Tag: Bracketology

Gators a No. 7 seed in CBS Sports bracketology at regular-season end

Florida gained a spot in Jerry Palm’s bracketology after beating ‘Bama but also losing at Vandy.

The final week of the regular season for Florida basketball was a rollercoaster ride, stretching from the highs of the win over the Alabama Crimson Tide at home and the lows from the road loss at the Vanderbilt Commodores. Nonetheless, the Gators wrapped up a successful season that has them heading to the Big Dance for the first time since 2021.

Following the final week of action, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm released his latest bracketology update, in which Todd Golden’s team rose a spot to No. 7 while shifting over to the Midwest Region. They are now matched up with the No. 10 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the opening round, with the No. 2 Baylor Bears and No. 14 Sam Houston Bearkats in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Southeastern Conference is also represented by the top team in the West Region, the Tennessee Volunteers, followed by Alabama (No. 4, East), the Kentucky Wildcats (No. 4, Midwest), Auburn Tigers (No. 5, South), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 5, West) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 10, East). The Texas A&M Aggies are among the first four out. 

Florida is a No. 6 seed in the Southeastern Conference Tournament, giving it a first-round bye and matching the Gators up with the winner of Game 2 on Thursday, March 14, inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Tipoff is slated for a late 9:30 p.m. ET start on the SEC Network.

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Alabama slides to a four-seed in latest Bracketology projection

Alabama exits the regular season as a projected four-seed in latest USA TODAY Bracketology projection.

Alabama basketball finished the 2023-2024 regular season on a high note with an impressive comeback win over Arkansas at home. Now, the team enters the SEC Conference Tournament with few opportunities to improve its resumé for seeding in the NCAA Tournament.

The latest USA TODAY Sports Bracketology projection was done by Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith, and Eddie Timanus. In it, Alabama is a projected four-seed in the South Region.

According to the mock bracket, the Tide would face No. 13 Appalachian State in the Round of 64.

In the South Region, the No. 1 seed would be Houston, No. 2 North Carolina and No. 3 Creighton. Without a doubt, one of the most difficult of the four regions.

Alabama will play again this Friday, March 15 in Nashville in the quarterfinals of the 2024 SEC Conference Tournament.

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UNC basketball moves up in bracketology after win over Duke

The UNC basketball program moved up in latest ESPN Bracketology by Joe Lunardi after beating Duke.

North Carolina’s win over Duke wasn’t important just because it secured the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title and a sweep of their arch-rival. It was also important for NCAA Tournament seeding.

The result was the first component in a perfect storm for North Carolina on Saturday that bolstered its chances of receiving a No. 1 seed. Before the Tar Heels’ win over Duke, Tennessee was upset at home by Kentucky. After the Tar Heels’ game, Arizona was stunned on the road at USC in the ESPN night game.

Those results opened a path for the Tar Heels to get the fourth and final No. 1 seed as they are battling the Volunteers and Wildcats. Tennessee holds the spot now, and UNC will need a lot to happen before it can celebrate a No. 1 seed. However, it moved up in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology.

The Tar Heels are the fifth seed overall and the top No. 2 seed in the bracket per Lunardi:

North Carolina has work to do and likely needs to either win or reach the ACC title game depending on what Tennessee does. With the ACC title game taking place on Saturday, the committee has at least a plan of what the seeds will be going into Sunday.

Obviously, circumstances can change, but UNC needs Tennessee to lose in the SEC Tournament, the earlier the better.

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Photos of Notre Dame’s ACC Tournament championship win vs. NC State

Relive a memorable day in program history.

Notre Dame will remember this one for a long time. Not everybody believed the Irish would be the last team standing at the end of the ACC Tournament, but it happened with a 55-51 victory over NC State. Both the Irish and Wolfpack played only six players, but the Irish only had seven available because of injuries. That’s what makes this accomplishment even more special.

Coupled with an eight-game winning streak, it’s impossible to think the Irish won’t host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as a top-four seed now. ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme even said afterwards that they should be locked in as a No. 3 seed now. They’ve answered every challenge late in the season, and the selection committee has no reason not to consider them as a host.

