Bracketology 2024:Houston, Purdue, UConn, and UNC land No. 1 seeds in the final field of 68 projection

The Bubble

Last four in

The last four teams to make the field and have a chance to win a national championship include three teams that either are in the Big 12 or are former members of the conference and a team that has a knack for March magic no matter how their season has gone. One game in Dayton will see Colorado coming off a Pac-12 title game appearance taking on Michigan State as No. 10 seeds. The winner of this matchup will go to the Midwest region to take on No. 7 Nevada. The other game pits a pair of No. 11 seeds with Texas A&M and Oklahoma reliving the Big 8 days with the winner going to the South for a game against No. 6 Clemson.

First four out

Thanks to the late-day bid thievery the four teams that just missed the cut include two teams that were in the field to begin the day, a Big East team, and an ACC team that had a good year but ran out of time. Both Providence and Pittsburgh came up just short and find themselves on the outside looking in. Also on the outside are Virginia and Indiana State who were both looking at trips to Dayton when the day began.

Next four out

Speaking of the Big 12, the team leading the group of the next four teams out is the Kansas State Wildcats. Joining the Wildcats are conference mate Cincinnati and Wake Forest Demon Deacons who fell too early in their conference tournaments and were left playing the waiting game.

Seton Hall is the last team in the group who in most other years would be either in the field or much closer to it, but in the end, the bubble was just too strong for them to compete for a spot.