Bracketology 2020: Duke, Georgetown and Virginia among biggest winners

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: The NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee meets on Wednesday afternoon, March 8, 2017 in New York City. The committee is gathered in New York to begin the five-day process of selecting and seeding the field of 68 teams for the NCAA MenÕs Basketball Tournament. The final bracket will be released on Sunday evening following the completion of conference tournaments. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images) /

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LAWRENCE, KANSAS – JANUARY 11: Jared Butler #12 of the Baylor Bears shoots as Udoka Azubuike #35 and Marcus Garrett #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Winning is never easy in the world of NCAA Basketball. Which teams avoided losses this week to improve their Bracketology resume?

Survive and advance. That’s the traditional saying for the annual NCAA Tournament, where style points don’t matter. Whether a team wins by one point or 40, all that matters is getting the win. It also means the same in the regular season, particularly in February where postseason play is in sight. Depending on how teams handle it, there could be major Bracketology repercussions.

Just look at the overall carnage of this past week, with 13 teams ranked in the AP top-25 all suffering losses. Top-10 Louisville and Seton Hall both had major setbacks this week, losing twice to unranked foes. The other Big East teams were winners this week, thanks to the Pirates lead in the standings now down to one game.

There were some ranked teams who managed to avoid the upset fever. Kentucky survived a spirited fight from Ole Miss at home (also benefits in the SEC title race via Auburn + LSU defeats), while Dayton continues to get the best from A-10 opponents, having to sweat it out against UMass on the road. Speaking of the Atlantic 10, Richmond got a massive win against fellow bubble team VCU on Saturday to make their own push for an invitation to the Big Dance.

There were many different Bracketology winners from this week in the fight for seeding and being on the right side of the bubble. Here are six specific programs who benefitted the most, for varying reasons.

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