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Bracketology 2019: Arizona rises, Nevada drops in projected field

By Lukas Harkins

TUCSON, AZ - NOVEMBER 29: Brandon Williams #2 of the Arizona Wildcats during the second half of the college basketball game against the Georgia Southern Eagles at McKale Center on November 29, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ - NOVEMBER 29: Brandon Williams #2 of the Arizona Wildcats during the second half of the college basketball game against the Georgia Southern Eagles at McKale Center on November 29, 2018 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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VILLANOVA, PA – JANUARY 08: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats yells. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
VILLANOVA, PA – JANUARY 08: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats yells. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

East Region

(1) Duke vs. (16) Wagner/Texas Southern

(8) TCU vs. (9) Ole Miss

(4) Nevada vs. (13) New Mexico State

(5) Houston vs. (12) Lipscomb

(6) Iowa State vs. (11) VCU

(3) Kentucky vs. (14) Loyola-Chicago

(7) Villanova vs. (10) Syracuse

(2) Michigan State vs. (15) Northern Kentucky

Of this region, Iowa State came away with the most important win over the week. Now finally starting to get healthy, the Cyclones backed up why they have been rated so highly by predictive metrics (No. 12 in KenPom) in front of their home crowd by taking down nationally-ranked Kansas by 17 points. And while the team fell on the road in their next game in disappointing fashion to Baylor, this resume-defining win over the Jayhawks will go a long way over the next couple of months.

Additionally, Ole Miss continued its incredible start by defending their home court against another ranked opponent. With Terence Davis leading the way, the Rebels were able to take down Auburn to move to 12-2 (2-0 SEC) on the year. Additionally, they have now increased their winning streak to nine games heading into a difficult stretch of games. Despite being picked to finish dead-last in the SEC in the preseason, this is a team that seems poised to go dancing in March.

Lastly, Nevada dropped two seed lines over this past week due to their horrendous performance against New Mexico, falling on the road by 27 points. The Wolf Pack still have plenty of talent to be a top-2 seed but that loss will set back their resume for the foreseeable future. Nevada has back-to-back road games coming up against Fresno State and Boise State; we will learn a lot more about the team during this coming week.

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