Bracketology 12/20/2023
One of the better developments in college basketball in recent years has been the increase in meaningful games in December. Good teams are playing a much stronger out of conference slate than they did a decade ago and it’s led to a much better December schedule than the dregs we used to see.
The biggest riser since my last update is Memphis, who has rattled off three wins in a row against Texas A&M, Clemson and Virginia. The AAC is weird this year in that Florida Atlantic and Memphis look like top 4 seeds and the rest of the conference is really bad, with most teams outside the top 100.
The schedule slows down a lot around the holidays and I’ll be back with another update around New Year’s.
1: Purdue, Houston, Connecticut, Arizona
2: Kansas, BYU, Oklahoma, Tennessee
3: Florida Atlantic, Marquette, Memphis, Colorado State
4: Wisconsin, North Carolina, Creighton, Baylor
5: Clemson, Illinois, Auburn, Kentucky
6: Gonzaga, Alabama, San Diego State, Utah
7: Ole Miss, James Madison, Ohio State, Duke
8: New Mexico, Virginia, Texas, Texas A&M
9: Providence, Mississippi State, Colorado, Iowa State
10: Miami (FL), Nebraska, South Carolina, Princeton
11: Nevada, Florida, Villanova, Indiana State
12: Dayton, (Texas Tech/Cincinnati), (Kansas State/Michigan State), Grand Canyon
13: UNC Greensboro, Louisiana Tech, Hawai’i, Purdue Fort Wayne
14: McNeese State, UNC Wilmington, Akron, Weber State
15: Vermont, South Dakota State, Longwood, Colgate
16: Lipscomb, Morehead State, (Marist/Norfolk State), (Prairie View A&M/Merrimack)
First Four Out: Utah State, TCU, Indiana, Northwestern
Next Four Out: Butler, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Wake Forest
Bids by Conference:
Big 12: 9
SEC: 9
Big Ten: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 3
American: 2
Bracketology 12/11/2023
The Big 12 has increased its dominance as the best conference in college basketball. Right now the league has 9 of its 14 teams in the bracket including 4 teams as a 3 seed or better. It will only get better next year, as 3 of the 4 teams the league is adding (Arizona, Colorado and Utah) are in the bracket. The most dominant conference of my lifetime is probably the Big East of the late 2000s and the Big 12 of the 2020s projects to be even better.
1: Purdue, Arizona, Houston, Kansas
2: Connecticut, Marquette, Clemson, Creighton
3: Baylor, North Carolina, BYU, Oklahoma
4: Tennessee, Gonzaga, Florida Atlantic, Colorado State
5: Wisconsin, Alabama, Illinois, Virginia
6: Auburn, San Diego State, Memphis, Utah
7: Kentucky, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, James Madison
8: Northwestern, Duke, New Mexico, Texas
9: Colorado, Ohio State, Iowa State, Mississippi State
10: Miami (FL), Kansas State, Cincinnati, Nebraska
11: South Carolina, Princeton, Villanova, Indiana State
12: (Nevada/Providence), (Indiana/Florida), Dayton, Grand Canyon
13: UNC Greensboro, Louisiana Tech, Hawai’i, Purdue Fort Wayne
14: McNeese State, UNC Wilmington, Akron, Weber State
15: Vermont, South Dakota State, Longwood, Colgate
16: Lipscomb, Morehead State, (Marist/Norfolk State), (Prairie View A&M/Merrimack)
First Four Out: Texas Tech, Oregon, Washington State, Michigan State
Next Four Out: TCU, Dayton, UCLA, Washington
Bids by Conference:
Big 12: 9
SEC: 9
Big Ten: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 3
American: 2
Bracketology 11/28/2023
With most of the preseason tournaments out of the way, it’s time for my bracketology update for the month of November. 3 of my 1 seeds (Purdue, Connecticut and Houston) remain from my preseason bracket, with Arizona joining them on the top line after wins over Duke and Michigan State. They’re joined in the protected seeds by some surprise undefeated teams like BYU and Mississippi State.
My next update will likely be in around two weeks, weekly updates will begin after New Year’s.
