Bracketology 2024: Tennessee snags a No. 1 seed in the penultimate projected field of 68

We are one week away from Selection Sunday and there is still a lot to shake out, including at the top of the bracket that includes a new No. 1 seed in the latest projection.

Midwest Region (Detroit)

1.) Purdue vs. 16.) South Dakota State

8.) Nevada vs. 9.) Seton Hall

5.) BYU vs. 12.) Grand Canyon

4.) Alabama vs. 13.) Samford

6.) Dayton vs. 11.) Indiana State

3.) Creighton vs. 14.) Eastern Washington

7.) Florida vs. 10.) Colorado State

2.) Baylor vs. 15.) Colgate

With a week to go the Purdue Boilermakers are still the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region and top overall seed in the field. Entering their regular-season finale with Wisconsin, Purdue is 27-3 with the No. 1 strength of record and an unblemished 7-0 record in quad 1A. Purdue has played a top-10 schedule all year long and their resume average is 1.8 heading into their last game. They have been a top-3 team in the country all year long, but is this finally the year they get over the hump and get to the final four?

The rest of the Midwest region could be referred to as the Cinderella region with the likes of Grand Canyon, Dayton, Samford, and Indiana State all looking like teams that can shake up the region. Also here is No. 3 seed Creighton, who after their last-second win at Villanova enter the Big East Tournament winners of seven of their last eight and have scored 75 or more points in six of those seven wins.

The team to watch in this region is the No. 10 Colorado State Rams who have gotten beat up a bit in league play posting just a 9-8 record, but the Rams have also done some beating up of their own. Of their eight league losses, they earned a season split with all of those opponents except for Nevada. The Rams own a top-65 strength of schedule and a results metric average of 38. This is also a team that was once ranked as high as 13th earlier this season.