Bracketology 2023: Latest field of 68 projections heading into March

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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Bracketology UCLA Bruins guard Jaylen Clark Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /

South Region (Louisville)

(1) Alabama vs. (16) Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
(8) Iowa vs. (9) Florida Atlantic
(5) Creighton vs. (12) Bradley
(4) Virginia vs. (13) Sam Houston State
(6) San Diego State vs. (11) Memphis
(3) Kansas State vs. (14) Yale
(7) Maryland vs. (10) Pittsburgh
(2) UCLA vs. (15) Colgate

We’ll start in the South Region where Alabama is still holding court. When the selection committee revealed their top 16 seeds last weekend it left a lot of questions. Some aspects of a resume were important for some teams while for others the same aspect didn’t matter as much. One thing that seemed to matter was quality wins, and Alabama has more than a handful with seven quad 1A wins including a road win at Tennessee and a sweep of a resurgent Arkansas team. Besides the outlier loss to Oklahoma, their average loss ranks just over 6th in the NET. Despite the controversy and scrutiny hanging over the team off the court, on it, they are still one of the best.

The rest of the region is littered with defensive stalwarts, including the top seed that could pose problems for the rest of the bracket. UCLA, San Diego State, Kansas State, Creighton, Virginia, and Sam Houston State all rank in the top 30 in the country in defensive efficiency. Another aspect that makes the south interesting is that out of those seven squads just Alabama, No. 2 UCLA, and No. 5 Creighton are the only ones that also rank in the top 30 in offensive efficiency.

Speaking of UCLA, they are the team to watch for me in this region. For a team ranked 4th in the NET, they might have the quietest 24-4 record of anyone in the country. They haven’t lost in over a month and this veteran team has a metric average of just over five values the basketball and can turn their opponents over to the tune of 16 per game. Mick Cronin’s team has a lot of ingredients for a deep run in March.

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