THE 2024 NCAA TOURNAMENT ESSENTIALS
Building the bracket for the first time each season is always an enlightening process. Understanding where all of the tournament sites are located is critical to how the actual bracketing process works. Based on preseason forecasts (which runs deep around here!), a lot of interesting scenarios came up.
Creighton - Cannot play in Omaha during the first weekend. We have the Blue Jays as a one-seed, and that might be frustrating to Jays fans if they truly play up to this level all year long.
Tennessee - Knoxville is considerably closer to Charlotte than Memphis. So if the Vols are primed for a 2-seed, plan on them to take a key Charlotte pod away from one of the ACC powerhouses.
Michigan State - Spartans lost to James Madison last night, so grain of salt for today. However, if they play their way back into a top three-seed line, the lovely combo of Pittsburgh and Detroit is a very realistic path.
Arkansas - It seems as if the Razorbacks have had to travel far and wide in recent NCAA Tournament runs. Nearby Memphis would be welcome news for the rabid Hog community. A Grand Slam is possible if Hogs play well enough to get the Memphis-Dallas combo (although we are not forecasting it).
Gonzaga - Bulldogs may be disappointed with a 4-seed but the real news is there is nobody geographically looking to take Spokane (hosted by University of Idaho) from the Bulldogs above them on the Seed List. So it was still very easy to slot them in Spokane. Winner of the WCC will be important for who gets to be in the Los Angeles region, however, which currently is forecasted to GU.
The Dallas Regional - State of Texas has a lot of successful programs. Even as projected five-seed and six-seeded teams, Texas A&M, Texas, and Texas Tech can potentially all land in this region and create a nice path to the Final Four if they escape opening weekend.
USC and UCLA - A clear edge if either of these teams land in the Los Angeles Regionals. Current forecast calls for USC to land as a 6-seed with a path through Tinsel Town.
Virginia - Another program who would prefer to start the NCAA Tournament in Charlotte, lands there as the seven-seed and are aligned with the aforementioned Tennessee Vols.
Iowa State vs. Indiana - To be played in Indianapolis. The angle here is Creighton being the top-seed and not going to Omaha, had them take the second-closest pod in Indy. Would be a Hoosier-heavy situation if it played out this way.
Play-In Games - Because TCU is scheduled to play against Clemson in Toronto this season, we had to adjust the matchups and avoid a rematch. That left the Frogs facing Colorado State and paired Clemson vs. Ole Miss.
One-Bid League Representatives: These teams were all carefully selected based on how we best envision the season and conference tournaments playing out. Many are different teams than who we have winning the Regular Season titles, to be as realistic as possible.
BRACKET
Bracket projections are based on the 2023-24 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 = 2.1 Bids taken)
FIRST FOUR OUT:
Charleston
Michigan
UAB
Mississippi State
NEXT FOUR OUT:
Rutgers
Oregon
Wake Forest
Northwestern
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: @RoccoMiller8