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Bracketology: The projected field one day before Selection Sunday

By Lukas Harkins

Mar 9, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) celebrates in front of Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino during the second half of an ACC Conference Tournament game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sportsat Barclays Center.
Mar 9, 2017; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Duke Blue Devils guard Grayson Allen (3) celebrates in front of Louisville Cardinals head coach Rick Pitino during the second half of an ACC Conference Tournament game at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sportsat Barclays Center. /
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There are only two more days of action left, so let’s take a look at the Bracketology projected field moving into Saturday.

Tournament results from Friday:

  • Mid-major action
    • WAC – CSU Bakersfield and New Mexico State will play for the title.
    • Mountain West – Nevada and Colorado State meet for the championship.
    • Big West – UC Irvine and UC Davis will battle it out for the automatic bid.
    • Sun Belt – UT Arlington, Texas State, Georgia State, and Troy remain.
    • Conference USA – MTSU and Marshall are in the finals.
    • SWAC – Texas Southern or Alcorn State will get the automatic bid.
    • MAC – Akron vs. Kent State in the final.
    • Southland – The top seeds New Orleans and Texas A&M-CC face each other.
    • MEAC – NC Central vs. Norfolk State.
    • Big Sky – Weber State upset Eastern Washington to move on.
  • SEC
    • Kentucky remains the top seed by taking care of Georgia and ending their hopes for an at-large.
    • Alabama upset South Carolina to take on Kentucky.
    • Vanderbilt completed the three-game sweep of Florida and should be selected on Sunday.
    • Arkansas will face Vandy after beating Ole Miss by one.
  • Big Ten
    • Michigan upset Purdue in overtime and are the lowest seed remaining.
    • Minnesota hung on against Michigan State, even while losing Akeem Springs.
    • Wisconsin took care of Indiana to advance as the top-seeded team left.
    • Northwestern moved past Maryland as their great season continued.
  • Atlantic 10
    • Davidson knocked off Dayton in one of the biggest upsets of the day.
    • Rhode Island moved on but has another must-win coming against Davidson.
    • VCU and Richmond will face off in the semifinals as the top seeds remaining.
  • American
    • UConn and UCF are still available to be bid-stealers in the tournament.
    • Top seeds SMU and Cincinnati are still alive.
  • Pac-12 – Oregon and Arizona moved on and will play each other in the final.
  • ACC – Duke and Notre Dame, the five and three seed respectively, will meet in the finals.
  • Big 12 – With Kansas and Baylor out, Iowa State and West Virginia moved on to play each other for the title.

With Arizona knocking off UCLA last night, the two teams swapped spots on the two and three lines, while the ones all stayed intact, despite two of the four losing this week. Purdue fell to the five line as the best seed from the Big Ten, while there were very few changes to the bubble on Friday.

Several seed line changes took place near the top of the bracket with Florida and others falling, however.

Projected Field (includes results through March 10th)

East

— Buffalo

1 Villanova
16 New Orleans/Mount St. Mary’s

8 South Carolina
9 Oklahoma State

— Orlando

4 Florida State
13 Akron

5 Cincinnati
12 Nevada

— Milwaukee

6 Iowa State
11 Wake Forest

3 Butler
14 Florida Gulf Coast

— Tulsa

7 Dayton
10 Marquette

2 Baylor
15 Northern Kentucky

Midwest

Tulsa —

Kansas 1
North Dakota/NC Central 16

Virginia Tech 8
Arkansas 9

Milwaukee —

Notre Dame 4
Vermont 13

Purdue 5
Texas-Arlington 12

Indianapolis—

Saint Mary’s 6
Providence/USC 11

Louisville 3
Bucknell 14

Salt Lake City —

Creighton 7
Vanderbilt 10

Arizona 2
Iona 15

West

— Salt Lake City

1 Gonzaga
16 UC Irvine

8 Miami
9 Michigan

— Milwaukee

4 Florida
13 East Tennessee State

5 Minnesota
12 Rhode Island/Illinois State

— Greenville

6 Wisconsin
11 Middle Tennessee

3 Duke
14 CSU Bakersfield

— Sacramento

7 Wichita State
10 Xavier

2 Oregon
15 Texas Southern

South

Greenville —

North Carolina 1
Jacksonville State 16

VCU 8
Northwestern 9

Buffalo—

West Virginia 4
Princeton 13

Virginia 5
NC-Wilmington 12

Sacramento —

SMU 6
Michigan State 11

UCLA 3
Winthrop 14

Indianapolis —

Maryland 7
Seton Hall 10

Kentucky 2
South Dakota State 15

Last Four In: Providence, USC, Rhode Island, Illinois State

First Four Out: Kansas State, Syracuse, Houston, California

Next: ACC Tournament final preview

For updates throughout the day on the projected field, you can find me on twitter here: @hardwiredsports. Enjoy the tournament action and I’ll be back again for another bracket on Sunday morning.

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