Bracketology 2020 Projected Field: Creighton, Penn State keep rising

NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 12: Ty-Shon Alexander #5 of the Creighton Bluejays in action against Jared Rhoden #14 of the Seton Hall Pirates during a college basketball game at Prudential Center on February 12, 2020 in Newark, New Jersey. Creighton defeated Seton Hall 87-82. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

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WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA – FEBRUARY 11: Stevens of PSU reacts. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) /

The past few days have not led to many shifts in my bracketology projected field. Creighton and Penn State, though, continue to rising performers.

This season has been fairly uneventful at the top of the projected seed lines over the past couple of weeks. With Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga, and San Diego State simply handling their business, the No. 1 seed line has remained rock-solid and none of the above is showing any signs of weakness. Even Duke and Dayton are holding steady as the top overall No. 2 seeds as those teams refuse to lose as well. This has made managing the top of my bracketology fields rather easy but it gets significantly harder after that.

With each week that passes, there are several shifts between the No. 2-10 lines and the bubble is getting harder and harder to figure out by the day. Teams that were previously regarded as far from the at-large picture (Arizona State, Cincinnati) have arrived in the projected field while teams that used to be safely in (Stanford, Arkansas) are trending in the completely opposite direction. There is still a whole month of the season remaining until Selection Sunday and the upcoming results will hopefully shed more light on where each team belongs.

Among the biggest risers this week were Penn State and Creighton. The Nittany Lions remain as a projected No. 4 seed but took substantial strides up that line. Winning at Purdue is something very few teams have been able to do this season and PSU’s resume is way better than people give it credit for. The Selection Committee referenced Penn State’s poor non-conference strength of schedule at the Bracket Reveal earlier and that is the sole reason they are as low as a No. 4 seed in my bracket.

Creighton also made a substantial jump from my top No. 6 seed to my bottom No. 4 seed after a true road win over Seton Hall. The Bluejays have been playing very well lately and deserved a significant boost. Their win was instrumental in the move but they also got some help from other teams dropping games.

Now, without any further ado, let’s jump into this update to my bracketology projected field. (Reminder: My updates will come on Tuesdays and Fridays for the rest of the regular-season then daily during conference tournament week.)

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