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Bracketology: The projected field one day before Selection Sunday

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.

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
            Oklahoma State

            Orlando

            4 Florida State
            13 Akron

            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.