Bracketology 2019: Duke, Kansas headline the projected field

Midwest Region

(1) Kansas vs. (16) Lehigh/St. Francis (PA)

(8) Iowa vs. (9) Butler

(4) Ohio State vs. (13) Saint Louis

(5) Oklahoma vs. (12) Furman

(6) Mississippi State vs. (11) Texas

(3) North Carolina vs. (14) College of Charleston

(7) Cincinnati vs. (10) LSU

(2) Gonzaga vs. (15) Montana

Kansas has not looked particularly impressive in recent weeks but nobody should dispute the idea that they are deserving of a No. 1 seed at this point in time. Regardless of “how” they have come away with some wins, the Jayhawks remain undefeated and boast a ridiculous collection of wins: Marquette, Tennessee, New Mexico State, Stanford, Wofford, Villanova, etc. Every single Kansas victory this season could be claimed as a “quality win” and that is ridiculous.

Also, Furman has seemingly taken the nation by storm so far this season. Another undefeated team, the Paladins exploded on the scene with a road win over Villanova and have hovered around the back-end of the AP top-25 ever since. I might not have them seeded particularly high in this bracket, mainly because their predictive metrics are still poor, but their story is one that is worth discussing.

The two biggest stories of this region, though, should be Ohio State and Cincinnati. Despite both programs losing a ton of talent following huge seasons in 2017-18, these teams have exceeded expectations to this point in the year. And there is one major reason for both of their successes: Coaching. Matters. Both Chris Holtmann (OSU) and Mick Cronin (UC) are elite-level head coaches and they will consistently put out a great product regardless of the talent lost in the offseason. It should be expected that both of these teams go dancing in March.