NCAA Tournament Bracket Breakdown: Projected Field 6.0
Since Friday, we’ve witnessed a fair amount of movement in seeding but only one change in the teams slated to receive at-large bids.
However, that will likely change as conference tournaments get under way. We’ve already handed out four automatic bids this past weekend: Belmont, Indiana State, Morehead State and UNC-Asheville will be dancing into the NCAA Tournament. And we’ve seen substantial upsets, with Fairfield bowing out of the Metro Atlantic tournament and VCU taking down George Mason.
Here are a few of the major notes from this weekend’s action.
- Boston College is out, and Michigan is in. A win against Wake Forest just didn’t help the Eagles as much as the Wolverines’ win against Michigan State, giving Michigan a season sweep of the Spartans.
- Duke’s loss at North Carolina would have moved the Blue Devils closer to a No. 3 seed than a No. 1 seed, but then Purdue went to Iowa and lost. That’s a much worse loss than Duke’s tough game in Chapel Hill.
- Meanwhile, North Carolina’s stock is soaring. The Tar Heels are up to a No. 3 seed. A win against Duke in the ACC championship game might be enough to propel the Tar Heels all the way to a No. 2 seed.
- Missouri needs to have a good showing away from home at the Big 12 Tournament, or else the Tigers could slip as low as a No. 8 seed.
- All eyes will be on VCU Monday night because the Rams could shrink the pool of precious at-large bids with a win against Old Dominion. The Rams probably aren’t an at-large team without the CAA’s automatic bid, but the Monarchs and George Mason should be in.
Let’s get to the brackets. In this edition, we slot teams in regions and match ups. As always, please share your thoughts.
Here are links to the recent projected fields.
Projected Field 5.0
Projected Field 4.0
Projected Field 3.0
Projected Field 2.0
Projected Field 1.0
In addition, take a look at the bracket projections from a whole slew of different sources, updated daily by the good folks at the Bracket Project.
Teams in bold are automatic qualifiers.
East(Newark)
|
(1) Ohio State vs. (16) UNC-Asheville (Big South) vs. Bethune-Cookman (MEAC) (Cleveland)
(8) Old Dominion (CAA) vs. (9) Georgia (Cleveland) (4) Syracuse vs. (13) Charleston (Southern) (Tucson) (5) Texas A&M vs. (12) UAB (Conference USA) (Tucson) (2) Texas vs. (15) Northern Colorado (Big Sky) (Tulsa) (7) UCLA vs. (10) Illinois (Tulsa) (3) Florida vs. (14) Morehead State (Ohio Valley) (Tampa) (6) Cincinnati vs. (11) Richmond (Tampa) |
West(Anaheim)
|
(1) Notre Dame vs. (16) Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) (Chicago)
(8) Kansas State vs. (9) Tennessee (Chicago) (4) San Diego State vs. (13) Iona (Metro Atlantic) (Tucson) (5) Georgetown vs. (12) Colorado vs. Michigan (Tucson) (2) BYU vs. (15) Long Beach State (Big West) (Denver) (7) Xavier vs. (10) Michigan State (Denver) (3) North Carolina vs. (14) Long Island (NEC) (Charlotte) (6) Villanova vs. (11) Gonzaga (West Coast) (Charlotte) |
Southwest(San Antonio) |
(1) Kansas vs. (16) McNeese State (Southland) vs. Texas Southern (SWAC) (Tulsa)
(8) UNLV vs. (9) Utah State (WAC) (Tulsa) (4) St. John’s vs. (13) Belmont (Ohio Valley) (Tampa) (5) Vanderbilt vs. (12) Clemson vs. Marshall (Tampa) (2) Purdue vs. (15) Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Horizon) (Chicago) (7) George Mason vs. (10) Butler (Chicago) (3) Louisville vs. (14) Bucknell (Patriot) (Washington) (6) Arizona vs. (11) Virginia Tech (Washington) |
Southeast(New Orleans) |
(1) Pittsburgh vs. (16) Boston University (America East) (Cleveland)
(8) Temple vs. (9) Florida State (Cleveland) (4) Kentucky vs. (13) Harvard (Ivy) (Washington) (5) West Virginia vs. (12) Oakland (Summit) (Washington) (2) Duke vs. (15) Indiana State (Missouri Valley) (Charlotte) (7) Missouri vs. (10) Marquette (Charlotte) (3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Kent State (MAC) (Denver) (6) Connecticut vs. (11) Washington (Denver) |
Last Eight In: |
Washington
Richmond Virginia Tech Gonzaga (if needed) Colorado Clemson Michigan Marshall |
First Eight Out:
|
Boston College
Memphis UAB (if needed) USC VCU Minnesota Nebraska Penn State |
Conference
|
Big East: 11
Big 12: 6 Big Ten: 6 ACC: 5 SEC: 5 Atlantic 10: 3 Mountain West: 3 Pac-10: 3 CAA: 2 Conference USA: 2 Horizon: 2 20 one-bid conferences |
