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What would championship week be without a bracket projection? Still championship week, obviously, but you understand what I'm getting at. There have already been some really, really good games with bids on the line so far, so let's stop to take the pulse of basketball in general before gearing up for the downhill run to Selection Sunday.
Here's your s-curve:
1 | VIRGINIA | KANSAS | MICHIGAN ST. | VILLANOVA |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 | KENTUCKY | Oklahoma | West Virginia | North Carolina |
3 | Indiana | Wichita St. | Miami FL | ARIZONA |
4 | Iowa | Purdue | Oregon | Xavier |
5 | Iowa St. | Duke | Texas A&M | California |
6 | GONZAGA | Utah | Maryland | Vanderbilt |
7 | Wisconsin | Baylor | Texas | Seton Hall |
8 | Saint Mary's | Butler | Cincinnati | CONNECTICUT |
9 | Texas Tech | VCU | Notre Dame | Valparaiso |
10 | YALE | Syracuse | STEPHEN F. AUSTIN | SAN DIEGO ST. |
11 | Pittsburgh | Florida | Florida St. | Creighton |
12 | Saint Joseph's | Houston | Kansas St. | Tulsa |
12 | ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK | IONA | ||
13 | HAWAII | UNC WILMINGTON | SOUTH DAKOTA ST. | NORTHERN IOWA |
14 | CHATTANOOGA | CAL ST. BAKERSFIELD | STONY BROOK | AKRON |
15 | UAB | GREEN BAY | UNC ASHEVILLE | WEBER ST. |
16 | AUSTIN PEAY | FLORIDA GULF COAST | TEXAS SOUTHERN | LEHIGH |
16 | NORFOLK ST. | FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON | ||
First 4 out | Clemson | South Carolina | USC | Michigan |
Next 4 out | Providence | Dayton | BYU | Oregon St. |
And the bracket:
The Horizon League stole a KenPom bid with Green Bay knocking off Valpo, and the Missouri Valley certainly did when UNI toppled KenPom darling Wichita State. Beyond that, even the unexpected champions were just shuffling the deck in one-bid leagues. Nevertheless, the bubble has tightened by a couple of spots already and it's only Wednesday morning.
So far the SEC and ACC have already lost teams to the shrinking bubble, but the AAC is in line to be the big loser if things get much tighter. Both Tulsa and Houston are sitting in uncomfortable positions, and the wrong combination of outcomes in games they play and other conference tournaments means one or both of them could fall to that NIT position. It has been a long time since the bubble didn't matter at all for Xavier fans. To be honest, I really like it.