The first “back to normal” NCAA Tournament since the onset of Covid was a thriller that saw Kansas cut down the nets. The encore edition is fast approaching and before we know it brackets will be like new cars to an Oprah audience, everyone gets one. The season is well underway and we now have enough data to start looking at teams and where they stand.
While there are still two and a half months until Selection Sunday some of the postseason puzzle slowly starts to come into focus. Some teams are building their resumes to be No. 1 seeds and national title contenders, while others are fighting to show they deserve an invitation. By this time in the season, while the guest list for the NCAA Tournament is far from finalized, it has been whittled down from the 363 at which it started.
The selection process is as transparent as it had ever been and because of that, we can gain insight into how the committee is thinking and what aspects of a team’s resume they are valuing from year to year. Now that we are into the new year, there is enough of a baseline to begin building a field. With the New Year upon us, it is bracket time!
Every week leading up to Selection Sunday, I will give you a look at what I think the bracket could look like up to that point by looking at resumes and metrics that the committee will use such as KenPom, Sagarin, and Strength of Record among others. The results, rankings, and metrics included in this column will be through Sunday of the previous week and the automatic qualifiers will be a conference’s top team in the NET on Monday morning.
Conference tournaments begin Monday which means Selection Sunday will be here before we know it. With each passing day, March gets closer and there is less and less movement within the bracket. With all of that being said, let’s dive into the latest look at the field in 2023.