Thanks to an incredible slate of games on Saturday, there was a lot of movement in this week’s bracket. One of the key themes of the weekend was strong road wins by teams toward the top of the bracket, as well as several teams on the bubble. It started on Friday with Butler winning at Creighton, which put them into the field with room to spare. Purdue and UConn retained the top two spots on the seed list, winning at Wisconsin and St. John’s, respectively. Tennessee also won by double digits at Rupp Arena to bolster its case for a potential one-seed. In the Big 12, Texas shot up the seed list after winning at TCU, while Cincinnati went into Lubbock and beat Texas Tech to notch a second key road victory in league play. Fellow bubbler Virginia won at Clemson to help solidify the Hoos’ spot in the field.
Others weren’t so lucky, as bubble teams like Colorado, Florida, Mississippi State, Oregon, and Virginia Tech all fell on the road to make their cases a little shakier with less than six weeks until Selection Sunday.
Here’s a quick refresher about how the NCAA selection committee classifies wins based on the NET rating:
· Quad 1: Home vs. teams ranked 1-30 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 1-50 / Road vs. teams ranked 1-75
· Quad 1A: Home vs. teams ranked 1-15 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 1-25 / Road vs. teams ranked 1-40
· Quad 2: Home vs. teams ranked 31-75 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 51-100 / Road vs. teams ranked 76-135
· Quad 3: Home vs. teams ranked 76-160 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 101-200 / Road vs. teams ranked 136-240
· Quad 4: Home vs. teams ranked 161-351 / Neutral vs. teams ranked 201-351 / Road vs. teams ranked 241-351
The Bracket
The projections below are based on all games played through February 5, 2024. Following the bracket, I included some quick notes on the last four in and first six teams out.
| DETROIT (MIDWEST) | BOSTON (EAST) | |
| Indianapolis – March 22/24 | Brooklyn – March 22/24 | |
| 1) Purdue | 1) Connecticut | |
| 16) Grambling / NC Central | 16) Quinnipiac | |
| 8) TCU |
8) Clemson | |
| 9) New Mexico | 9) Michigan State | |
| Spokane – March 22/24 | Pittsburgh – March 21/23 | |
| 5) San Diego State |
5) BYU | |
| 12) Appalachian State | 12) Mississippi St. / Seton Hall |
|
| 4) Duke | 4) Illinois | |
| 13) Louisiana Tech | 13) Yale | |
| Salt Lake City – March 21/23 | Memphis – March 22/24 | |
| 6) Kentucky | 6) Florida Atlantic | |
| 11) Grand Canyon | 11) Cincinnati / Virginia | |
| 3) Baylor | 3) Alabama | |
| 14) Drexel | 14)… |