BRACKETING RECAP
For Today’s bracket post, I thought it may interest you in some of the many bracketing challenges that occur when building the bracket. This can ideally begin to explain some of the matchups that may not compute well on the surface to the majority of the College Hoops community.
SEEDS 1-2: No Changes
3-SEEDS: Gonzaga has moved ahead of Tennessee and that does get the Bulldogs out of the East and into the Midwest region. The Vols still get to open in Greensboro and are now aligned in the East. Gonzaga is still not able to get to the West region because of the Big 12 logjam. The rules state that the first four teams from the conference need to go to separate regions, IF, they are in the Top 16 (which is the case). So Kansas State must go to the West still. Gonzaga will need to move up to a 2-seed most likely in order to play in the most desired Las Vegas Regional. Bulldogs will however open in Sacramento in this case Today.
4-SEEDS: Indiana is the top four seed. Hoosiers would love to play in Louisville from a geographic perspective, however, the Louisville region was much too strong with Alabama (1), Texas (6) Marquette (10) already there, so Indiana (13th on Seed List) was moved to the Midwest. UConn ended up in the West Region because Xavier is just above the Huskies and I wanted to reserve the Louisville spot for 16th overall team (Virginia), due to the region balance.
5-SEEDS: No major news except Miami missed out on Orlando due to being in the same conference as Virginia and preferring not to be placed in the West. The Hurricanes still landed in Greensboro, where they are playing Today in actual Championship Week action.
6-SEEDS: Creighton was tossed around a few times before landing in Greensboro. Most of that was because both Kentucky and Texas A&M are both from the SEC and there were multiple matchup issues before finally landing in an acceptable position.
7-SEEDS: The challenge today was three Big Ten teams (Illinois, NW, Michigan State) are all here and Illinois could not be in the same pod as UCLA (the 2023 committee is seeking to avoid regular-season rematches in the Second Round as well as the First Round this season). Despite all of that, we made it work.
8-SEEDS: Mostly straightforward. Kansas fans probably don’t like seeing Iowa here in Des Moines, but Iowa’s campus is plenty far enough (above 75 Miles, which is the rule) to make it a reality. Also shuffled Arkansas and Mizzou a few times to avoid Alabama’s pod.
9-SEEDS: Maryland could not be in Purdue’s pod or play against Iowa. West Virginia could not be in the same pod as Kansas or Purdue (played each other in Portland).
10-SEEDS: Pittsburgh needed to avoid Duke, Northwestern. Mississippi State and Auburn both in the same conference made things narrow as well. Fortunately Boise State had more freedom to be placed where help was needed. But that means a date against Duke for the Broncos.
11-SEEDS: Nevada had to be moved a few times because San Diego State is a six-seed and they had to avoid that, and the Pack played Kansas State this year, so they avoided K-State’s pod. With the combination of Play-In Games factored in, NC State was only left with Greensboro, which is a really nice treat for a team seeded here. Nothing wrong with that because the six-seed is not protected from a geographical disadvantage, only the top four seeds are.
12-SEEDS: Worked out pretty straightforward. Drake’s closest choice was Albany, where they face Iowa State. I know locals may be skeptical about how likely this game is, but it’s truly how it played out today.
13-SEEDS: No issues to speak of, straight in order by geographical preference.
14-SEEDS: Furman has played against N.C. State and Penn State this season, so that sent the Paladins all they way to Sacramento for a date with Gonzaga. The other three fell into place. You might remember UC Irvine’s upset over Kansas State in the NCAA’s from a few years ago, but enough time has passed for that not to be a matchup issue any longer.
15-SEEDS: New Champ of the Big Sky, Montana State, faced Arizona earlier this year. Unfortunately for the Bobcats that means they won’t be sent to Denver, instead going to Sacramento to play UCLA.
16-SEEDS: Mostly clean. SE Missouri State was shuffled to avoid being in pods with both Iowa and Missouri due to those being rematches.
BRACKET
Bracket projections are based on the 2022-23 NCAA Committee Principles and Selection Process. Projected Conference Champions are based on projected Auto-Bid winners.
Forecasted At-Large Bids Stolen: 0 (Highly Unlikely, Annual Average = 2.3 Bids taken)
FIRST FOUR OUT:
Oklahoma State
Rutgers
North Carolina
Wisconsin
NEXT FOUR OUT:
New Mexico
North Texas
Clemson
Vanderbilt
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