Bracketology 2021: BYU, Purdue and Saint Louis among biggest winners

Several teams stood out with their performances from this past week; who helped their Bracketology resumes the most?

It’s pretty clear that this is not your traditional college basketball season in any sense of the word. We’ve had nearly a month of games played, mostly in non-conference play, though we’ve also had a flurry of early-season and holiday tournaments along the way. In a more normal season, there would have been plenty more games and tournaments and additional chances for teams to prove themselves, but this is the reality of our situation.

These teams have to adjust, almost on the fly, as the national pandemic has caused cancellations, postponements, and plenty of games rescheduled. There are programs that still haven’t played a single game after nearly four weeks. Additionally, the NCAA recently ruled that all transfers are now immediately eligible, which will have an even greater impact on some of these teams already racking up games in the early part of their seasons.

Clearly, not every team is equal, and this season has shown that just as well as any other. We’ve seen top-ranked Gonzaga distance themselves from the pack with their big win against Iowa, while many of the traditional powerhouses in the ACC and SEC seem to be struggling in the early going. This week saw many teams given great opportunities to improve their standing, especially as we quickly head towards March and the next NCAA Tournament.

From those opportunities, there were a number of big winners from the past week that helped improve their standing in bracketology, as they hope to participate in March Madness and secure the best seed as possible. There were plenty of great games, but we’ve narrowed our list to five winners, each of whom saw their stock rise in these last seven days.