Whatever happens for the rest of the season, the Irish always will have this moment. Here are the images from an afternoon that will stick with them:

Notre Dame moves up to No. 3 seed in latest ESPN bracketology

You want want to start making plans to be at Purcell Pavilion in a couple of weeks.

Notre Dame has become impossible to ignore during its seven-game winning streak late in the season. Because of it, all signs point to the Irish hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament as a top-four seed. Now, simply getting to the ACC Tournament championship game appears to have helped them even more.

ESPN’s Charlie Creme updated his bracketology before the title game and bumped the Irish up to a No. 3 seed. The move was noticeable enough that Creme devoted his paragraph at the top of his bracket to them:

“Notre Dame looks like the best team in the ACC and has reached the championship game of the ACC tournament. With wins over Louisville and Virginia Tech in Greensboro, Notre Dame has jumped to a No. 3 seed. The Irish were just outside looking in during the NCAA tournament selection committee’s two reveals of the top 16 seeds. But now, they’ve won seven in a row since losing to NC State – their opponent in Sunday’s ACC tournament title game. Notre Dame was the biggest mover on a Saturday that saw most of the remaining favorites win and hold their spots.”

For what it’s worth, Her Hoop Stats projected the Irish as a fourth seed in the update it published before the Irish won their semifinal game. Regardless, it would be a shocker at this point if the Irish aren’t an NCAA Tournament host. In that case, there needs to be a serious overhaul of the selection process. Hopefully, that discussion won’t be necessary in a week’s time.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

ESPN bracketology update not favorable to Lady Lions after loss to Iowa

The latest ESPN women’s basketball bracketology update may have just burst Penn State’s bubble.

There may not be any shame in losing to Iowa and Caitlin Clark in the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament, but the manner in which the Penn State Lady Lions were ousted by the Hawkeyes may have been enough to pop Penn State’s NCAA tournament bubble.

ESPN women’s basketball bracketology update from Charlie Creme, which was updated on Saturday morning the day after Penn State’s lopsided Big Ten quarterfinal loss at the hands of Iowa, moved Penn State from being the last team in the tournament to among the first four out. With selection day still a week away, there could be some help for Penn State to come out of the remaining conference tournaments going on around the country, although this latest bracketology update does not appear to see much help being made available for the Lady Lions and their NCAA tournament hopes.

The last four teams in, according to Creme’s bracket update, are all from the SEC (Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, and Mississippi State) or the Pac-12 (Arizona), and all of those conference tournaments fell in sync with the Big Ten tournament.

There is also one other team ahead of Penn State among the first four teams out, which is Green Bay. Green Bay is the no. 2 seed in the Horizon League tournament and is scheduled to play in the conference tournament’s semifinal game on Monday. A win would send Green Bay to the Horizon League championship game, which could lead to an automatic berth. But even if Green Bay captures an automatic bid, Penn State would likely still have to climb in front of the Horizon League’s top seed, Cleveland State, to get in. Cleveland State is sitting on a 13-seed in Creme’s latest bracket forecast.

Penn State was eliminated from the Big Ten conference championship tournament by Iowa with a 95-62 loss. The lopsidedness of the final score is pretty damaging, especially for a team that went on an untimely 2-6 skid at the end of the regular season leading into the Big Ten tournament. Penn State beating Iowa likely would have helped Penn State gain a stronger foot inside the NCAA tournament, and a respectable loss could have been enough to keep them a bit more in the mix. But a 33-point loss is tough to overcome in the final game of a season.

But the fate is in the hands of the NCAA selection committee now. We will find out in a week whether or not time can heal enough wounds for the Lady Lions and keep NCAA tournament hopes alive or if the NIT may be the more likely destination.

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Florida inches up ESPN’s bracketology ahead of regular-season finale

Gators still rising in the NCAA Tournament projections with a final regular-season game remaining.

The men’s college basketball season is wrapping up for the Power Five conferences this weekend with a slate of games including the final Southeastern Conference matchup for the Florida Gators on Saturday.

Thanks to a second-half surge by Todd Golden’s gang, the Orange and Blue are firmly in the NCAA Tournament discussion and are ostensibly a lock for the annual Big Dance. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm agrees, promoting the program a spot to No. 7 in the East Region — up one rung from the last update.

