Michigan State and Ohio State aren't just playing for the Big Ten title, but also a possible #1 seed. Photo courtesy Mike Carter/US Presswire

This article was published one hour before the Selection Show began. 66 of 68 teams were predicted correctly. Only Miami (Fl) and Mississippi did not make the tournament.
CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm predicted 66 of 68. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi predicted 67 of 68.

Here it is, your final bracket projection! Well, okay, if Ohio State beats Michigan State, those two will be switched. But for now, I am operating under the assumption the Spartans will prevail. Maybe I just jinxed them.

Anyways, here are the noteworthy changes from this morning. St. Bonaventure stole the A-10 berth which means one less bubble team will be getting in (and, yes, Xavier is on the bubble). Like I said, if this were to happen, my predicted loser would be Cal. As you will notice, they are no longer in the field of 68.

LEGEND:

◊ denotes Automatic Berth

⃝ denotes Bubble Team

Bryan’s Last Four Out: California, Drexel, Mississippi State, UCF
Bryan’s Next Four Out: Northwestern, Seton Hall, Iona, Washington

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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

Kim English and the Missouri Tigers won the Big 12. But do they deserve a #1 seed for their efforts? Photo courtesy Orlin Wagner/Lubbock Online

Alas, here we are. It is Selection Sunday and almost all the basketball needed to determine the field has been played. We have four championship games today, but that should only determine seeding unless St. Bonaventure steals a seat by winning the Atlantic 10.

Yesterday, I went 8 for 10 in predicting conference champions. Missouri won the Big 12, and they take over the fourth #1 seed. More than likely it will either be them or the Big 10 champion in that spot. Best case scenario for Missouri here is if Ohio State upsets Michigan State today.

Also clinching were Colorado, Memphis, Ohio, Long Beach, Vermont, Norfolk State, New Mexico State, Mississippi Valley State, and Lamar. All of them are into the big dance for sure and Memphis clobbering Marshall undoubtedly saved an at-large team on the bubble.

Like I said, the field is pretty much set, but St. Bonaventure could play the role of spoiler in the same way Marshall failed to. On this projection, if the Bonnies do win, it will be Cal that is kicked to the curb.

LEGEND:
*=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth
•=First Round Entrant
U=Clinched Berth

Midwest
| 1. Kentucky* | 2. Kansas | 3. Louisville | 4. Wisconsin |
South
| 1. North Carolina* |2. Baylor | 3. Michigan | 4. Georgetown |
East
| 1. Syracuse | 2. Michigan St.* | 3. Duke | 4. Murray State |
West
| 1. Missouri | 2. Ohio State | 3. Marquette | 4. Florida |

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of six #12 seeds and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: New Mexico, Florida State, Indiana, Creighton
6 Seeds: Memphis, Temple, Notre Dame, Wichita State
7 Seeds: San Diego St., Vanderbilt, St. Mary’s, Cincinnati
8 Seeds: Virginia, Gonzaga, UNLV, Purdue
9 Seeds: Harvard, Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: Texas, Iowa State, Connecticut, Xavier*
11 Seeds: BYU, VCU, West Virginia, St. Louis
12 Seeds: •California, •Miami, •South Florida, Southern Miss., Mississippi, •N.C. State
13 Seeds: Colorado, Belmont, Long Beach, Davidson
14 Seeds: New Mexico State, Ohio, Vermont, Long Island
15 Seeds: Detroit, South Dakota St., Lehigh, Loyola (Md.)
16 Seeds: Montana, UNC-Asheville, •Norfolk State, •Western Kentucky, •Miss. Val. St., •Lamar

Bryan’s Last Four In: N.C. State, South Florida, Miami, California
Bryan’s First Four Out: Drexel, UCF, Mississippi State, Northwestern
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

The Bearcats have taken the Big East tournament by storm and now could win it all today. Photo courtesy Chris Trotman/Getty Images

With so many conference tournament games going on yesterday, it would probably take three posts to catch you up on all the seed reshuffling. Instead, I’ll give you only the highlights, but look around to see if your favorite team moved.

Both Syracuse and Kansas suffered big upsets and now are in jeopardy of losing their position at the top of one of the brackets. On here, Syracuse survives but Kansas gets bumped down to a 2-seed for projected Big Ten champion Michigan State. Also benefiting from these losses will be the winner of the ACC assuming it is either Duke or UNC. On this projection it remains UNC.

Temple was the other noteworthy upset and their loss to UMass costs them to slide down one. Florida replaces them in the 4X4 chart. Most likely either St. Louis or Xavier are now going to win the A-10 and the eventual champion could still profit by moving up.

