Bracketology 2024: 5 key takeaways from Saturday’s top-16 reveal

The road to March Madness just got closer with the men’s basketball selection committee revealing their top 16 seeds on Saturday, Feb. 17, offering an early preview of where teams currently stand and where they might stand come Selection Sunday, which is officially less than a month away. 

Here are the top 16 seeds:

Although the number of regular-season games may be dwindling on each team’s respective schedule, there is lots of room for teams to work their way in or out of a top-four seed. In the 2023 reveal, Iowa State was the 11th overall seed but would fall to a six-seed come Selection Sunday. 

Another example would be Marquette -- seeded 14th overall in the 2023 reveal -- working themselves to the two-seed line a month later.

With that being said, let's take a look at five takeaways from Saturday’s top-16 reveal as Selection Sunday draws closer.

1. San Diego State's inclusion raises eyebrows, but is it a surprise?

Perhaps the most surprising result of the top-16 reveal was Brian Dutcher’s San Diego State Aztecs finding themselves in the top-16 as the 14th-overall seed in the Midwest. Not many people had the Aztecs in their “mock” top 16 -- including myself -- but when looking a bit deeper, it makes sense as to why San Diego State was included.

Boasting a NET ranking of 18 with five Q1 wins and zero losses outside of Q1 games, the Aztecs remain blemish-free in terms of owning “bad” losses. 

In addition to not owning a single “bad” loss, the Aztecs have a NET out-of-conference SOS of 14th-best in the country thanks to the fact that the Aztecs played four true road games in their non-conference slate.

Given San Diego State’s top-16 seed inclusion, it should bode well for the rest of the Mountain West to keep their six-bid hopes alive as Selection Sunday nears.