Bracketology: Final NCAA tournament projection as of March 17, 2019

  • Mar 17, 2019
 

Sunday featured just six games, which provided the opportunity to review the seed list yet again. Minor adjustments were made along the way, with the bulk of the work coming on the 9-11 lines, which has turned into a jumbled mess.

Outside of Yale, Saint Louis, and Georgia State earning automatic bids, the biggest result was Auburn’s blowout win over Tennessee in the SEC Championship game.

Before looking at the one seeds, I wanted to give a quick reminder about how the NCAA selection committee classifies wins based on the new NET Rating.

A breakdown of the four tiers:

· Tier 1: Home vs. teams ranked 1-30 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 1-50 / Road vs. teams ranked 1-75
· Tier 2: Home vs. teams ranked 31-75 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 51-100 / Road vs. teams ranked 76-135
· Tier 3: Home vs. teams ranked 76-160 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 101-200 / Road vs. teams ranked 136-240
· Tier 4: Home vs. teams ranked 161-351 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 201-351 / Road vs. teams ranked 241-351

One Seeds

Coming into today, Duke and Virginia were locked into the first two spots on the seed list, but Gonzaga, North Carolina, and Tennessee were the other three teams with the best case for a top seed. Had Tennessee taken care of Auburn, they would have assuredly remained on the top line, but as mentioned above, that isn’t even close to what played out.

For the sake of time and actually getting this submitted and posted on time, I won’t get into a ton of detail, but I went with Gonzaga and North Carolina.

For the Zags, the Bulldogs are the only team to beat Duke at full strength, and a last second loss to Tennessee and a road loss at North Carolina are understandable. The Zags were steamrolling all comers before slipping up in the WCC final against Saint Mary’s, who is ranked just outside the Top 30 of the NET, so by definition it really isn’t a bad loss. So the question boils down to whether one bad shooting game against a team Gonzaga beat by a combined 62 points in their two regular season matchups is enough to knock them off the one line, where they had been entrenched since the committee’s February reveal. Ultimately Gonzaga had proven themselves worthy of a one seed in 32 of 33 games, so I ended up leaving them on the one line.

When comparing UNC and Tennessee, the Heels have more Quad 1 wins, more high-end wins, a much better strength of schedule, and a better road and neutral record. I would not at all be shocked if Tennessee wound up on the one line, but for all of my original skepticism about whether the ACC could get three one seeds, a number of things broke in a way that allowed for it.

The Bracket

The projections below are based on all games played through March 17, 2019. Following the bracket, I included a few thoughts on the last four in as well as the other teams I considered.

EAST (WASHINGTON, DC) SOUTH (LOUISVILLE)
Columbia – March 22/24 Columbia – March 22/24
1) Duke 1) Virginia
16) N. Dakota St. / NC Central 16) Abilene Christian
8) Minnesota
 8) Ole Miss
9) Baylor 9) Utah St.
San Jose – March 22/24 Hartford – March 21/23
5) Villanova
 5) Auburn
12) Saint Mary’s 12) Liberty
4) Kansas St. 4) Purdue
13) Old Dominion 13) Northeastern
Tulsa – March 22/24 Salt Lake City – March 21/23
6) Maryland 6) Cincinnati
11) Temple / St. John’s 11) VCU / Arizona St.
3) LSU 3) Texas Tech
14) Saint Louis 14) Yale
Des Moines – March 21/23 Columbus – March 22/24
7) Nevada 7) Wofford
10) Syracuse 10) TCU
2) Michigan St. 2) Tennessee
15) Bradley
 15) Montana
WEST (ANAHEIM) MIDWEST (KANSAS CITY)
Salt Lake City – March 21/23 Jacksonville – March 21/23
1) Gonzaga 1) North Carolina
16) Iona / F. Dickinson 16) Prairie View A&M
8) Iowa 8) Seton Hall
9) Oklahoma 9) Central Florida
San Jose – March 22/24 Hartford – March 21/23
5) Virginia Tech 5) Iowa St.
12) New Mexico St. 12) Murray St.
4) Kansas 4) Wisconsin
13) UC Irvine 13) Vermont
Jacksonville – March 21/23 Tulsa – March 22/24
6) Marquette 6) Mississippi St.
11) Oregon
 11) Ohio St.
3) Florida St. 3) Houston
14) Northern Kentucky 14) Georgia St.
Des Moines – March 21/23 Columbus – March 22/24
7) Louisville 7) Buffalo
10) Florida 10) Washington
2) Michigan 2) Kentucky
15) Gardner-Webb 15) Colgate

Last Four In:

VCU – Oregon’s victory in the Pac-12 championship game pushed the Rams into the last four in. They went 16-2 in the A-10 and have a gaudy 25-7 record. However, a closer look shows just one win over a team in these projections as an at-large, and even that is against a Temple team that I’ve also pegged for a trip to Dayton. VCU has a terrific non-conference strength of schedule, but a pair of Quad 3 losses and five total losses to teams not in the at-large picture pushed them closer to the cutline for me.