1: Purdue, Arizona, Connecticut, Houston
2: Marquette, Kansas, Baylor, Texas A&M
3: Gonzaga, BYU, Villanova, Mississippi State
4: North Carolina, Alabama, Duke, Tennessee
5: Florida Atlantic, Creighton, San Diego State, Kentucky
6: Colorado State, Memphis, Miami (FL), Auburn
7: Oklahoma, Nebraska, Ohio State, USC
8: James Madison, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Texas
9: Nevada, Texas Tech, Illinois, TCU
10: Clemson, Princeton, Colorado, Florida
11: Bradley, Virginia, Cincinnati, UCLA
12: (Indiana/Providence), (Northwestern/Pittsburgh), Liberty, Dayton
13: UC Irvine, Grand Canyon, UNC Greensboro, Ohio
14: UMass Lowell, McNeese State, Oakland, South Dakota State
15: UNC Wilmingon, Portland State, Stetson, Colgate
16: Longwood, Morehead State, (Canisius/Sacred Heart), (Howard/Prairie View A&M)
First Four Out: Iowa, New Mexico, Florida State, Oregon
Next Four Out: NC State, South Carolina, Butler, Kansas State
2023-24 Preseason Bracketology
It may still be October, but the college basketball season is less than a week away. That means it’s preseason bracketology time. The preseason bracket is a bit of a crapshoot- we have a pretty good idea as to who the top 20 or so teams are, but after the first few seed lines things will change a lot between now and March.
Here are some stats on last year’s preseason bracket to give you a guide as to what to expect this year:
-Of my top 16 teams (1-4 seeds) in the preseason last year, 15 of them made the tournament. North Carolina was the only exception. 10 of the 16 ultimately received top 4 seeds and the other 5 received top 8 seeds.
-Of my remaining at-large teams (5-11 seeds) in the preseason last year, around half (15/31) ended up making the tournament.
-Almost every team that got a high seed was on my preseason radar. All the teams that ended up as top 6 seeds were in my preseason bracket except Marquette (2 seed), Kansas State (3 seed), St. Mary’s (5 seed) and Iowa State (6 seed).
With that preamble out of the way, here are my preseason projections. My next update will come in late November, likely after the Thanksgiving tournaments.
Final 2023 Men’s Bracketology
Welcome to Selection Sunday! This wraps up my 13th season as a bracketologist and every season is as enjoyable as the last. As always, I owe a big thank you to the Bracket Matrix for their tireless work in compiling various bracketologies- it is a tremendous amount of work and an amazing resource for the whole community.
I think that the last 3 spots in the tournament are up for serious debate, the bubble is less “clean” this year than it has been in the past. Here’s how I see the cut line this year.
Bubble Teams In the Field
Any team I have in the field who is not on this list as at least a 98% chance of making the tournament.
Providence: 41st overall, 95% chance of selection. The Friars slid late but their trio of home wins against Connecticut, Marquette and Creighton should get them over the line.
NC State: 42nd overall, 85% chance of selection. The Wolfpack have a very bland profile with nothing great or horrible on it. A win against Duke is probably the difference between the NCAA and the NIT.
Mississippi State: 43rd overall, 85% chance of selection. The Bulldogs have another very middling profile. Strong non conference wins over Marquette and TCU should make the difference.
Arizona State: 44th overall, 80% chance of selection. The Sun Devils were on the outside of my field for most of the season but a huge win at Arizona got them into the field and is the cornerstone of their resume.
Rutgers: 45th overall, 75% chance of selection. For the second year in a row the Scarlet Knights possess a confounding resume. They have an amazing road win at Purdue but also a 2-4 record in Q3. I think they’ve done just enough.
Nevada: 46th overall, 55% chance of selection. Nevada was cruising to an 8/9 game for most of the season before an 0-3 finish put them in trouble. I very marginally favor them over Pittsburgh for the last spot.
Bubble Teams Out of the Field
Any team I have out of the field who is not on this list as a less than 2% chance of making the tournament.
Pittsburgh: 47th overall, 50% chance of selection. The Panthers have a few good wins but the 2023 ACC is full of landmines and they fell for two of them in losses to horrible Notre Dame and Florida State teams.
