Last year, several of the top bracketologists in the country came together to form the Mock Selection Committee in an attempt to predict the NCAA Tournament field that would be revealed on Selection Sunday.
Our committee met again last weekend, and after four days of deliberation a seed list was finalized, and the bracket was revealed. Today, I’m posting that same bracket that the committee created.
Let’s look at some of the big decisions that we had to make.
• We spent hours debating between Alabama, Kansas and Houston for the top overall seed. Houston’s win on Sunday coupled with the losses of Alabama and Kansas made this a very tough decision. The margin is razor thin and could change before Selection Sunday.
• Penn State’s last-second win pushed them ahead of Arizona State for the final spot on our bracket. While Arizona State has a couple of higher quality wins, the Nittany Lions’ resume has more “meat on the bone” and was just enough to edge out the Sun Devils. It is so close that there could certainly be movement here.
• Providence on the 11-line might shock some people. But take a closer look at the Friars’ resume. They have three high-quality wins, but nothing else (and those three wins were all at home). The Friars’ best road win — and only other top-75 win — is against No. 74 Seton Hall.
• Iowa State had fallen several seed lines after not winning since the NCAA committee revealed their top 16 three weeks ago. But after a resounding 15-point win at Baylor, the Cyclones’ resume deserved another look. We found that Iowa State actually has seven Top 25 wins, a mark that can only be bested by Kansas. That being said, we felt a five-seed was deserved.
If you missed any of these sessions and would like to hear our thoughts on any teams, check out our YouTube channel!
And how does my personal bracket differ from this one? Check back on Wednesday when my new updated bracket will be posted.
LAST FOUR IN: NC STATE, WISCONSIN, NEVADA, PENN STATE
FIRST FOUR OUT: ARIZONA STATE, UTAH STATE, OKLAHOMA STATE, MICHIGAN
NEXT FOUR OUT: VANDERBILT, CHARLESTON, NORTH CAROLINA, CLEMSON
CONFERENCES WITH MULTIPLE BIDS
Big Ten: 10
SEC: 8
Big 12: 7
Big East: 5
ACC: 5
Pac-12: 3
MW: 3
AAC: 2
WCC: 2