Florida is lined up to face the No. 10 Nebraska Cornhuskers in the opening round played in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the No. 2 North Carolina Tar Heels and No. 15 High Point Purple Panthers also joining them at that location.

The Southeastern Conference is also represented by the top team in the West Region, the Tennessee Volunteers, followed by the Alabama Crimson Tide (No. 4, South), Auburn Tigers (No. 4, Midwest), Kentucky Wildcats (No. 5, East), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 5, West) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 10, Midwest).

Florida wraps up its regular-season schedule on Saturday, March 9, in Nashville as the Gators travel for a rematch with the Vanderbilt Commodores. Tipoff is slated for 4:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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Notre Dame projected as No. 4 seed or better in all bracketologies

The Irish might not be done playing at home yet this year.

In beating both Virginia Tech and Louisville last week, Notre Dame did what it needed to do to move up bracketologists’ projections. Every available bracketology now projects the Irish to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. ESPN, CBS Sports and Her Hoop Stats all have the Irish as a No. 4 seed in their latest updates. College Sports Madness projects them as a No. 3.

Connor Groel, the women’s bracketologist for CBS Sports, wrote the following about the Irish in his latest update:

“It’s been a terrific close to the season from Notre Dame, who now have a chance to perhaps even jump to a No. 3 seed, equaling last season’s result despite [autotag]Olivia Miles[/autotag] having missed the entire year. [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] exceeded all expectations and was named both ACC Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year while [autotag]Sonia Citron[/autotag] is playing some of her best basketball as of late.”

With the Irish one of the four ACC Tournament semifinalists, they have another chance to make their case. Hopefully, they won’t need to with the case possibly already having been made.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Kentucky still in dreaded four and five seeds in latest Bracketology

Taking a look at where Kentucky stands in various Bracketology predictions

The men’s basketball season is down to its final games to be played before conference tournaments, and the Bracketology predictions are getting closer to being correct. For the Kentucky Wildcats, there’s one regular season game left, and then the SEC Tournament to improve their seeding.

The Wildcats are playing well right now, having won six of their last seven games, including wins over a couple of ranked teams. The defense has played better, but still struggles at times. However, the offense has been nearly unstoppable.

USA TODAY Sports has Kentucky as a four seed in the East Region against Samford in round one. Connecticut is the top seed in that region, with Iowa State as the number two seed.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi also has the Wildcats seeded at number four in the Midwest Region. Purdue would be the top seed in this case.

In the CBS prediction, Kentucky is a five seed in the West Region. Tennessee and Arizona are the top two seeds in this case. Interestingly, Iowa State is in the same bracket as the Cats in all three cases.

The final games will be meaningful and could change Kentucky’s seeding drastically. They could go as high as a two seed with a win against the Volunteers and then an SEC Tournament run. It will be a big final week for the Wildcats and their fans.

Florida switches regions in USA TODAY Sports bracketology update

The Gators switch regions but are still a No. 6 seed in USA TODAY Sports’ bracketology update.

Florida basketball continues its ascendence up the rankings and bracket watched as the regular season comes to a close. The Gators were mired in mediocrity back in mid-January, but a stretch of 10 wins in 13 tries has turned that around dramatically.

Following Tuesday night’s victory over the visiting Alabama Crimson Tide, USA TODAY Sports’s bracketology update kept Florida at a No. 6 seed, but this time moving from the Midwest Region to the West Region. There, the Gators are grouped with the No. 3 Baylor Bears, No. 11 Nebraska Cornhuskers and No. 14 High Point Purple Panthers.

The Southeastern Conference is represented by the West Region’s top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers, along with Alabama (No. 4, South), the Kentucky Wildcats (No. 4, East), Auburn Tigers (No. 4, Midwest), South Carolina Gamecocks (No. 6, East) and Mississippi State Bulldogs (No. 10, South).

The Texas A&M Aggies are the final team in the “next four out” category.

Florida wraps up its regular-season schedule on Saturday, March 9, in Nashville as the Gators travel for a rematch with the Vanderbilt Commodores. Tipoff is slated for 4:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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