Oklahoma State: 48th overall, 40% chance of selection. The Cowboys are a classic high loss count bubble team. They’ve done nothing objectionable on their way to an 18-15 record but needed more top tier wins given the number of opportunities they had.
Vanderbilt: 49th overall, 20% chance of selection. Every year we have a bubble team come out of nowhere to enter the conversation. Vanderbilt was not even on the NIT bubble a month ago, but I don’t think their late charge was enough to make the NCAAs.
North Carolina: 50th overall, 5% chance of selection. Much has been written about the disaster that is the 2022-23 Tar Heels. They had chances, such as a 4OT loss to Alabama, but didn’t convert enough of them.
Clemson: 51st overall, 5% chance of selection. The Tigers’ losses to South Carolina and Loyola Chicago will prove too much to overcome.
Final Bracket Projection
Final Seed List
1: Kansas, Alabama, Houston, Purdue
2: UCLA, Texas, Arizona, Marquette
3: Gonzaga, Baylor, Kansas State, Connecticut
4: Xavier, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia
5: San Diego State, Duke, Iowa State, Texas A&M
6: Miami (FL), St. Mary’s, TCU, Missouri
7: Kentucky, Northwestern, Michigan State, Creighton
8: Florida Atlantic, Memphis, West Virginia, Maryland
9: Iowa, Arkansas, Penn State, Auburn
10: USC, Utah State, Illinois, Boise State
11: Providence, NC State, (Mississippi State/Arizona State), (Rutgers/Nevada)
12: Charleston, Oral Roberts, Drake, VCU
13: Kent State, Louisiana, Iona, Furman
14: Kennesaw State, UC Santa Barbara, Princeton, Grand Canyon
15: Montana State, Colgate, Vermont, UNC Asheville
16: Northern Kentucky, Howard, (Texas A&M CC/SE Missouri State), (Texas Southern/Fairleigh Dickinson)
First Four Out: Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, North Carolina
Next Four Out: Clemson, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Texas
Moving In: Princeton
Moving Out: Yale
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Final 2023 Women’s Bracketology
For the first time this year I decided to take a stab at bracketology for the NCAA women’s tournament. Men’s and women’s bracketology is a bit of a different game- a lot of the team sheet metrics that I’m used to using (SOR, predictive metrics etc.) aren’t available for the women’s tournament so I relied more on quadrant records to make this projection.
I’m much less confident in these projections than I am in my men’s bracketology as I haven’t been following along all season, but I’m curious to see how well they do. There are some interesting teams to seed here, most notably some very strong mid-majors like Columbia, UNLV and Florida Gulf Coast.
1: South Carolina, Indiana, Connecticut, Stanford
2: Virginia Tech, Iowa, LSU, Utah
3: Maryland, Duke, Notre Dame, Villanova
4: Ohio State, UCLA, Texas, North Carolina
5: Iowa State, Colorado, Washington State, Creighton
6: Florida State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, South Florida
7: Michigan, NC State, UNLV, Louisville
8: USC, Middle Tennessee, Arizona, Gonzaga
9: Baylor, Ole Miss, Columbia, Alabama
10: South Dakota State, Illinois, Florida Gulf Coast, Marquette
11: St. John’s, Oregon, Princeton, (Georgia/Miami (FL))
12: (Purdue/Oklahoma State), Drake, Toledo, Cleveland State
13: East Carolina, Portland, Sacramento State, Gardner-Webb
14: James Madison, Saint Louis, Southern Utah, Vermont
15: Iona, Holy Cross, Southeastern Louisiana, Norfolk State
16: Hawai’i, Chattanooga, (Monmouth/Tennessee Tech), (Southern/Sacred Heart)
First Four Out: Massachusetts, West Virginia, Mississippi State, Rhode Island
Next Four Out: Kansas, Missouri, Michigan State, Syracuse
Bids by Conference:
ACC: 8
Pac-12: 8
Big Ten: 7
SEC: 6
Big 12: 5
Big East: 5
American: 2
Ivy League: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/12/2023 AM
Welcome to Selection Sunday! We have 5 games today, a few of which will effect seeding. I’ll publish a final update (with my full projected bracket) later this afternoon before the Selection Show.
