Bracketology 2023 projected field: UConn and Purdue land No. 1 seeds

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 8: Led by committee chairman Mark Hollis (3rd from L), 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) /

6 of 6

Tyree Appleby #1 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) /

How does the edge of the bubble look?

First Four

Now that we’ve had a look at the bracket, it’s time to take a look at the teams that barely made it and those that are on the outside looking in. In Dayton at the First Four, I have LSU and Utah battling as No. 11 seeds for the right to take on Maryland in the East region, and in the South, Providence and Rutgers are No. 12 seeds with the winner taking on North Carolina.

First four out

As of Jan. 2, the four teams that just missed making the cut for this edition of the bracket are, Northwestern, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, and Oklahoma State. The Big 12 is the dominant conference in the sport, so it’s not surprising that a team that has eight teams in the field, has two more in the first four out. What is surprising is that the entire conference is currently under serious consideration to make the field.

Next four out

Finally, the next four teams that have some jumping to do with plenty of time to do it are Central Florida, Pittsburgh, Clemson, and UAB. For me, the team to watch in this foursome is the Clemson Tigers who are 11-3 and have a big week this week with games at Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.

Next. Latest top-25 power rankings. dark

A lot can and will change over the next month and a half but this is how I see the bracket as we look at it on Jan. 2.

Home/Bracketology