Protected Seeds (Seeds 1-4)
The top three teams are fairly clear at this juncture after both Michigan schools went down last week. The tricky part is seeding teams four through nine. Each team has their own unique case to be the last #1 seed. Taking into account the location of all games played and subsequent competitiveness, I think Michigan is deserving by a narrow margin for the fourth #1 seed. Kansas falls to #9 overall and onto the three seed line for the first time, mainly for only having one key road win and five overall losses (list includes West Virginia). Louisville made a nice jump up last night, taking advantage of shorthanded Va. Tech on the road. I continue to be really impressed with the body of work that Wisconsin has put forward.
Middle of the Board (Seeds 5-10)
Although Iowa has four fantastic wins, none of them are on the road. They will need to prove that they can win a marquee road game or at least beat a team on the road who is in the projected field before I feel comfortable about giving them protected seed status. Nevada looks the part, but sadly has not played any Quadrant 1 games at this point. Kansas State is leading the Big 12 and playing well, but they still have to live with their losses at Tulsa, at TAMU, and home against Texas. Buffalo took a step back with a road loss at Bowling Green, but I believe the Bulls are still safe for now with their road win at Syracuse and four top two quadrant wins, without a real bad loss (Q3+). Oklahoma lost another home game last night, marking their third home loss in three weeks. Sooners are going the wrong direction, but still have the unique distinction of being the only team that has not played a Quadrant 4 game, which equals a very strong Strength of Schedule.
Bubble
Still mostly a mess this week. Bowling Green did us a favor by taking one of the bids away. The comparison between Temple and the first four teams out was very close. I ultimately leaned on Temple having the best win (Houston) and going a perfect 5-0 against Quadrant 2. They are beating the teams they are supposed to (besides Penn).
Auto Bids
Auto Bid tiebreakers are broken down on the Bracketology page.
