Tier Summary
Top Seeds - Michigan and Iowa have creeped into this group. Michigan remains unbeaten and the Wolverines’ schedule is about to really crank up beginning with Wisconsin tonight.
2nd Tier - Missouri continues to maintain 2nd tier status with an impressive collection of wins compared to the field. The Tigers need to start winning again now though to remain in such good standing.
3rd Tier - Illinois and West Virginia have taken a step back after recent defeats.
In Safely - UConn and USC had tremendous weeks as I covered yesterday. You can see the progress here. And Colorado is building a sneaky good resume as well. Duke/Virginia are outliers due to preseason expectations, that should change soon as each of their schedules coming up get increasingly more difficult.
In, Not by much - We welcome Tulsa as an at-large and North Carolina back as our final two teams in for today. They have just a tad more going for their resume than WKU (first team out).
Knocking on the Door - Colorado State’s resume continues to intrigue. Unlike power conference teams, CSU may need to build their clout through blow out performances against the bottom-half of the MWC to move up the board. And the Rams, of course, can root for the opponents of teams directly above them.
Auto Bids - For the first time we welcome:
Drake as projected MVC Champions
Toledo as projected MAC Champions
Cleveland State as projected Horizon League Champions
Florida Gulf Coast as projected ASUN Champions
Abilene Christian as projected Southland Conference Champions
Decisions on Oklahoma State and Stephen F. Austin: Going forward we will be including Oklahoma State on the Big Board. The decision is due to the appeals process for the Cowboys being delayed and there is now a better chance than not that they will be able to participate because the hearing would be after March. On the flipside. we are no longer projecting Stephen F. Austin as the Southland Conference Champion, due to a request to take their postseason this season in lieu of 2021-22. Abilene Christian, welcome to the bracket!
This week: Top Weekday Bracket Games (through Friday):
Heavyweight Games
Texas Tech at Texas, Wednesday
Michigan State at Iowa, Thursday
Kansas at Oklahoma State, Tuesday
Wisconsin at Rutgers, Friday
Duke at Virginia Tech, Tuesday
Conference Leadership Games
Wisconsin at Michigan, B1G - Tuesday
Alabama at Kentucky, SEC - Tuesday
Cleveland State at Wright State, Horizon - Friday
Tulsa at Wichita State, AAC - Wednesday
Furman at The Citadel, SoCon - Wednesday
Bubble Games
Arkansas at LSU, Wednesday
Purdue at Indiana, Thursday
Stanford at Utah, Thursday
BYU at Saint Mary’s, Thursday
TCU at Oklahoma, Tuesday
Bids Stolen: 0
Today’s Seed List 1-68 (Prior to tip-off):