Arizona State – The fact that the Sun Devils find themselves in this spot is a direction result of the bid thieves we’ve seen, as I tend to think they are pretty safe. ASU has Quad 1 wins over Mississippi State, Kansas, and Utah State, and they have eight Quad 2 victories as well. However, the Sun Devils have a pair of Quad 3 losses and two more in Quad 4, all of which have pushed their NET ranking into the 60s.

St. John’s – The Red Storm did very little in the non-conference outside of beating VCU, and they lost two times each to DePaul, Providence, and Xavier. St. John’s did sweep Marquette in the regular season before getting run off the floor against the Golden Eagles on Thursday night.

Temple – The Owls could have essentially locked up a bid by beating Wichita State on Friday night, but they came up short against the Shockers, setting up a long couple days of waiting. Temple has a pair of Quad 1 wins, but those home victories over Houston and Central Florida are their only wins over at-large caliber teams. Eight road wins help Temple’s case though, and six Quad 2 victories bolster their profile as well.

Other Teams Considered:

NC State – A huge comeback and late free throws propelled the Wolfpack to a win over Clemson in their ACC tournament opener, but they were blown out by Virginia on Thursday. The Wolfpack’s non-conference strength of schedule is the worst in the nation, and just one of their nine ACC regular season victories came against a team with a winning league record (Syracuse). Additional home wins over Auburn and Clemson are helpful, but it seems like each year there is a team that winds up getting punished for a poor non-conference schedule, which this year just might be NC State.

Belmont – After losing in the OVC championship game to Murray State, the Bruins find themselves in the at-large pool, and they have the most compelling case of any of the mid-majors who failed to win the auto-bid so far. So far, things have actually broken pretty well for them. They own a sweep of fellow bubbler Lipscomb and won the regular season matchup at Murray State. But despite a gaudy 25-5 mark against Division I teams, Belmont’s status on the bubble is tenuous given a pair of Quad 3 losses and no victories over potential at-large candidates.

Indiana – The Hoosiers won their last four regular season games to play their way back into the bubble picture, but a lackluster performance for most of Thursday’s game with Ohio State may have been the final nail in the coffin. A sweep of Michigan State represents two of IU’s six Quad 1 wins, and the committee chair’s comments about being diligent in researching the impact of injuries could certainly come into play here. Still, the Hoosiers now have 15 losses, and we haven’t seen a team receive an at-large bid at just two games over .500 since Georgia in 2001. So despite no Quad 3 or Quad 4 losses, history is assuredly not on the side of the Hoosiers.

UNC Greensboro – The Spartans gave Wofford a tough test in the SoCon Final and picked up another win over fellow bubbler Furman to get there. All six of UNCG’s losses fall in Quad 1, but two wins over Furman are the only ones of note. The predictive metrics don’t do them any favors either, so it’s likely the Spartans are headed to the NIT despite winning 26 Division I games.

Alabama – The Crimson Tide came from behind to knock off Ole Miss on Thursday evening, but they were blown out by Kentucky on Friday night. That leaves Alabama with 15 losses, with two of them falling in Quad 3 and five of them coming against teams not in the at-large discussion. Home wins over Kentucky, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss are Alabama’s best, but it’s hard to see them making it into the field given the way things have played out over the last couple days.

Conference Breakdown:

Big Ten (8): Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State*, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin

ACC (7): Duke*, Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech

Big 12 (7): Baylor, Iowa State*, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech

SEC (7): Auburn*, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Tennessee

American (4): Central Florida, Cincinnati*, Houston, Temple

Big East (4): Marquette, St. John’s, Seton Hall, Villanova*

Pac-12 (3): Arizona State, Oregon*, Washington

Atlantic 10 (2): Saint Louis*, VCU

Mountain West (2): Nevada, Utah State*

West Coast (2): Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s*

America East: Vermont*

Atlantic Sun: Liberty*

Big Sky: Montana*

Big South: Gardner-Webb*

Big West: UC Irvine*

Colonial: Northeastern*

Conference USA: Old Dominion*

Horizon: Northern Kentucky*

Ivy: Yale*

MAAC: Iona*

MAC: Buffalo*

MEAC: NC Central*

Missouri Valley: Bradley*

Northeast: Fairleigh Dickinson*

Ohio Valley: Murray State*

Patriot: Colgate*

Southern: Wofford*

Southland: Abilene Christian*

SWAC: Prairie View A&M*

Summit: North Dakota State*

Sun Belt: Georgia State*

WAC: New Mexico State*

* – Earned automatic bid

Follow Andy on Twitter (@andybottoms) for more thoughts on college hoops and to receive an update whenever new brackets are posted.

Category: Bracketology

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