Wednesday’s action saw a lot of top teams go down that it really didn’t impact bracketology. Houston lost. Villanova fell. Creighton lost its second bad game of the season, which actually did impact the Blue Jays. Virginia Tech was defeated by Pitt to keep the Panthers’ hopes alive. Florida started looking good but then lost at home to South Carolina. Missouri beat Kentucky so that’s a good thing. Saint Louis lost to La Salle, which is not a good thing. Seton Hall won a game of bubble teams with Providence. VCU won on the road to keep its hopes alive. Wichita State stayed alive and so did Memphis and SMU. Virginia was able to beat NC State on the road to keep its hopes of a two or three seed alive. Oklahoma State got swept by TCU, but the Cowboys are still looking fine.

With the Billikens losing and giving St. Bonaventure the auto-bid in the Atlantic-10, Maryland found a way to get into the field. I’m really starting to not like Arkansas and LSU. Utah State is low in the metrics, but the Aggies look good. I still can’t tell what I want to do about Syracuse and North Carolina. With how diluted the bubble is, Drake continues to rise. Clemson has some major good wins but is going way down on the metrics. VCU and Richmond keep impressing me every time I put a bracket together. With the Jonnies winning some good games and Saint Louis being knocked out, it breaks my heart to push Loyola-Chicago and Western Kentucky down.

Iowa was real close to moving to a four seed after the loss to Ohio State, but I can’t do that quite yet. Sorry for all the angry Buckeye fans out there that think they deserve a number one seed. Can’t do that yet either. Thank you to BYU, Utah State, Colorado State and Stanford for not losing in a trap game. Oregon, you’re in some serious trouble. Minnesota and Rutgers didn’t move either needle, but the Gophers need a road win soon.

Besides Maryland vs. Penn State, Friday has a lot of games that could impact the mid-major auto-bids. Terps won’t move out Saturday morning with a loss, but it all depends on what happens over the weekend. Each day impacts the Tournament differently so we will just have to make due if something seems off. Saturday will be another great day. One of the best games is Wisconsin vs. Illinois. Despite not being ranked, North Carolina vs. Duke is still North Carolina vs. Duke. The two favorites in the SEC play with Alabama vs. Missouri. Who would’ve thought? And no, I’m not quite ready to put the Tide as a one seed yet. It’s close. But not yet.

I’m also breaking a few rules, but there’s no getting around it. We try and avoid the top-four seeds being from the same conference. I’ve only done it once in each of my last couple brackets. But it happened three times in this one. It’s not my fault the Big 12 and Big Ten are so good this year.

Keep watching, keep the faith and enjoy the ride.

As always, check us out on the Bracket Matrix.

Pod 1

1 Gonzaga
16 Prairie View A&M/NC A&T

8 OK State
9 Minnesota

5 Kansas
12 LSU/Syracuse

4 Wisconsin
13 UAB

6 Xavier
11 Oregon

3 Texas Tech
14 South Dakota State

7 Creighton
10 Clemson

2 Illinois
15 Louisiana

Pod 4

1 Villanova
16 UC Irvine

8 Boise State
9 Rutgers

5 Missouri
12 Toledo

4 Oklahoma
13 Abilene Christian

6 Drake
11 Colorado State

3 Iowa
14 Colgate

7 USC
10 St. Bonaventure

2 Houston
15 Cleveland State

Pod 2

1 Baylor
16 Long Island/Iona

8 Louisville
9 UConn

5 Virginia Tech
12 Arkansas/Maryland

4 West Virginia
13 UNCG

6 San Diego State
11 Seton Hall

3 Virginia
14 Grand Canyon

7 Colorado
10 North Carolina

2 Ohio State
15 Montana State

Pod 3

1 Michigan
16 Northeastern

8 Florida
9 BYU

5 Florida State
12 Belmont

4 Tennessee
13 Winthrop

6 UCLA
11 Utah State

3 Texas
14 Liberty

7 Purdue
10 Stanford

2 Alabama
15 UMBC

Last four byes

Seton Hall
Colorado State
Utah State
Oregon

Last four in

LSU
Syracuse
Arkansas
Maryland

First four out

VCU
Richmond
St. John’s
Saint Louis

Next four out

Loyola-Chicago
Western Kentucky
Indiana
Georgia Tech

Four more

TCU
Memphis
SMU
Pittsburgh

Photo courtesy of WVUsports.com