Feb 24 Bracket

Well, here's another bracket update. This was made before Saturday's games.

One issue I've been thinking about is who could really advance their standing in the next couple weeks. Syracuse and Mississippi come to mind. Despite the loss tonight, 'Cuse has UNC and Virginia coming up, and Clemson will be a resume builder too. And Ole Miss has both Kentucky and Tennessee coming up. On the one hand, neither current 8-seed is likely to so much as split, much less sweep, those games. But speaking hypothetically, even a split will improve both of their SOS numbers, and in that scenario the Orange would have two wins against likely top 2 seeds. A split would give the Rebels some very strong SEC wins as well. Looking over the 7-seeds (Cincy, Buffalo, Mississippi State, Washington), I think a split might move Syracuse at least into that group and possibly above it with a couple ACC Tournament wins in Brooklyn. Ole Miss might not have quite that high a ceiling, but they can certainly climb to at least a 7 if they steal one of those wins.

Wofford a 9?? Well, they're not losing games, and they played a tough non-conference schedule. Ultimately, I'm not sure the Committee will recognize them... but if they run the table through the So Con tournament? Maybe they'll have to. It's not like the 9 and 10 seeds are that wonderful. I hope they get it. The difference between them and Buffalo, to me, is that Buffalo won one of their two games against top teams. If Wofford could have pulled off just one upset in the non-con season, they'd be up with Buffalo.

Does Tennessee's loss today drop them off the top line? If so, does Gonzaga move to 3rd overall? And who moves up? Kentucky and North Carolina have arguments. Michigan might too if they beat the Spartans. Glad I have some time to think about it...