Pretty much everything stayed the same. East Tennessee State won Monday night and bubble teams everywhere rejoiced. Hofstra won the Colonial. Robert Morris won the NEC. North Dakota State took the Summit, Gonzaga handled business in the West Coast, but Northern Kentucky won the Horizon after Wright State was upset Monday night. The Norse just took Wright State’s spot.
The only other at-large teams to play were BYU and Saint Mary’s. Nothing happened to the Cougars after the loss, but the Gaels moved up a line. Looking at it now, I’m not sure why I even did a bracket. I didn’t take much time to do a scrubbing of numbers and only one auto-bid pick was changed from Monday afternoon.
The last conference championship will be played tonight before 20 of them happen over the weekend. Colgate plays Boston U in the Patriot.
We get our first taste of a full slate of afternoon basketball. There are three first round mid-major games starting at or before 1 p.m. CST but none feature a #1 seed. The ACC has a second round game, but both teams under performed this season. Neither Clemson or Miami are getting in so don’t let the announcers fool you. At 1 or a little after, NC State plays Pitt. If the Wolfpack lose, they’re out. The Pac-12 gets underway in the afternoon with Utah and Oregon State. There’s 0% chance the Utes get an at-large, but the Beavers are holding onto somewhere around 10%.
We’ll see Arizona in action against a pretty talented, but very disappointing Washington team. You’ll also watch teams like Minnesota, Georgetown, St. John’s, Georgia and Ole Miss play next. No matter what the announcers say, none of them will be getting an at-large bid. #1 seed in the MEAC NC Central and #1 in the MAAC Siena kick off around this time.
Oklahoma State starts things off against Iowa State in the Big 12 and the Cowboys somehow were receiving votes on the Bracket Matrix. Notre Dame is also fool’s gold at this point. Arkansas needs to beat Vanderbilt in order to stay in the picture. Stanford needs to beat Cal in order to stay above water. Same goes for Xavier over DePaul. Colorado is pretty safe, but an early exit to Washington State wouldn’t be good. Lastly, the second Big Ten game tonight features an Indiana team that needs to beat Nebraska or else Archie Miller will more than likely be at home watching Sesame Street next week.
The Bracket Matrix is expanding by the minute so make sure you carefully look for us and see how we compare with Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, the Count, Elmo and the rest of the gang. I want to be Cookie Monster, but our initials are DS.
Midwest
1 Kansas
16 Prairie View A&M/NC Central
8 LSU
9 USC
5 Ohio State
12 UCLA/Richmond
4 Louisville
13 North Texas
6 Colorado
11 East Tennessee State
3 Michigan State
14 Eastern Washington
7 Virginia
10 Oklahoma
2 Creighton
15 North Dakota State
South
1 Baylor
16 Siena/Robert Morris
8 Providence
9 Arizona State
5 West Virginia
12 Yale
4 Wisconsin
13 Akron
6 Iowa
11 Stanford/Texas
3 Seton Hall
14 Colgate
7 Illinois
10 Xavier
2 Florida State
15 Little Rock
West
1 Gonzaga
16 UC Irvine
8 Florida
9 Marquette
5 Auburn
12 Vermont
4 Oregon
13 Stephen F. Austin
6 Penn State
11 Utah State
3 Duke
14 Belmont
7 Houston
10 Rutgers
2 San Diego State
15 Northern Kentucky
East
1 Dayton
16 Winthrop
8 Arizona
9 Michigan
5 Butler
12 Liberty
4 Kentucky
13 New Mexico State
6 BYU
11 Cincinnati
3 Maryland
14 Bradley
7 Saint Mary’s
10 Indiana
2 Villanova
15 Hofstra
Last 4 byes
Rutgers
Indiana
Xavier
Oklahoma
Last 4 in
Stanford
UCLA
Texas
Richmond
First 4 out
Texas Tech
NC State
Wichita State
South Carolina
Next 4 out
Memphis
Mississippi State
Rhode Island
Saint Louis