Tag: Joe Lunardi

Duke almost a No. 2 seed in Lunardi’s top 16 ahead of Saturday’s game

With a few hours before Duke’s Saturday tipoff against Virginia, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi shared his top 16 overall teams and the Blue Devils are on the verge of a No. 2 seed.

Duke basketball could be a projected No. 2 seed as soon as Sunday morning.

Longtime ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi revealed his updated top 16 overall teams amid Saturday’s games, about two hours before Duke was scheduled to play Virginia.

The Blue Devils, currently ranked 10th in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, crept up to Lunardi’s ninth overall seed, the highest-ranked No. 3 in the bracket.

The 2-seeds, in order, were Tennessee, North Carolina, Marquette, and Iowa State, all of whom also play on Saturday.

Lunardi also had Virginia as one of the Last Four Byes, meaning a Saturday loss could demote them to the First Four games or even out of the tournament if the chips fall the wrong way.

Should any of the 2-seeds lose, or should Duke beat Virginia badly enough on their home court on Saturday evening, the Blue Devils would be next in line to take one of Lunardi’s top two seeds.

Lunardi’s projections aren’t the end-all, be-all for the NCAA Tournament, but with Duke 10th in the Coaches Poll and eighth in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric, it sounds like the Blue Devils could easily be in the discussion for a No. 2 spot with a strong final week.

ESPN Bracketology: Latest update headed into March

The latest from Mr. Lunardi.

It was a good week for Ohio State basketball have won back-to-back games and three of their four games since interim head coach Jake Diebler took over.

The Buckeyes ended a 17 game road losing streak on Sunday as Dale Bonner’s game winning three pointer gave Ohio State a 60-57 victory over Michigan State.

On Thursday night, Ohio State got a big home victory as Jamison Battle’s 32 points led the Buckeyes to a 78-69 win over Nebraska.

Ohio State will likely still need a deep run in the Big Ten tournament to claim a spot in the big dance but it’s good to see the Buckeyes playing good basketball down the stretch.

Who is projected to make the field of 68 from the Big Ten?  Here are the six teams ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects to get in the big dance in his latest Bracketology update.

Duke slides down to a No. 4 seed in Lunardi’s latest Bracketology

Where is Duke projected in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update?

The Duke Blue Devils are now projected to be a No. 4 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update.

The longtime ESPN bracket analyst released an updated projection on Friday, the first day of the sport’s most famous month.

After Duke spent much of the last month as one of his 3-seeds, Lunardi projected the Blue Devils to be the No. 4 seed in the South region. Their first-round matchup was against Samford in Pittsburgh.

The projected top three seeds in the South region are Houston, Tennessee, and Creighton.

Duke, who is 22-6 on the season and 13-4 in the ACC after Wednesday’s win over Louisville, likely dropped after they were upset on the road by Wake Forest last weekend.

North Carolina, who currently holds a one-game lead over Duke in the ACC, remained a No. 2 seed in the projections. Lunardi slotted them into the East region with defending national champion Connecticut.

Duke will close out its season with Virginia, NC State, and North Carolina as they look to try to move up in the projections.

What is Alabama projected to be seeded in March Madness after Kentucky loss?

ESPN Joe Lunardi updates Alabama March Madness status after ugly Kentucky loss

The No. 13 ranked Alabama Crimson Tide suffered their ugliest loss of the season on Saturday as they fell on the road against the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats. It was all Big Blue as they raced out to an ugly 58-42 halftime lead over the Tide and never looked back en route to a 117-95 victory. Kentucky shot lights out all afternoon as they were a staggering 63.1% from the field and 54.2% from three.

Optically, losing a game by 22 points is not a good look for the committee with March less than a week away. Especially when you consider all three of Alabama’s losses in SEC play have come by at least 17 points against some of the better teams in the conference in Auburn, Tennessee and now obviously Kentucky.

Despite all that, the Tide still control their own destiny to win the SEC with the Volunteers coming to town next Saturday. Even though the fans may have overreacted to Alabama’s loss against Kentucky, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi did not as he still projects the Crimson Tide to be a three seed in March Madness. In fact, he has them as the highest three-seed as the No. 9 team overall.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

Duke sits as top No. 3 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update

Where is Duke seeded in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update after Saturday’s loss to Wake Forest?

The Duke Blue Devils sit at the bottom of the No. 3 seed line as the 12th overall seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update.

They slipped down a few spots after Duke’s 83-79 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday, a road loss that pushed the Demon Deacons into the tournament field.

Duke is 21-6 and 12-4 in the ACC after Saturday’s defeat, which ended a five-game win streak for the Blue Devils.

The Blue Devils remain the second-highest ACC team in the ESPN bracketologist’s rankings behind the North Carolina Tar Heels, who are currently a No. 2 seed in Lunardi’s projections. The conference has five projected tournament teams after Wake moved inside the bubble, joining Clemson and Virginia in the current bracket.

https://twitter.com/ESPNLunardi/status/1761758961726845088/photo/1

Any path to a higher seed became murkier after the game when star player Kyle Filipowski suffered a leg injury during Wake Forest’s court-storming after he was caught in a swarm of fans.