It turns out my Mid-Major love was short-lived as tournament developments yesterday forced me to bump both UCF and Drexel off the bracket. UCF got absolutely manhandled by a surging Memphis team and Drexel gets bumped out due to two teams from the PAC-12 now projected in. I still don’t like the thought of California making the tournament, however, and I hope I am wrong.

Finally, we have a couple of fresh faces in the bottom of the bracket. New Mexico State and Arizona become projected conference champions as Nevada and California both lost late last night.

LEGEND:
*=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth
•=First Round Entrant
U=Clinched Berth

Midwest
| 1. Kentucky* | 2. Kansas | 3. Georgetown | 4. Murray State |
South
| 1. North Carolina* |2. Missouri* | 3. Michigan | 4. Louisville* |
East
| 1. Syracuse | 2. Baylor | 3. Ohio State | 4. Florida |
West
| 1. Michigan State* | 2. Duke | 3. Marquette | 4. Wisconsin |

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of six #12 seeds and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: New Mexico*, Temple, Indiana, Creighton
6 Seeds: San Diego State, Florida State, Notre Dame, Wichita State
7 Seeds: Memphis*, UNLV, St. Mary’s, Cincinnati
8 Seeds: Virginia, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, Purdue
9 Seeds: Harvard, Alabama, Kansas State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: St. Louis*, Iowa State, Connecticut, Xavier
11 Seeds: BYU, VCU, West Virginia, Texas
12 Seeds: •California, •Miami, •South Florida, Southern Miss., Mississippi, •N.C. State
13 Seeds: Arizona*, Belmont, Long Beach*, Davidson
14 Seeds:, New Mexico State*, Ohio*, Vermont*, Long Island
15 Seeds: Detroit, South Dakota St., Lehigh, Loyola (Md.)
16 Seeds: Montana, UNC-Asheville, •Norfolk State*, •Western Kentucky, •Miss. Val. St.*, •McNeese St.*

Bryan’s Last Four In: Miami, South Florida, N.C. State, California
Bryan’s First Four Out: Drexel, UCF, Mississippi State, Northwestern
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

Louisville's upset over Marquette shook things up for sure, but not enough to forgive Seton Hall for losing to them. Photo courtesy Richard Perry/New York Times

Before we get into the latest projection, here’s a fun fact: Did you know yesterday and today are the only two days between March 2nd and Selection Sunday that there ISN’T a conference championship? So don’t look for any clinched berths on here today or tomorrow; but come the weekend, there’ll be plenty.

Okay, first off, after watching Northwestern, Oregon, Washington, and Mississippi State end their conference tournament runs on disappointing notes, I am not only drinking the Mid-Major Kool Aid, I am double-fisting it. In the wake of those losses, Drexel falls ass-backwards into the field and I am even further convinced UCF will make it in. No one else is buying this, but, then again, no one believed VCU was going to make it in last year. Also, Oregon and Washington losing only further convinces me that only one school will be coming out of the PAC-12 this year.

Replacing Mississippi State, on the other hand, is not a mid-major school. It’s SEC and cross-state rival Ole Miss. How did I arrive at this conclusion? It was simple math really: their tournament resumes are pretty similar and Ole Miss won and Mississippi State didn’t. The Rebels are in at the moment.

Cincinnati continues to take away reasons for me to dislike them, and I have all but taken them off the bubble now with their win over Georgetown. However, I still believe only nine teams will make it in from the Big East and, for that reason, Seton Hall is still out.

Louisville’s upset of Marquette ironically did help Seton Hall’s cause a little bit, but it’s not enough to put them over the hump in my opinion. The Marquette loss, however, does force them to fall to a 3-seed and for Louisville to climb to a 4-seed for now.

While there weren’t any conference championships yesterday, there was a development in the projected winners. In one of the “Who Really Cares” conferences, the Southland Conference, UT-Arlington lost to McNeese State by 20 points. As a result McNeese State is my new projected winner. Over in the SWAC, I’ll still stick with Mississippi Valley State as my projected winner, but Alcorn State absolutely clobbered Prairie View and I kind of want to see them pull out a WKU-esque berth.

