Bracketology 2024: Kansas back on top-seed line in latest field of 68 projection

West Region (Los Angeles)

1.) Kansas vs. 16.) Southern/Colgate

8.) Texas A&M vs. 9.) Mississippi State

5.) Dayton vs. 12.) Providence/Virginia

4.) South Carolina vs. 13.) UC-Irvine

6.) TCU vs. 11.) Indiana State

3.) Creighton vs. 14.) Eastern Washington

7.) Florida Atlantic vs. 10.) Saint John's

2.) Arizona vs. 15.) Louisiana Tech

In the West region, the Kansas Jayhawks reign supreme as the No. 1 seed. Coming off a huge game at home on Saturday where the No. 1 team in The NET the Houston Cougars fell victim to the Jayhawks allowing the Jayhawks to jump back up to the top seed line as my No. 4 overall seed. At 17-4, Kansas now has three top-5 NET wins over Houston, UConn and Tennessee. Although their metrics don’t quite match up with the other contenders for the last No. 1 seed, the quality of those elite wins gives them the edge, for now.

To get back to the Final Four, they will potentially have to go through No. 2 Arizona and a team that has quietly gone 15-1 in their last 16 games, the Dayton Flyers are the No. 5 seed in the West. Also here is one of the hottest teams in college basketball, South Carolina earns the No. 4 seed in this region thanks to wins over Kentucky and Tennessee in recent weeks and now sit a game out of first place in the SEC, not bad for a team picked to finish last in the conference.

The No. 7 team in this region should look familiar, the Florida Atlantic Owls. They returned everyone from their final four run and are 18-4 at the top of the AAC. The Owls however have been flying under the radar despite top-40 rankings in offensive efficiency, effective field goal percentage, and two and three-point percentages. One reason might be the eye test because in a lot of their games, the Owls have struggled some before pulling away, but this team knows how to win and will be dangerous.