Bracketology 2020 Projected Field: Gonzaga surges, Kentucky tumbles

Updated Bracketology Projected Field of 68: Gonzaga is the most important riser of the week while Kentucky fell significantly following the NET release.

Conference play is arriving quickly across the nation in college basketball right now and more data points (games played) are being acquired for bracketology by the day. Most importantly, this week featured the initial release of the NET rankings for the 2019-20 season. Considering the NCAA Evaluation Tool is a major factor in determining selection and seeding for the Big Dance, this first reveal is a big deal and also has a major effect on my bracketology update for this week.

Now that the initial NET is released, five of the six major metrics used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee are publicly available for use: NET, BPI, SOR, KenPom, and Sagarin. KPI is the only metric yet to be revealed and that is expected to come in the near future now that the season is approximately one-third complete. With so much data now available for analysis (as well as plenty of games played by each team for a true eye test evaluation), the early-season bracketology field is coming into a clearer focus.

With regard to this particular field, the two most important movers to mention are Gonzaga and Kentucky. For the former, the Bulldogs just finished off a great week to move safely up the No. 1 line as the clear favorite to hold that spot out west. The Wildcats, on the other hand, took another questionable loss to plummet down the seed lines and nearly out of the field altogether. These are two powerhouse programs trending in opposite directions right now.

Without any further ado, though, let’s just dive right into this week’s edition of my bracketology projected field of 68.