LEGEND:
*=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth
•=First Round Entrant
U=Clinched Berth

Midwest
| 1. Kentucky* | 2. Michigan State* | 3. Georgetown | 4. Murray State |
East
| 1. Syracuse* | 2. Duke | 3. Ohio State | 4. Temple* |
West
| 1. Kansas* | 2. Baylor | 3. Marquette | 4. Wisconsin |
South
| 1. North Carolina* |2. Missouri | 3. Michigan | 4. Louisville |

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of six #12 seeds and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: UNLV*, Florida, Indiana, Creighton
6 Seeds: New Mexico, Florida State, Notre Dame, Wichita State
7 Seeds: Virginia, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, Purdue
8 Seeds: Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Memphis, Kansas State
9 Seeds: Harvard, Alabama, Iowa State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: St. Louis, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Southern Miss.
11 Seeds: BYU, VCU, West Virginia, Xavier
12 Seeds: •Drexel, California*, •South Florida, Texas, •Mississippi, •Miami
13 Seeds: UCF, Belmont, Long Beach*, Davidson
14 Seeds:, Nevada*, Ohio*, Vermont*, Long Island
15 Seeds: Detroit, South Dakota St., Lehigh, Loyola (Md.)
16 Seeds: Montana, UNC-Asheville, •Norfolk State*, •Western Kentucky, •Miss. Val. St.*, •McNeese St.*

Bryan’s Last Four In: South Florida, Mississippi, UCF, Drexel
Bryan’s First Four Out: N.C. State, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Tennessee
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

With a losing record, Western Kentucky is going dancing. Let the Madness begin. Photo courtesy J.S. Robinson/wku.edu

Things are about to crazy leading up to March Madness so, starting today, there will be an updated bracket projection every day

Updated from two days ago, Harvard, Long Island, Lehigh, South Dakota State, Detroit, Montana and Western Kentucky have all clinched. The lowly Toppers of WKU are all but guaranteed to have to play their way out of the first four given a dismal record. Nevertheless, they are in, which is more than North Texas can say.

Seton Hall looked totally unimpressive in their game against Louisville and now find themselves on the outside looking in on this projected bracket. Big East colleague Cinicinnati replaces them despite some abysmal losses and probably the worst RPI in the field. I’m still not sold on the Bearcats and they need to beat Georgetown today to further convince me.

Also developing in the Big East tournament, UConn beat West Virginia in overtime and WVU slides down a seed, switching with Southern Miss. It seems counter intuitive to have UConn, higher than WVU off of one game, but it appears to work here. The defending Big East champs could continue to move up the bracket as they get closer to returning to the Big East championship.

LEGEND:
*=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth
•=First Round Entrant
U=Clinched Berth

Midwest
| 1. Kentucky* | 2. Michigan State* | 3. Ohio State | 4. Murray State |
East
| 1. Syracuse* |2. Duke | 3. Georgetown | 4. Wisconsin |
West
| 1. Kansas* | 2. Marquette | 3. Baylor | 4. UNLV* |
South
| 1. North Carolina* |2. Missouri | 3. Michigan | 4. Temple* |

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of six #12 seeds and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: Louisville, Florida, Indiana, Creighton
6 Seeds: New Mexico, Florida State, Notre Dame, Wichita State
7 Seeds: Virginia, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, Purdue
8 Seeds: Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Memphis, Kansas State
9 Seeds: Harvard, Alabama, Iowa State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: St. Louis, South Florida, Connecticut, Southern Miss.
11 Seeds: BYU, Northwestern, West Virginia, Xavier
12 Seeds: VCU, California*, •Cincinnati, •Texas, •Mississippi State, •Miami
13 Seeds: UCF, Belmont, Long Beach*, Davidson
14 Seeds:, Nevada*, Ohio*, Vermont*, Long Island
15 Seeds: Detroit, South Dakota St., Lehigh, Loyola (Md.)
16 Seeds: Montana, •UNC-Asheville, •Norfolk State*, •Western Kentucky, •Miss. Val. St.*, UT-Arlington*

Bryan’s Last Four In: Texas, Mississippi State, Cincinnati, UCF
Bryan’s First Four Out: Seton Hall, Oregon, Drexel, Ole Miss
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

Last year's Cinderella, VCU, is already trying on glass slippers with an upset of top-seeded Drexel in the CAA Championship. Photo courtesy NBCSports.com

Today’s updated bracket projection doesn’t have too many changes. VCU, Davidson, Loyola, and St. Mary’s all clinched berths yesterday by winning their conferences. This wasn’t too much news to me as I had already predicted three of those four would. My West Coast champ, Gonzaga, yielded the title to St. Mary’s and, as a result, the two school switch seeds on the board with St. Mary’s no a 7-seed and the Zags an 8-seed.

Also losing in their conference tournament was Oral Roberts. Not only does the loss to Western Illinois prevent them from securing their conference’s automatic berth, it also adds another “bad loss” to their tournament resume which, for now, has them on the outside looking in.

Losing their conference tournament game over in the “Who Really Cares?” end of Division I ball was my projected Horizon League champion, Cleveland State. Top-seeded Valparaiso replaces them for the projected berth.

