Bracketology Projected Field: Florida soaring, Washington crashing

There are just over two weeks remaining until Selection Sunday. How is the bracketology projected field looking heading into a huge weekend?

Bracketology season is officially upon us. With only two weeks remaining until Selection Sunday, time is running out for teams everywhere to bolster up their resumes. This does not only apply to those teams that are currently sitting on the bubble and looking to play their way into the field as well. As always, all of the “locks” for making the field are still looking to make moves up the seed lines to put themselves in the best possible positions to succeed for March.

For those near the top of the field, teams such as Kentucky are looking to hold onto their No. 1 seed. Additionally, in the middle of the seed lists, mid-major powerhouses Buffalo and Wofford are attempting to build up their potential for avoiding the dreaded No. 8/9 seed first-round matchup. Heading into this weekend, I once again did a complete scrub of my bracketology field of 68 to examine resumes and the eye test. As always, I want to remind everyone that my goal with each bracketology update is to predict what the committee would do given the current situation. In order to avoid bias creeping into my field, my first scrub consists of blind resumes only.

For this particular update, the biggest movers were Florida and Washington. These two squads are practically trending in the exact opposite directions at this point in time. For the Gators, they have won five consecutive games and their metric rankings are superb. This has resulted in Mike White’s team rising up to a single-digit seed line. As for the Huskies, head coach Mike Hopkins’ squad suffered a disastrous road loss to Cal earlier in the week. And considering UW does not own a single win over a projected NCAA Tournament team, their resume looks considerably worse now as they have fallen to a double-digit seed line.

Now, without any further ado, let’s dive into the field.

This projected bracketology field was last updated prior to the games on Friday, March. 1.

South Region

(1) Virginia vs. (16) Iona/Prairie View A&M

(8) Florida vs. (9) Oklahoma

(4) Texas Tech vs. (13) New Mexico State

(5) Mississippi State vs. (12) Belmont

(6) Buffalo vs. (11) TCU

(3) Purdue vs. (14) UC Irvine

(7) Cincinnati vs. (10) NC State

(2) Tennessee vs. (15) Montana

West Region

(1) Gonzaga vs. (16) St. Francis-PA/Norfolk State

(8) Ole Miss vs. (9) Ohio State

(4) Florida State vs. (13) Yale

(5) Kansas State vs. (12) Utah State/Temple

(6) Nevada vs. (11) St. John’s

(3) LSU vs. (14) Vermont

(7) Wofford vs. (10) UCF

(2) Michigan vs. (15) Radford

East Region

(1) Duke vs. (16) Sam Houston State

(8) Auburn vs. (9) Texas

(4) Kansas vs. (13) Old Dominion

(5) Maryland vs. (12) Clemson/Seton Hall

(6) Villanova vs. (11) Minnesota

(3) Houston vs. (14) Texas State

(7) Louisville vs. (10) Washington

(2) Michigan State vs. (15) Loyola-Chicago

Midwest Region

(1) Kentucky vs. (16) Bucknell

(8) Baylor vs. (9) Syracuse

(4) Wisconsin vs. (13) Hofstra

(5) Virginia Tech vs. (12) Lipscomb

(6) Iowa State vs. (11) Alabama

(3) Marquette vs. (14) South Dakota State

(7) Iowa vs. (10) VCU

(2) North Carolina vs. (15) Wright State

State of the Bubble

Check out my complete breakdown of the entire bubble below!

Last Four Byes: St. John’s, TCU, Minnesota, Alabama

Last Four In: Utah State, Temple, Seton Hall, Clemson

First Four Out: Saint Mary’s, Arizona State, Butler, Creighton

Next Four Out: Nebraska, Indiana, Toledo, Dayton

That concludes this edition of my bracketology field. I hope that you enjoyed and that your favorite team was able to secure a spot. If not, time is running out to make their case for an at-large bid. Even if the worst case scenario for your favorite team occurs to end the regular season, they will always have a shot at the automatic selection from their conference tournament.