For the first time since 2017, we have 0 bid thieves this year. This is a boon to bubble teams everywhere, most notably Nevada who I think would’ve lost their spot if the bubble shrunk by one team.
1: Kansas, Alabama, Houston, Purdue
2: UCLA, Texas, Arizona, Marquette
3: Gonzaga, Baylor, Kansas State, Connecticut
4: Xavier, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia
5: San Diego State, Duke, Iowa State, Texas A&M
6: Miami (FL), St. Mary’s, TCU, Missouri
7: Kentucky, Northwestern, Michigan State, Creighton
8: Florida Atlantic, Memphis, West Virginia, Maryland
9: Iowa, Arkansas, Penn State, Auburn
10: USC, Utah State, Illinois, Boise State
11: Providence, NC State, (Mississippi State/Arizona State), (Rutgers/Nevada)
12: Charleston, Oral Roberts, Drake, VCU
13: Kent State, Yale, Louisiana, Iona
14: Furman, Kennesaw State, UC Santa Barbara, Grand Canyon
15: Montana State, Colgate, Vermont, UNC Asheville
16: Northern Kentucky, Howard, (Texas A&M CC/SE Missouri State), (Texas Southern/Fairleigh Dickinson)
First Four Out: Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt, North Carolina
Next Four Out: Clemson, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Texas
Moving In: Kent State, Grand Canyon, Texas Southern
Moving Out: Toledo, Southern Utah, Grambling
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/11/2023
I’ve been at the Big Ten Tournament this week and have enjoyed some great basketball. The Big Ten started the week as the bubbliest conference but the last few days have given us some clarity. Penn State has surely played their way into the tournament with two thrilling wins over Illinois and Northwestern. Wisconsin and Michigan are almost surely out after losing their opening games. The team that I still have questions about is Rutgers- there is not much precedent for a team with such a high loss count and 4 Q3 losses making the field but they do have that road win at Purdue. I have the Scarlet Knights barely in the field as my penultimate team in the field.
Enjoy today’s games, the Saturday of conference tournament weekend is always one of the best days of the season.
1: Kansas, Alabama, Houston, Purdue
2: UCLA, Texas, Arizona, Gonzaga
3: Marquette, Baylor, Kansas State, Connecticut
4: Xavier, Indiana, Tennessee, Virginia
5: San Diego State, Miami (FL), St. Mary’s, Iowa State
6: Texas A&M, TCU, Duke, Kentucky
7: Missouri, Michigan State, Northwestern, Creighton
8: Florida Atlantic, Arkansas, Maryland, Iowa
9: Auburn, Memphis, West Virginia, Illinois
10: USC, Boise State, Utah State, Penn State
11: Providence, NC State, (Mississippi State/Arizona State), (Rutgers/Nevada)
12: Charleston, Oral Roberts, Drake, VCU
13: Toledo, Louisiana, Yale, Iona
14: Furman, Kennesaw State, UC Santa Barbara, Southern Utah
15: Colgate, Montana State, UNC Asheville, Vermont
16: Grambling State, Northern Kentucky, (Howard/Texas A&M CC), (SE Missouri State/Fairleigh Dickinson)
First Four Out: Vanderbilt, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State, North Carolina
Next Four Out: Clemson, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Texas
Moving In: UC Santa Barbara, Southern Utah
Moving Out: UC Irvine, Sam Houston State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/10/2023
Penn State and Utah State have been two of the biggest risers on the bubble in recent weeks and they continued that trend yesterday with big wins over Illinois and New Mexico, respectively. I’d be pretty surprised to see either team miss the field now, and Utah State’s metrics are good enough that they could be favored to win their 7/10 or 6/11 matchup.
All of the teams in my first four out have been eliminated from their conference tournaments. Of the teams on the outside looking in, just Vanderbilt, North Texas and Clemson are still playing and all have significant work to do still.