The one last minor change doesn’t have to do with the actual field itself. The surging Rebels of Ole Miss have convinced me with their win over Alabama that they are closer to an at-large bid than Mid-Major Iona, and they replace the Gaels on the list of “First Four Out”.

LEGEND:
*=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth
•=First Round Entrant
U=Clinched Berth

Midwest
| 1. Kentucky* | 2. Michigan State* | 3. Ohio State | 4. Murray State |
West
| 1. Kansas* | 2. Marquette | 3. Baylor | 4. UNLV* |
East
| 1. Syracuse* |2. Duke | 3. Georgetown | 4. Wisconsin |
South
| 1. North Carolina* |2. Missouri | 3. Michigan | 4. Temple* |

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of six #12 seeds and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: Louisville, Florida, Indiana, Creighton
6 Seeds: New Mexico, Florida State, Notre Dame, Wichita State
7 Seeds: Virginia, San Diego State, St. Mary’s, Purdue
8 Seeds: Vanderbilt, Gonzaga, Memphis, Kansas State
9 Seeds: Harvard*, Alabama, Iowa State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: St. Louis, South Florida, Connecticut, West Virginia
11 Seeds: BYU, Northwestern, Southern Miss., Xavier
12 Seeds: VCU, California*, •Seton Hall, •Texas, •Mississippi State, •Miami
13 Seeds: UCF, Belmont, Long Beach*, Oral Roberts*
14 Seeds: Davidson, Nevada*, Ohio*, Vermont*,
15 Seeds: Cleveland State*, Bucknell*, Wagner*, Loyola (Md.)
16 Seeds: Montana*, •UNC-Asheville, •Norfolk State*, •Western Kentucky*, •Miss. Val. St.*, UT-Arlington*

Bryan’s Last Four In: Texas, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, UCF
Bryan’s First Four Out: Cincinnati, Oregon, Drexel, Ole Miss
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!

Anthony Davis and Kentucky should be looking down on the rest of the field come next Sunday. Photo courtesy Andy Lyons/Getty Images North America

We are less than 48 hours into the greatest month for basketball, which means it’s time to take a shot at projecting the field of 68 teams again! Unlike most bracket predictions, my bracket is based on how I think teams will finish the season, not as if the tournament started today. So if you see something that doesn’t make sense to you today, keep in mind I may be predicting that team to do something between now and Selection Sunday to earn that spot. Either that, or we simply don’t see eye to eye. Nevertheless, let the great Bryandini begin his work.

To get things started here is the 4×4 chart, or, in other words, my prediction for the top four seeds for all four regions. Here the regions are listed in order by strength of the number one  seed. So the first region listed (in this case, Kentucky) is my current top #1 seed. The second region listed holds the next-highest #1 seed and so on:

LEGEND: *=Projected Conference Champion/Automatic Berth, •=First Round Entrant

Midwest
|1. Kentucky*|2. Michigan State*|3. Ohio State|4. Murray State*|
West
|1. Kansas*| 2. Marquette|3. Baylor|4. UNLV*|
East
|1. Syracuse*|2. Duke|3. Georgetown|4. Indiana|
South
|1. North Carolina*|2. Missouri|3. Michigan|4. Wichita State*|

And the rest of the field….
(Keep in mind there is now an 8-team opening round, so listed here are a total of five #11 seeds, five #12 seeds, and six #16 seeds)

5 Seeds: Wisconsin, Louisville, Temple*, Florida
6 Seeds: New Mexico, Creighton, Florida State, Notre Dame
7 Seeds: Virginia, San Diego State, Gonzaga*, Purdue
8 Seeds: Vanderbilt, St. Mary’s, Memphis, Kansas State
9 Seeds: Harvard*, Alabama, Iowa State, Colorado State
10 Seeds: Southern Miss.*, South Florida, Connecticut, Seton Hall
11 Seeds: •West Virginia, •BYU, California*, St. Louis, Xavier
12 Seeds: VCU*, Washington, Northwestern, •Miami, •Texas
13 Seeds: UCF, Iona*, Long Beach*, Oral Roberts*
14 Seeds: Davidson*, Nevada*, Middle Tennessee State*, Belmont*
15 Seeds: Cleveland State*, Bucknell*, UT-Arlington*, Ohio*
16 Seeds: Vermont*, •Montana*, •UNC-Asheville*, •Norfolk State*, Wagner*, •Miss. Val. St.*

Bryan’s Last Four In: Miami, Northwestern, Texas, UCF
Bryan’s First Four Out: Mississippi State, Cincinnati, Drexel, Arizona
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NOTE: This article was originally published on SportsHead. To read this story and others click here.
When Bryan isn’t studying bracketology, he is on twitter! Follow him @bclienesch!