Bracketology 2019: Way-too-early look at a potential NCAA Tournament bracket

Midwest Region

(1) Kansas vs. (16) Grambling/Radford

(8) Maryland vs. (9) Marquette

(4) Virginia Tech vs. (13) Stephen F. Austin

(5) Texas Tech vs. (12) Buffalo

(6) Syracuse vs. (11) Providence

(3) Auburn vs. (14) UNC-Greensboro

(7) Ohio State vs. (10) Texas

(2) North Carolina vs. (15) UC Davis.

Kansas is losing plenty of talent this offseason but they reload better than anyone else. They had a remarkably deep bench in 2017-18 and those players will step into larger roles in this upcoming season. In addition, head coach Bill Self is bringing in another solid recruiting class with pieces that can play major minutes right away. This will once again be a deep roster and I expect the Jayhawks to take the Big 12 title once again.

Another team to take note of in this region is Auburn. A young, overachieving team last season, the Tigers return a massive amount of talent for 2018-19. Bruce Pearl will have a dynamite roster and there is no reason to believe they will take a step back next season. The SEC will be just as strong as it was this past year and that will only benefit their on-paper numbers.

Lastly, there are two at-large teams in this region that were not in the 2018 NCAA Tournament: Marquette and Maryland. The key for both of these squads is that they will be more experiences. The Golden Eagles and the Terrapins were just too young last season to consistently beat good teams or avoid bad losses. With a full offseason to improve under their belts, both teams can compete in their respective conferences.