Bracketology through games of March 2, 2021
Good, Bad, & Meh from March 2, 2021
Good:
- Baylor with a resilient win at West Virginia in overtime, silencing any doubters as to whether this is the same team as pre-COVID shutdown. Tremendous game from Morgantown, and the Big 12 has seen some high-level hoop of late.
- No Ayo, no problem once again for Illinois who dismantled 2nd ranked Michigan by 23 points in Ann Arbor. This is a very good and very dangerous team. Illinois has firmly cemented itself on the 1-seed line now, and barring any major upheavals, I believe the four 1-seeds should be set.
- Big time Bubble victories for Michigan State over Indiana and Georgia Tech over Duke. While neither is completely safe, each put a little more distance between itself and the cut line.
- Purdue survives a battle with Big 10 foe Wisconsin. I tweeted earlier this week that Purdue is the quietest really good team out there and will be a handful in the Big 10 and NCAA tournaments.
- The Horizon League. What a day for that league.
Bad:
- Boise St suffers a terrible Q4 home loss vs. Fresno St, dropping it all the way to my last team inside the field.
- Xavier suffers another loss, this time at Georgetown, and after having established itself back in the field, finds itself the first team out.
- Indiana is done barring a minor miracle, into the next four out section and not a realistic consideration for an at-large bid at this point.
- Duke really needed to win one of the Louisville and Georgia Tech games, and lost both. Although a date with North Carolina offers some hope on Saturday, realistically Duke should win that game and advance to the ACC tournament final to feel like it might have a good chance to dance.
Meh:
- West Virginia acquitted itself quite well in a home overtime defeat to Baylor. The Mountaineers should still be a top-3 seed come Selection Sunday and will be a dangerous team come the NCAA Tournament.
- Arkansas, Texas, Texas Tech, and Alabama all win games they should win in convincing fashion, and all will be mid-tier seeds and dangerous come Selection Sunday. LSU also held serve against Vanderbilt.
- Michigan and Wisconsin should rebound just fine from these tough losses, although for Michigan, it had to be a bit of a wakeup call after being the darling of the dance over this past week.
Bracket Movers and Shakers:
Baylor’s win and Illinois’ win over Michigan shook up the 1-seed line just a bit, with Baylor reclaiming the #2 overall, Illinois moving up to #3, and Michigan falling back to #4. As stated above, barring a collapse, these should be your 1 seeds come Selection Sunday.
Presumptive Horizon League champion Wright St. fell in the Horizon League Tournament, opening up the door for Cleveland State, who takes the Horizon’s autobid in the new bracket.
Xavier falls out of the field and is replaced in the First Four by Seton Hall. Boise St falls back to the First Four while Georgia Tech moves up to the 11-seed line and avoids the play-in round.
Wednesday’s At-Large Bracket Games to Watch:
Minnesota at Penn St (not really a Bubble team for either…but never say never)
Clemson at Syracuse
Boston College at Florida St
Missouri at Florida
Creighton at Villanova
Wichita St at Tulane
Stanford at USC
UCLA at Oregon
New Mexico at Colorado St
Connecticut at Seton Hall
San Diego St at UNLV
Maryland at Northwestern
Dubz on Hoops 