1: Kansas, Alabama, Houston, Purdue
2: UCLA, Texas, Baylor, Arizona
3: Gonzaga, Kansas State, Marquette, Connecticut
4: Tennessee, Xavier, Indiana, Virginia
5: Miami (FL), San Diego State, Iowa State, St. Mary’s
6: TCU, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Duke
7: Michigan State, Creighton, Northwestern, Missouri
8: Florida Atlantic, Arkansas, Maryland, Iowa
9: Auburn, Memphis, West Virginia, Illinois
10: Boise State, USC, Providence, Utah State
11: Penn State, NC State, (Mississippi State/Rutgers), (Arizona State/Nevada)
12: Charleston, Oral Roberts, Drake, Sam Houston State
13: VCU, Toledo, Louisiana, Yale
14: Iona, Furman, Kennesaw State, UC Irvine
15: Colgate, Montana State, UNC Asheville, Vermont
16: Grambling State, Northern Kentucky, (Howard/Texas A&M CC), (SE Missouri State/Fairleigh Dickinson)
First Four Out: Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Wisconsin
Next Four Out: Michigan, Vanderbilt, North Texas, Clemson
Moving In: None
Moving Out: None
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/9/2023
A lot of bubble teams were in action yesterday and they mostly held serve. Pitt, Oklahoma State, Arizona State and NC State all won games they needed to. The notable exception was Wisconsin, who got down 20 to Ohio State and nearly came back. They weren’t able to though, and I think the Badgers’ at-large chances are looking pretty grim.
Almost the whole bubble is in action today so there should be plenty of movement in tomorrow’s seed list.
Moving In: None
Moving Out: None
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/8/2023
Charleston and Oral Roberts left no doubt about their bids by winning their conference tournaments yesterday. I don’t think either team would’ve gotten an at-large and it would’ve been a shame to not see these fantastic mid-majors in the tournament.
Major conference bubble teams begin their conference tournaments today. I will be at the United Center for Wisconsin/Ohio State where the Badgers are in desperate need of a win.
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Bracketology 3/7/2023
Bubble teams breathed a sign of relief as St. Mary’s and Gonzaga both won their semifinals in the WCC, removing the possibility of a bid stealer there. St. Mary’s will have a strong case for a protected seed if they can beat Gonzaga tonight.
I view the heart of the bubble as 6 teams for 3 spots right now. In order of how I view their resumes, it’s Arizona State, Penn State, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin. With bid stealers still lurking, there will likely only be 2, perhaps 1, spot for these teams come Sunday.
Moving In: Northern Kentucky
Moving Out: Youngstown State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/6/2023
Most of Sunday’s bubble action was in the Big Ten. Rutgers continued their slide with a home loss to Northwestern. I had the Scarlet Knights as a 5 seed a month ago and they are now my last team in the field. Moving into the field is Penn State, who has pulled off dramatic back to back Q1 wins to sneak into the field. I will be at the Big Ten Tournament this week at the United Center to watch all the bubble action.
The next two nights are light on bubble action, but things will kick back into high gear on Wednesday. In the meantime, I’ll be watching to see if Charleston and Oral Roberts can win their conference tournaments- both teams have a small, but nonzero chance at an at-large.
Moving In: Penn State, Kennesaw State, Montana State
Moving Out: Pittsburgh, Liberty, Eastern Washington
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 4
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/5/2023
The last Saturday of the regular season is always one of the best college basketball days of the year and yesterday was no exception. The highlight was the OVC final where SE Missouri State punched their bid to the tournament in thrilling fashion over Tennessee Tech. Today has a good slate of games once again, highlighted by the Arch Madness final between Bradley and Drake. The winner will be a dangerous 12 or 13 seed to watch in the tournament.
I have 8 hours on the road in front of me today that I’ll be using to go through every team’s resume from scratch, so expect to see a good amount of movement on the seed list tomorrow.
