📄 2043 Dance Partners, Building a Better Bracket w/ EC Hood: Part 3 Mar 12th

Dance Partners, Building a Better Bracket. A bracketology presentation by EC Hood

Just one sim away from Selection Sunday, when dreams of CBGM prestige bumps dangle in front of our eyes then are cruelly yanked away. This season is particularly hard to make sense of. The bubble is full of teams that have a legit case to make the dance. In our final bracketology, I still don’t have a great feel for how the final bracket will play out.

My last four in – App State, Louisville, Ole Miss and Houston – should obviously still be worried about what the AI will do with them. App State seems safe, at least in terms of the Bubble Watch (which is no longer live to cross-check with). The other three could be interchangeable with a slew of programs knocking on the door. Colorado might actually be in, though I don’t think they should be with just an 18-14 record. UCF is also 18-14 and has a decent shot. I guess we will see how strong the committee believes the Big 12 is. Make no mistake – that’s a tough, tough league. Probably the best league in the country this season. Leaving both of those schools out of my bracket was a tough decision.

Washington State is also right on the edge at 23-9 but with only a 53 NET, a little low for comfort. The Cougars don’t have any signature wins over WCC powers Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga. SMU, Mississippi State, Texas, Xavier and TCU have all had decent seasons with inconsistency and represent my next five on the outside looking in.

There are still some conference championships to be played: North Carolina (33-1) vs. Notre Dame (25-9), Baylor (30-4) vs. West Virginia (25-8), Seton Hall (23-8) vs. Creighton (22-11), Minnesota (27-6) vs. Indiana (22-12) and Tennessee (24-8) vs. Alabama (24-9).

Perhaps no two teams have done more for themselves this week than Creighton and Indiana, both run by our commissioner. Teetering on the edge of the bubble heading into the week, I have both schools in, even if they lose in the conference championship games. Creighton is in the most danger with just a 67 NET thanks to a down year in the Big East. But the Blue Jays, after handing No. 1 seed Butler an 88-70 loss, have the better matchup, a toss-up title game with Seton Hall. Indiana has a tall order against Minnesota in the Big Ten title game, but is a 7 seed here.

Other teams helping themselves this week:

West Virginia (25-8) has earned a 2 seed after beating Kansas in the Big 12 semis, and could hold on to it even if it loses to Baylor.

San Diego State (27-6) has become hard to ignore after rattling off 20 wins in a row en route to the Mountain West championship. The Aztecs are the 3 seed in the Midwest.

La Salle (27-5) has moved to the 4 line after knocking off VCU, 70-68, in the A-10 title game.

IN GAME DATE: Mar 12th