Seeds:
Liberty (2-0), High Point (3-0), Akron (2-0), Lipscomb (3-0)
14 Seeds:
Arkansas State (1-0), GCU (1-1), Northern Colorado (1-0), Towson (1-0)
15 Seeds:
Furman (2-0), Robert Morris (1-0), Bryant (2-0), Central Conn State (2-0)
16 Seeds:
Omaha (2-0), Quinnipiac (1-1), Norfolk State (1-1), SIEU (2-0), Southern U (2-1), American (2-0)
We have our first locks of the tournaments! Drake, High Point, Lipscomb, Omaha, and SIEU all won their respective conference tournaments and made it into March Madness. All other movement with these seeds were all minor changes or switching out a couple of teams due to upsets in ongoing conference tournaments. UC San Diego is close to moving above the 12 line based on their 36 NET ranking. If they lose to UC Irvine in their conference tournament, expect the NCAA committee to have a crisis on its hands.
First 4 out:
Colorado St (2-0), Boise St (1-1), North Carolina (1-1), Wake Forest (1-1)
Next 4 out:
North Texas (2-0), Texas (1-1), UC Irvine (2-0), Cincinnati (1-0)
It turns out that North Carolina is what we all expected: Not good. They’ll still see their name as first four out based on brand power alone. Colorado State has been hot as of recently and can make the tournament if they can have a run in the Mountain West tournament. UC Irvine and North Texas should be in the tournament, in my opinion, but that won’t happen. The NCAA cares too much about bad teams like Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Indiana making it over no-name brands. The next bracket prediction will be going out next Sunday, right before the Selections Sunday show starts, so don’t forget to subscribe to email notifications and follow our socials!
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