1: Alabama, Kansas, Houston, Purdue
2: UCLA, Texas, Baylor, Arizona
3: Kansas State, Gonzaga, Marquette, Connecticut
4: Tennessee, Xavier, Indiana, Virginia
5: TCU, Miami (FL), St. Mary’s, San Diego State
6: Texas A&M, Kentucky, Iowa State, Creighton
7: Michigan State, Duke, Iowa, Northwestern
8: Missouri, Arkansas, Maryland, Florida Atlantic
9: Illinois, Memphis, West Virginia, USC
10: Providence, Auburn, Boise State, Rutgers
11: Mississippi State, Nevada, (NC State/Utah State), (Pittsburgh/Arizona State)
12: Charleston, Oral Roberts, VCU, Drake
13: Utah Valley, Liberty, Toledo, Louisiana
14: Yale, Iona, Furman, Colgate
15: Eastern Washington, Vermont, UC Irvine, UNC Asheville
16: Youngstown State, Howard, (SE Missouri State/Grambling State), (Texas A&M CC/Fairleigh Dickinson)
First Four Out: Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Penn State, Charleston
Next Four Out: Michigan, Oral Roberts, Vanderbilt, North Carolina
Also Considered: Oklahoma, Clemson, North Texas, VCU, Texas Tech, New Mexico, Villanova, Oregon
Moving In: Louisiana, SE Missouri State
Moving Out: Southern Miss, Morehead State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 8
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/3/2023
Both Arizona State and Wisconsin had opportunities for marquee wins yesterday against UCLA and Purdue, respectively. Wisconsin came close but couldn’t quite get over the hump, and both teams enter the last weekend of the season with a good amount of work to do.
The biggest bubble loser of the night was Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights were up 10 with 1:15 left against last place Minnesota before a complete collapse. They need at least 1 more win to be on the right side of the cut line headed into Selection Sunday.
Moving In: Howard
Moving Out: Norfolk State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 8
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 3/2/2023
It was another interesting night on the bubble with Pittsburgh being the biggest loser. The Panthers were not competitive in a Q3 loss at Notre Dame and I think they are closer to the cutline than some realize. They close the regular season with a crucial game at Miami.
Utah State and Penn State were the day’s bubble winners. Utah State is once again without a Q1 win after Nevada tumbled outside the NET top 30 but I think their resume is just strong enough to get over the line. Penn State is still in the conversation after a road win over Northwestern and could really use a win over Maryland at home this weekend.
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 8
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 2/28/2023
Oklahoma State moves out of my projected field as they lost once again at home to Baylor. Taking their place is Utah State, who was my first team out. The Aggies are the bubbliest team out there, but a sweep of two remaining games at UNLV and home to Boise State should be enough to get them over the line.
Moving In: Utah State
Moving Out: Oklahoma State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 8
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 4
Pac-12: 4
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 2/27/2023
A wild weekend of college hoops saw the fate of lots of bubble teams change dramatically. No team had a bigger win than Arizona State, who went on the road and knocked off arch rival Arizona. The buzzer beating halfcourt shot came from none other than Brown transfer Desmond Cambridge, who was the best player on Brown’s team when I was a student there a few years ago.
I’ve moved the Sun Devils into the field at the expense of Wisconsin, who lost at home to Michigan. The Wolverines are making quite a charge themselves and are now in my First Four Out.
Moving In: Arizona State, Furman, Norfolk State, Grambling State
Moving Out: Wisconsin, Samford, Howard, Alcorn State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 8
Big 12: 8
SEC: 8
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Pac-12: 4
Mountain West: 3
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 2/25/2023
The bubble has crystallized a bit in recent days- most brackets you look at will have the same at-large teams in the field that I’ve selected here. However, there’s plenty of room for that to change today. Oklahoma State, Mississippi State and West Virginia all could fall out of the field with a loss, and Arizona State has the potential to change the trajectory of their season if they can win a road game at Arizona.
Moving In: None
Moving Out: None
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
Big 12: 8
SEC: 8
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 3
Pac-12: 3
American: 2
West Coast: 2
Bracketology 2/22/2023
Not many teams in college basketball are hotter than Texas Tech. The Red Raiders beat Oklahoma on the road and are now 6-2 in their last 8. If they can go 2-1 in down the stretch and pick up a win in the Big 12 tournament I think they'll make the field.
There are some big bubble games tonight, highlighted by a late night clash between New Mexico and Boise State, two teams right near the cutline.
Moving In: Toledo
Moving Out: Kent State
Bids by Conference:
Big Ten: 9
Big 12: 8
SEC: 8
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Mountain West: 3
Pac-12: 3
American: 2
West Coast: 2