As the month enters February, games are more important than ever when it comes to Bracketology. This past week, there were a number of ranked battles, along with opportunities for bubble teams to get signature wins for their respective NCAA Tournament resumes.
Here’s a look at the five biggest Bracketology winners from the last week.
1. Indiana Hoosiers
Coming into last week, Indiana was 0-6 against Quad 1 opponents and lacked any signature wins on its resume. But they managed to get their two best wins of the season, beating Purdue at home and following it up with a road win over UCLA. Both are currently Quad 1 wins, pushing the Hoosiers into most field of 68 bracket projections over the weekend. It’s easily the best week of the Coach Darian DeVries era, and why the team ultimately gets good news on Selection Sunday.
2. UCF Knights
Picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12 in the preseason, UCF is currently 6-3 in league play, with three straight wins currently. The latest was an 88-80 win over Texas Tech, another Quad 1 win for their resume. They’re now 5-4 against Quad 1/2 opponents and have no bad losses to date. Plus, wins over Kansas and Texas A&M continue to look better than ever.
3. Michigan Wolverines
At 20-1 overall, Michigan is safely in the field. But what they want is a 1 seed, something that’s very obtainable after this past week. The Wolverines picked up wins over top-10 teams, Nebraska and Michigan State, two quality signature wins to bolster an already elite resume. With eight Quad 1 wins, only Duke and Arizona can claim more (9) entering this week.
4. Kentucky Wildcats
After a five-game win streak, Kentucky had the toughest week of its season, playing on the road at Vanderbilt and Arkansas. While they did lose by 25 at the Commodores, the Wildcats did pull out an 85-77 road win over the Razorbacks, arguably its best win of the season. At 6-3 in SEC play and five Quad 1 wins and no bad losses, Kentucky is much closer towards being an NCAA Tournament team than many would think with all the noise. It also helps that wins over St. John’s and Indiana has also looked much better as of late.
5. Arizona Wildcats
With top teams such as Michigan and Duke continuing to win, Arizona’s lead for the No. 1 overall seed isn’t insurmountable. However, the Wildcats continue to win in its own right, getting road wins over BYU and rival Arizona State in the past week. Arizona remains unbeaten, No. 1 in the AP poll and still the projected No. 1 overall seed for the Big Dance.