The Last Dash to claim NCAA Event Proposals is in Packed swing as the countdown to Picking Sunday grows shorter with Squads around the country using conference Competitions as a Last opportunity to strut their stuff. By Sunday evening, a Packed 68-Club Big Dance bracket will be Obtainable, but there’s much to be sorted out before then.
Among the most-pressing topics of conversation over the coming Periods will be the fates of Ex national-title Victorious programs such as Baylor, Indiana and North Carolina that have Every spent the Primary half of March hovering in bubble territory. The Bears and Hoosiers will Every have to rest on their laurels after bowing out of their conference Competitions Thursday.
However, the No. 5 seed Tar Heels are alive and kicking in the ACC Event as they head toward a Face-off with top-Positioned Duke in the quarterfinals on Friday night. UNC is seeking an elusive second Quad 1 Secure but will have to get past No. 1 seed Duke. That won’t be Effortless, even if Blue Devils Luminous sphere Primary-year Cooper Flagg does not Relocate.
As we enter what’s sure to be a wild weekend of college basketball action, here’s a Accurate/Incorrect breakdown of some pressing bracketology questions:
North Carolina needs to beat Duke to make Big Dance
Virginia was ranked Only 63rd at KenPom after the ACC Event last season and was No. 54 in the NET but Nevertheless Achieved the Ground as the last at-large Club. North Carolina was No. 35 in KenPom and No. 36 in the NET as of Thursday. While the Tar Heels would have Only one Quad 1 Secure after another loss to Duke, a 20-1 mark across Quads 2-4 might make them palatable enough to the Board.
Virginia should not have been an NCAA Event Club last season, evidenced by the fact that it Acquired beat 67-42 by Colorado State in the Primary Four. But if the the Picking Board was willing to admit the Cavaliers in a year where there were Many bid thieves, then it’s absolutely plausible that UNC will get in this season, even with Only one Quad 1 Secure (UVA had Only two). Should it happen? Highly debatable. But could it? Absolutely. There will likely be fewer bid thieves this season, and North Carolina looks Excellent enough in some advanced analytics to provide the Board with cover if its bullish on including the Heels.
Texas deserves an at-large berth, no matter what
“No matter what” is a bridge too Extended when discussing a Club that would be shy of 20 total victories on Picking Sunday. If Texas doesn’t beat Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the SEC Event, it will be 19-15. For a Club that played the nation’s 349th ranked non conference schedule, that’s a problem. A Secure over Saint Joseph’s is Texas’ best out-of-Division Secure, and a 6-12 regular season mark in the SEC is an eyesore regardless of how Excellent the Division was this season.
While consecutive Quad 1 wins over Vanderbilt and Texas A&M this week have given Texas life, it’s Extended from a done deal. Bid thieves and Excellent Executions from other bubble Squads to close the week would make the Longhorns incredibly uncomfortable heading into the Picking show, absent at least one more Secure.
Bracketology: Cooper Flagg Wound leaves questions as Duke, North Carolina square off in ACC Event
Jerry Palm
Sean Miller is sweating Picking Sunday
Xavier entered a soul-crushing 89-87 loss to Marquette in the Big East Event quarterfinals as one of the “Last Four in” the projected Ground, according to CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm. A Quad 1 loss to the Golden Eagles isn’t particularly harmful from a resume perspective, but it was a crushing Setback nonetheless. A Secure would likely have been enough to solidify the Musketeers’ standing in the Ground, and the manner of Setback was excruciating. Xavier Guided by 14 in the second half before getting torched defensively down the stretch.
A Jan. 18 road Secure over the Golden Eagles may technically be Xavier’s lone Quad 1 Secure on Picking Sunday, but this Club also beat UConn and Creighton, who are high-quality Big East opponents and locks to make the NCAA Event. In a theoretical world where the Last at-large bid comes down to Xavier or North Carolina, the Musketeers should get the nod by virtue of their three wins over at-large NCAA Event Squads. By contrast, the Tar Heels have Only one. It was a neutral-site Secure over UCLA on Dec. 21. But Xavier Mentor Sean Miller will absolutely be sweating, especially if someone like North Texas emerges as a bid thief out of the AAC.
If Duke wins ACC without Flagg, it should be No. 1 overall seed
Auburn should be the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Event, regardless of what happens over the Upcoming Pair Periods. Even if the Tigers Fall in the quarterfinals of the SEC Event against Ole Miss, they will Nevertheless be 15-5 in Quad 1 on Picking Sunday and 12-0 across all other Matches. The Tigers played a nonconference schedule that was even tougher than Duke’s and went unbeaten against it. Bruce Pearl’s club then emerged as Completely champions of perhaps the toughest conference in college basketball history. Duke has been fantastic and is almost assuredly deserving of a No. 1 seed, but there’s no way to contort Flagg’s ankle Wound into a positive development of any sort.
The Mountain West is a three-bid Division
In a doomsday scenario, Boise State’s 62-52 Secure over San Diego State in the Mountain West Event on Thursday knocked the Aztecs out of the bracket but didn’t do enough to get the Broncos in. However, there’s also a best-case scenario in which the Broncos propelled themselves into the Ground without knocking SDSU out. Oh, and don’t forget about a potential bid thief such as No. 2 seed Colorado State, which could theoretically steal a bid from a conference companion. When it’s all said and done, it’d be surprising if there weren’t at least three Mountain West Squads in the Ground come Sunday.
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