Holy cow – results are still coming in which is shuffling up bracket layouts. Yale took down the Princeton Tigers moving Akron up to a 13 seed sliding Yale in as a 14 seed. After scrubbing the teams between the 7-10 seed lines, things are so muddled I can’t make up my mind. That’s the joy I find in doing this though! When updating my bracket, I awarded teams with a higher seed based on the number of wins in quadrant 1 and 2 with the opportunities they had in quad 1 and 2 games this season. That saw San Diego State, Colorado State, and Boise State move up with Ohio State, Alabama, and Murray State falling. Though Murray State did go 2-1 in quad 1 games, the three total games are lacking compared to the other opportunities other schools had. Murray State played 17 quad 4 games, winning all of them.
If Tennessee holds on, I think they sit safely on the 2 line and Texas A&M should be one of the last teams in. I’ve been looking at Iowa and comparing their body of work to Providences. I think Providence still did enough through January that they maintain a higher seed than Iowa leaving Iowa at a 5 seed.
As far as the bubble goes, SMU’s chances are hurting because of their one quad 4 loss. Notre Dame likely won’t make the tournament after being the 2 seed in the ACC tournament. They’re 2-8 in quad 1 games with 17 of their 21 wins coming in quad 3 and 4. Wake Forest doesn’t look safe either with one of the weakest non-conference schedules played, just 1-4 in quad 1 games, 4-4 in quad 1 and 2 games. I believe with Richmond winning, that likely bumped Oklahoma, Indiana, or potentially Texas A&M. My guess is IU with how many quad 3 and 4 games they played this season.
I have a feeling that numerous teams will likely be 2-3 seed lines off from what I’m projecting. There could be one more update prior to the bracket reveal, but for the time being, I’m excited to see how my bracket prediction reflects what the committee’s ends up as!
My bracket is part of the The Bracket Project’s website along with many other great brackets that college basketball fans are part of. If you have the time and want to create your own field of 68, all instructions can be found on The Bracket Project’s website. Link to The Bracket Project
NCAA Field Projection – March 13, 2022 2:45p.m.
The 1s: Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas, Baylor
The 2s: Kentucky, Auburn, Villanova, Tennessee
The 3s: Purdue, Duke, Wisconsin, Texas Tech
The 4s: UCLA, Illinois, Arkansas, Providence
The 5s: Connecticut, Houston, St. Mary’s(CA), Iowa
The 6s: LSU, Texas, Colorado State, Boise State
The 7s: San Diego State, Ohio State, Alabama, Michigan State
The 8s: Murray State, Creighton, Marquette, TCU
The 9s: Iowa State, Memphis, USC, Seton Hall
The 10s: Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Davidson, Michigan
The 11s: Loyola-Chicago, Miami (FL), Indiana, San Francisco
The 12s: Texas A&M, Xavier, Oklahoma, Richmond, South Dakota State, UAB
The 13s: Vermont, Chattanooga, New Mexico State, Akron
The 14s: Yale, Longwood, Montana State, Delaware
The 15s: St. Peter’s, Colgate, Jacksonville State, Georgia State
The 16s: Cal State Fullerton, Norfolk State, Wright State, Bryant, Texas Southern, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
From the Rafters 