NCAA Tournament bracket projections and predictions for where the 68 teams will be. Who’s likely to be in, and who’s on the bubble?
NCAA Tournament Bracket Projections
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We’re used to doing this for college football bowl projections, and this is so much easier in one way – we pretty much know which teams should be in the mix for the 68 spots in the NCAA Tournament. But …
This is SO much harder, because it’s a 100% given that a bunch of these teams aren’t going to be in. And why? Because of college basketball’s silly system of giving an automatic spot to the champions of the gimmicky conference tournaments instead of rewarding the accomplishments of the regular season and … sorry, that whiny rant is for another day.
We’re not going to mess with trying to put together the actual bracket until early March. Again, the conference tournaments throw way too much of a knuckleball into the equation. Assume that some of the lower-seeded power conference teams here will get bumped out by some mediocre squad that just so happened to get red hot for a long weekend.
So we’re going to play it straight for the first few weeks.
At the moment – if the NCAA Tournament selection was happening right now – here’s the best guess for where the 68 teams would be seeded, and which ones on the bubble would just miss out.
NCAA Tournament Bubble: Projected First Four Out
Clemson (ACC)
Oregon (Pac-12)
USC (Pac-12)
Utah State (Mountain West)
NCAA Tournament Bubble: Projected Last Four In
aka, these four will probably be knocked out once the conference tournament weirdness kicks in
Kentucky (SEC)
Mississippi State (SEC)
Nevada (Mountain West)
West Virginia (Big 12)
On the flip side …
NCAA Tournament Bubble: Four That Will Probably Screw Everyone Up
aka, these four might be those projected out teams that end up getting in after going on a splashy run in the conference tournaments
North Texas (Conference USA)
Utah State (Mountain West)
Wake Forest (ACC)
Wisconsin (Big Ten)
NCAA Tournament Projected 16 Seeds
Northwestern State (Southland)
UNC Asheville (Big South)
Teams in Play-In Games
Fairleigh Dickinson (Northeast)
Grambling (SWAC)
Morehead State (Ohio Valley)
Norfolk State (MEAC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 15 Seeds
Colgate (Patriot)
Montana State (Big Sky)
Vermont (America East)
Youngstown State (Horizon)
NCAA Tournament Projected 14 Seeds
Furman (Southern)
Iona (Metro Atlantic Athletic)
UC Santa Barbara (Big West)
Yale (Ivy)
NCAA Tournament Projected 13 Seeds
Dayton (Atlantic 10)
Drake (Missouri Valley)
Kent State (MAC)
Sam Houston (WAC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 12 Seeds
Charleston (Colonial)
Mississippi State (SEC)
Nevada (Mountain West)
Boise State (Mountain West)
NCAA Tournament Projected 11 Seeds
Liberty (Atlantic Sun)
Southern Miss (Sun Belt)
Teams in Play-In Games
Kentucky (SEC)
Memphis (American Athletic)
New Mexico (Mountain West)
West Virginia (Big 12)
NCAA Tournament Projected 10 Seeds
Michigan State (Big Ten)
Missouri (SEC)
North Carolina (ACC)
Pitt (ACC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 9 Seeds
Iowa (Big Ten)
Maryland (Big Ten)
Oral Roberts (Summit)
Texas A&M (SEC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 8 Seeds
Auburn (SEC)
NC State (ACC)
Northwestern (Big Ten)
Oklahoma State (Big 12)
NCAA Tournament Projected 7 Seeds
Arkansas (SEC)
Duke (ACC)
Providence (Big East)
Rutgers (Big Ten)
NCAA Tournament Projected 6 Seeds
Creighton (Big East)
Florida Atlantic (Conference USA)
Illinois (Big Ten)
Miami (ACC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 5 Seeds
Indiana (Big Ten)
Saint Mary’s (West Coast)
San Diego State (Mountain West)
TCU (Big 12)
NCAA Tournament Projected 4 Seeds
Gonzaga (West Coast)
Iowa State (Big 12)
Kansas State (Big 12)
Xavier (Big East)
NCAA Tournament Projected 3 Seeds
Baylor (Big 12)
Marquette (Big East)
Tennessee (SEC)
UConn (Big East)
NCAA Tournament Projected 2 Seeds
Kansas (Big 12)
Texas (Big 12)
UCLA (Pac-12)
Virginia (ACC)
NCAA Tournament Projected 1 Seeds
Alabama (SEC)
Arizona (Pac-12)
Houston (AAC)
Purdue (Big Ten)
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