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Bracketology 2021: Houston, Marquette and Texas among biggest winners

By Tristan Freeman

AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Oklahoma Sooners at The Frank Erwin Center on January 08, 2020 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TEXAS - JANUARY 08: Head coach Shaka Smart of the Texas Longhorns reacts as his team plays the Oklahoma Sooners at The Frank Erwin Center on January 08, 2020 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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Bracketology Rocket Watts Michigan State Spartans Julius Marble II (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) /

Winner – Winners from both Champions and Jimmy V Classic games

The current cancellation of the Gonzaga vs Baylor game makes what happened a couple of days earlier all the more important for both programs. The Bulldogs defeated No. 11 West Virginia, while the Bears beat No. 5 Illinois. Both of these are major resume builders for a pair of programs looking to land a 1 seed come March.

While Baylor has the Big 12 to lie back on, Gonzaga doesn’t have too many more quality matchups left on its schedule outside of Iowa on December 19th. That’s why they’ve been so aggressive in scheduling these games early on. With wins over Kansas, Auburn, and now West Virginia, the Bulldogs are in good shape for a top seed if they can beat either Iowa or the Bears if the game is rescheduled.

Baylor wasn’t the only Big 12 program to get a major win, as the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Kentucky Wildcats. While Kentucky may not be a top-5 team right now, it’s still a marquee win and another boost for the Big 12 overall, who did very well this past week.

And while Illinois couldn’t get it done for the Big Ten, Michigan State was able to with a road victory over the Blue Devils. Since it wasn’t a neutral site victory as it was intended to be, that’s just an extra boost for the Spartans. These wins give the victors a bump ahead in the race for the top seeds, while also allowing them to afford a potential bad loss down the road, something that has happened a ton already this season.

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