March Madness Bracketology Update for 2/26: Gators Got Game

The countdown continues to Selection Sunday in college basketball, and we’ve got you geared up with another edition of our bracket projections! If you’re starting to tune in to the collegiate hardwood, we’ve covered you with our latest bracket projections.

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	MIDWEST	EAST	SOUTH	WEST
1	Purdue (+750)	UConn (+550)	Houston (+700)	Arizona (+1300)
2	Marquette (+2000)	Kansas (+3500)	North Carolina (+2000)	Tennessee (+1300)
3	Alabama (+2500)	Duke (+2200)	Creighton (+3000)	Baylor (+4500)
4	Iowa State (+2200)	Wisconsin (+5500)	Auburn (+2000)	San Diego State (+5500)
5	Dayton	Kentucky	Illinois	Clemson
6	BYU	Saint Mary’s	Florida	Utah State
7	Texas Tech	Washington State	South Carolina	Colorado State
8	Texas	Oklahoma	Florida Atlantic	TCU
9	Nevada	Nebraska	Mississippi State	Northwestern
10	Boise State	Michigan State	New Mexico	Seton Hall
11	Virginia	Providence	GONZ/COLO	WF/MISS
12	Indiana State	Grand Canyon	McNeese	Samford
13	UC Irvine	Louisiana Tech	Princeton	James Madison
14	Akron	UNC Wilmington	Vermont	High Point
15	Colgate	Youngstown State	Eastern Washington	Morehead State
16	FAIR/MERR	LIPS/NORF	St. Thomas	Southern

LAST FOUR IN: Gonzaga, Wake Forest, Ole Miss, Colorado

FIRST FOUR OUT: Utah, Princeton, Cincinnati, Texas A&M

NEXT FOUR OUT: Butler, Pittsburgh, Oregon, Iowa

Bold = automatic qualifier through conference title

Odds = National Championship odds for the top 16 teams (1-4 seeds) 

Conference winners were determined based on the following:

• Power 6 conferences: Highest-seeded team
• Mid-major conferences: Highest current KenPom ranking

Could Houston Contend for the #1 Overall Seed?

The Cougars have been on fire lately. Houston has won ten of their previous 11 games, their lone defeat coming on the road against Kansas. They are now sitting atop the country in the NET, BPI, and KenPom, and second in results-based metrics KPI and Strength of Record, only trailing Purdue. Houston has two Quad 1 opportunities remaining on its regular-season schedule and is sure to get more in Kansas City when the Big 12 Tournament gets underway. By playing in such a highly competitive conference with a plethora of resumé-building opportunities available, there is a chance Houston could compete for that No. 1 overall seed with Purdue and UConn by Selection Sunday.

Florida’s Climb Continues

A month ago, Florida wasn’t in the picture to receive an at-large bid. It’s been a sensational stretch of 30 days for the Gators, who are 8-2 in their past ten games, including wins over Mississippi State, Kentucky, and Auburn. Their metrics have soared because of these victories and an incredible effort in an overtime loss to Alabama on the road last week. It has them up to a six-seed in this week’s bracket, and there are plenty of chances to go even higher with a trip to South Carolina and a home matchup against Alabama to close out the regular season. If the Gators can keep playing like this, they will continue reaching new heights in our bracket projections up to Selection Sunday.

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Wake Forest Finally Gets its Marquee Win

According to most bracketologists, Wake Forest has been on the bubble for weeks. The Demon Deacons have top-20 caliber predictive metrics, but the results weren’t there for them to belong in the field of 68. That changed significantly over the weekend when they finally got a quality victory at home over Duke. It marked their first Quad 1 win of the season (their previous Quad 1 win over Florida has since been categorized as a Quad 2 win), and they are now within our projected field. They are far from a lock because their Quad 1 win count is so low. But Saturday’s triumph over the Blue Devils was a significant step in the right direction for a program deprived of an NCAA Tournament appearance for seven years.

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