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Bracketology: Ranking the Bracket Preview teams – Duke, Gonzaga ahead

By Lukas Harkins

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 09: Cam Reddish #2, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils hug in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on February 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - FEBRUARY 09: Cam Reddish #2, RJ Barrett #5 and Zion Williamson #1 of the Duke Blue Devils hug in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on February 9, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
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SPOKANE, WA – FEBRUARY 07: Fans for the Gonzaga Bulldogs cheer. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
SPOKANE, WA – FEBRUARY 07: Fans for the Gonzaga Bulldogs cheer. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

The NCAA Tournament selection committee released its early top-16 during this past weekend. Let’s rank those squads based on title potential from 1-to-16.

Over this past weekend, the NCAA Tournament selection committee released its current top-16 seeds. For the most part, the selections and seedings were predictable but they still gave us some insight into how the committee is gauging teams this year. This is extremely important for this season, in particular, due to the introduction and usage of the new NET rating by the NCAA. And while I have been releasing my projected NCAA Tournament fields for the past month, this event really kicks off the start of bracketology season in college sports.

This “Bracket Preview” certainly sent college hoops fans into a bit of a spiral, especially when you consider the fact that one-loss Nevada somehow landed on the No. 4 line. Although this was predicted by many in the bracketology community (myself included), it was a bit of a surprise to some. On the whole, we did not learn all that much from the Bracket Preview aside from the fact that the NET is not going to be the “be-all-end-all” with regards to selection and seeding, which is a very good thing.

https://twitter.com/marchmadness/status/1094292950107017217

And while many have already released their thoughts and takeaways on the Bracket Preview, I thought I would branch out a bit and simply rank the teams that were awarded spots. The committee already gave their rankings through the seeding reveal based on the eye test and resume to date but this piece will go through each team with my opinion on them as potential title contenders.

So, of the 16 teams announced during the Bracket Preview, which ones are most likely to cut down the nets in Minneapolis.

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