Five more bids were handed out on Tuesday night and while a few major conference tournaments got underway, there really weren’t any meaningful games. That all changes on Wednesday with several key games on the slate:
• In the ACC, Wake Forest, Syracuse, and Virginia Tech are all technically still alive (although some more than others), but none of them can move the needle in their Wednesday games. However, victories there would open up quarterfinal opportunities for each. Wake would face Pitt, who is also in the bubble discussion, while Syracuse and Virginia Tech would face Duke and North Carolina, respectively.
• It’s a similar story in the Big East for Villanova and Providence. The Wildcats would take on Marquette in the quarterfinals as long as they don’t slip up against DePaul, while the Friars need to avoid disaster against Georgetown to set up a date with Creighton.
• Perhaps not surprisingly, the Big 12 has the best slate of games, headlined by TCU-Oklahoma. Both teams could use one more win to solidify their case with both in the 9-to-11 seed range depending on where you look. Kansas State faces Texas and needs a deep run to get into the field, while Cincinnati has a chance to get to the quarterfinals by knocking off a banged-up Kansas squad.
• In the Mountain West, New Mexico and Colorado State are in action in games that can only hurt them.
• Utah needs to beat Arizona State in the Pac-12 Tournament to keep its slim at-large chances alive.
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 March 12, 2024. Following the bracket, I included some quick notes on the last four in and first four teams out.
| DETROIT (MIDWEST) | DALLAS (SOUTH) | |
| Indianapolis – March 22/24 | Memphis – March 22/24 | |
| 1) Purdue | 1) Houston | |
| 16) Norfolk St. / Wagner | 16) Longwood | |
| 8) Boise… |