Bracketology 2020 Projected Field: Wichita State, Seton Hall rising

East Region

(1) Duke vs. (16) Radford/St. Francis-PA

(8) BYU vs. (9) Memphis

(4) Seton Hall vs. (13) Vermont

(5) Ohio State vs. (12) Richmond/NC State

(6) Kentucky vs. (11) Georgetown

(3) Maryland vs. (14) Stephen F. Austin

(7) Stanford vs. (10) Illinois

(2) West Virginia vs. (15) Belmont

Duke is the best team in the country, in my opinion, and it is starting to overcome that loss to Stephen F. Austin from a resume standpoint. The Blue Devils are 6-0 in Q1+2 games and hold the No. 1 ranking in several metrics. To put it simply, placing the Blue Devils on the top seed line was simply a no brainer at this point. Coach K has a very well-rounded roster that can defend at an exceptionally high level and also features a pair of National Player of the Year contenders (Tre Jones and Vernon Carey Jr.).

While Duke has stayed steady atop a region from last week to this one, Seton Hall continues to show that it belongs on higher seed lines every single week. After entering the season with extremely high expectations, the Pirates slipped a little but have returned to an elite level of play as of late. Even though Sandro Mamukelashvili remains out with injury, Myles Powell is carrying the offense and Seton Hall’s defense is one of the best in the country. The team is currently riding a five-game winning streak that includes wins over Maryland, DePaul, Georgetown, and Xavier.

To round out this region’s discussion, let’s talk about Richmond. The Spiders might not have the most impressive resume in the country but they continue to hang around the bubble. They rank in the Top 45 in NET, KPI, SOR, and BPI and that is worthy of consideration for an at-large bid. Additionally, Richmond has already beaten a likely at-large team in Wisconsin at a neutral site. Not many teams have proven that they belong in the field right now, and that allows Richmond to sneak in for now. Can they dominate most of A10 play and stick in the field? We’ll see.