As March Madness inches ever closer, we offer our latest attempt to project the men’s basketball NCAA tournament field. While four different conferences are still represented on the No.-1 seed line, the upper quadrant of the bracket skews heavily toward the Big Ten.
For now the top regional seeds are unchanged from our previous installment of bracketology. Arizona has the strongest case for the top overall seed, with Michigan, Connecticut and Duke still projected to lead the regionals. The Wolverines head a group of five Big Ten squads among our projected top 12, despite preseason league favorite Purdue slipping to a No. 3 seed. Red-hot Illinois has moved up to a No. 2 along with still undefeated Nebraska, and perennial tournament contender Michigan State is also on the third line.
It might be a case of quantity over quality for the SEC, which is still well represented with 10 teams in the field but none seeded higher than Florida and Vanderbilt at No. 4 for the moment. The league’s automatic qualifier based on the current standings would be Texas A&M, though the Aggies likely will need to improve their profile should they require at-large consideration.
Seton Hall has toppled out of the field for now, leaving the Big East with just three tournament squads. The Mountain West also has three spots, though a couple of them are dangerously close to the bubble.
Bracketology: NCAA tournament field projection
March Madness Last four in
TCU, UCLA, New Mexico, Miami (Fla.).
March Madness First four out
Virginia Tech, Indiana, Missouri, Seton Hall.
NCAA tournament bids conference breakdown
Multi-bid leagues: Big Ten (10), SEC (10), Big 12 (8), ACC (8) Big East (3), Mountain West (3), West Coast (2).