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Bracketology 2020: Villanova, Michigan State among this week’s losers

By Andrew Dieckhoff

PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks in the first half at the Wells Fargo Center on December 21, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 21: Head coach Jay Wright of the Villanova Wildcats reacts against the Kansas Jayhawks in the first half at the Wells Fargo Center on December 21, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN – JANUARY 29: Head coach Tom Izzo of the Michigan State Spartans (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

We are starting to see the NCAA Tournament bracketology picture come into focus as we grow closer and closer to Selection Sunday. For these five teams, that day can’t come soon enough.

With just over a month remaining until the field of 68 is determined for the 2020 NCAA Tournament, teams are scrambling to add good wins onto their Bracketology resume in order to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.

But for many teams who already have a number of good wins, the name of the game now is to avoid taking on any bad losses.

Easier said than done, right?

The bracketology world was set ablaze this weekend, as the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed its current Top 16 on Saturday, which resulted in plenty of conversation surrounding the committee’s decisions.

And in a season where good teams are given high praise in one breath and go tumbling down the rankings in the next, it should come as no surprise that a few of the teams on the list went right to work in losing games.

West Virginia, for example, fell to Oklahoma. That loss could cost the Mountaineers a #2 seed in the upcoming tournament, though Bob Huggins’ resume still has plenty of meat on its bones. Duke suffered a close call in their rivalry with North Carolina, needing not one but two buzzer-beaters to prevail in Chapel Hill.

But those teams weren’t alone. In fact, outside of the #1 seeds—Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga, and San Diego State—no one was truly safe this week.

And that brings us to the first entry in our Bracketology Losers column this week. We head out to Philadelphia, where a two-time recent national champion became a two-time loser.

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