Welcome to my sixth bracketology article this season. Selection Sunday is days away, so I will be providing one more bracketology article after this one before the bracket is unveiled on Sunday.
Here are the auto-bids thus far
- Gonzaga (West Coast)
- College of Charleston (Colonial)
- Oral Roberts (Summit)
- Drake (MVC)
- Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt)
- Furman (Southern)
- Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun)
- UNC-Asheville (Big South)
- Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
- Fairleigh-Dickinson (Northeast)
- Southeast Missouri State (Ohio Valley)
Otherwise here are my at-large locks entering power conference tournament play.
In: Virginia, Miami, Duke
Looking Good: Pittsburgh, N.C. State
Bubble: Clemson, UNC
In: Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU
Looking Good: West Virginia
Bubble: Oklahoma State
In: Marquette, Xavier, Creighton, UConn
Looking Good: Providence
In: Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, Michigan State, Maryland, Illinois, Iowa
Bubble: Rutgers, Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan
In: UCLA, Arizona
Looking Good: USC
Bubble: Arizona State
In: Alabama, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas
Looking Good: Auburn, Arkansas
Bubble: Mississippi State, Vanderbilt
In: Houston, Saint Mary's, San Diego State, Memphis, Boise State, Florida Atlantic
Bubble: Utah State, Nevada
You'd think that with Selection Sunday less than a week away, there would be a lot more teams that have locked up their at-large bid. But there is a thin line between a 7 and 11 seed right now and any few losses could put a team at risk. Especially if any of the bubble teams make runs, or there are a couple of bid stealers, some teams might still be at risk which seems good right now.
In terms of futures, there isn't too much I am excited about. Right now I am comfortable sitting and waiting for the bracket to come out, to see what different paths are offered to different teams before deciding. If I had to pick a blind Final Four right now, however, I would probably go with Houston, UConn, Creighton, and Texas A&M. Those four teams I simply trust right now and are consistent enough to play with the best of 'em, winning four straight games.'
Let's get to the seeding
The Seeding
- Houston
- Alabama
- Kansas
- Purdue
- UCLA
- Texas
- Baylor
- Arizona
- Tennessee
- Kansas State
- Marquette
- Gonzaga
- Indiana
- UConn
- Virginia
- Xavier
- Creighton
- San Diego State
- TCU
- Miami
- Saint Mary's
- Kentucky
- Iowa State
- Texas A&M
- Maryland
- Michigan State
- Northwestern
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Florida Atlantic
- Missouri
- Duke
- Arkansas
- Memphis
- Auburn
- Providence
- North Carolina State
- USC
- Boise State
- West Virginia
- Nevada
- Pittsburgh
- Utah State*
- Wisconsin*
- Mississippi State*
- Rutgers*
- Oral Roberts (Summit)
- College of Charleston (Colonial)
- VCU(A10)
- Drake (MVC)
- Louisiana-Lafayette (Sun Belt)
- Kent State (MAC)
- Kennesaw State (ASun)
- Utah Valley' (WAC)
- Yale (Ivy)
- Furman (Southern)
- Montana State (Big Sky)'
- UC Irvine (Big West)'
- Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
- Iona (MAAC)
- UNC-Asheville (Big South)
- Colgate (Patriot)
- Vermont (AE)
- Southeast Missouri State (OVC)
- Norfolk State* (MEAC)
- Texas A&M Corpus Christi* (Southland)
- Grambling State* (SWAC)
- Fairleigh Dickinson* (Northeast)
*Play-in games
Bold = Conference Champions
- Penn State
- Arizona State
- Michigan
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma State
- Oregon
- Clemson
- New Mexico
Bracket
1 Houston
16 Grambling State/Fairleigh Dickinson
8 Duke
9 Missouri
5 Creighton
12 Drake
4 Indiana
13 Louisiana-Lafayette
6 Iowa State
11 Nevada
3 Tennessee
14 UC Irvine
7 Northwestern
10 West Virginia