March Madness: Projecting The Field (3/9 Edition)

GAME DUCKS: With a big win over Arizona, we can almost safely move Oregon off the bubble. Almost. (Photo courtesy: Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

After another unbelievably-full Saturday of college basketball, we have seen a massive shift in parts of the bracket projection. Below is the new projection in its entirety, but let’s run through some of the highlights real quick:

-Kansas took a head-in-hands loss to West Virginia yesterday, almost knocking them off the final #1 seed. If someone like Villanova steps up and wins their conference tournament, you can bet we’ll revisit the Jayhawks’ seeding.

-Arkansas took an abysmal loss to Alabama, practically begging to be knocked off the bubble. But for now, we’ll leave them in as no team has made a better argument for an invite. Missouri could’ve been that team, but they lost to Tennessee, and now Tennessee looks much safer heading into the SEC tournament.

-Belmont and Green Bay, both dangerous mid-majors, both lost in their conference tournaments and neither has the resume to make it to the big dance as an at-large berth. You’ll find them in the First Four Out and Next Four Out, respectively, but with their basketball playing done, the only direction they can really go is down.

-And on one last why-are-we-even-talking-about-this note, High Point lost in the Big South tourney, so Winthrop is the new projected champion.

^ = Projected Conference Champion
# = Automatic Berth Clinched
* = New Team To Bracket Projection
Bold = First Round “First Four” Game

Last Four In: Stanford, Tennessee, Minnesota, Arkansas
First Four Out: Missouri, Belmont, Providence, Nebraska
Next Four Out: Florida St., California, St. John’s, Green Bay