Freshman guard Caleb Foster also picked up an ankle injury in the second half of the game Saturday.

ESPN Bracketology: Latest update after upset-filled week in Big Ten

The latest look at Joe Lunardi’s NCAA projections with Big Ten teams. #B1G

It was a week full of upsets in the Big Ten. Purdue, Illinois and Wisconsin, who have been at the top of the Big Ten standings for much of the season, all dropped games.

The most notable upset came on Sunday when Ohio State beat Purdue in its first game since firing head coach Chris Holtmann.

Penn State also pulled off an upset on its home floor Wednesday night, erasing a seven-point Illinois lead with less than a minute left to take home a 90-89 victory.

See how did these upsets affect NCAA tournament projections in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update?  Lunardi is one of the best NCAA tournament bracket experts in the business, and he updated his predictions for who would make the field of 68 on Friday morning.

Texas A&M Basketball is treading water in newest bracketology update

Ahead of facing the No. 5 Tennessee on the road, Texas A&M has continued to fall in Joe Lunardi’s newest bracketology update.

Texas A&M’s (15-11, 6-7 SEC) free fall has reached epic proportions just two weeks after defeating the highly ranked Tennessee Volunteers inside a packed Reed Arena, seemingly cementing their place in the NCAA Tournament.

Barring a collapse with eight games remaining on the schedule, ESPN’s “bracketologist” Joe Lunardi had the Aggies squarely slated at a 7-seed heading into their road matchup against Vanderbilt. Still, their once hopeful trip to Nashville was just the start of what has become a complete disaster.

After falling to the Commodores on a last-second shot, losing 100-75 against Alabama on the road was no surprise, but what shocked every Aggie on Tuesday night was the lack of urgency coupled with one of the poorest shooting performances on the year in the Aggies’ underwhelming 78-71 loss to Arkansas.

According to Lunardi, Texas A&M has now gone from squarely in the field to drop all the way down to the “last team in,” and if this squad still wants a shot at taking part in any postseason festivities outside of the N.I.T, finishing 4-1, or at worst, 3-2 (winning every home game), is only way forward.

From a NET rankings perspective, A&M’s impressive six Quad 1 wins are the only reason they’re still in the tournament conversation. At the same time, their four Quad 3 losses will be heavily taken into account by the selection committee.

Texas A&M will hit the road to face No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 7:00 p.m. CT. The game will air on ESPN.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty.

Duke’s projected first-round matchup and region revealed in latest ESPN Bracketology

ESPN expert Joe Lunardi updated his full bracket projections on Friday. See who he thought Duke would draw in the opening round.

Longtime ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi shared his updated full-field March Madness projections on Friday, and he had the Blue Devils squaring off against Vermont in the opening round.

Duke, Lunardi’s No. 3 seed in the South, would play either Colorado State or South Florida in the second round if they through the first game.

The Blue Devils have won 16 of their last 18 games to move higher and higher in the projected field. A USA TODAY Sports article published on Friday said Duke could move up to the No. 2 seeds if they win the ACC regular-season title.

The top two seeds in Lunardi’s South region are Houston and Tennessee, and fellow ACC programs Clemson (No. 5 seed) and Virginia (No. 10 seed) also slotted into the region.

North Carolina, the only other team from the conference in Lunardi’s projected field, is still a 2-seed despite a recent lack of form. The Tar Heels are in the East region behind defending national champion Connecticut.

Blue Devils are 10th overall seed in Lunardi’s latest bracket

The Blue Devils are above North Carolina in KenPom and ESPN BPI, but do they have a better tournament resume than the Tar Heels? ESPN’s Joe Lunardi weighs in.

Duke may have tied North Carolina on the ACC standings and pushed ahead of the Tar Heels in KenPom and ESPN BPI, but ESPN’s Joe Lunardi still thinks UNC has a better tournament resume.

The longtime ESPN bracket expert shared his updated top 16 teams on Thursday, and the Blue Devils only moved up to the 10th overall spot.

Duke featured as the No. 3 seed in the South region behind Houston and Tennessee, the third- and fifth-ranked teams in the nation on Lunardi’s board. Illinois rounded out the fourth seed in the region.

The Tar Heels, despite three losses in their past six games, remained one of Lunardi’s No. 2 seeds. They sat in his East region behind Connecticut, with Iowa State and San Diego State behind them.

Lunardi currently projects the ACC with four tournament teams, with Clemson as one of his No. 5 seeds and Virginia elsewhere in the field. Wake Forest was his first team out.

How the Big Ten stacks up in Joe Lunardi’s latest ESPN bracketology update after Purdue’s weekend upset

After a big loss this weekend by Purdue, how does the Big Ten look in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update?

We are now less than a month away from Selection Sunday, with March 17 being the day every No. 1 seed or bubble team will know its fate. At this point in the season there is little movement among the top four seed lines, but when conference tournaments start in the next few weeks is where things can get interesting.

ESPN bracketologist Jor Lunardi released his latest bracket Tuesday morning, and the Big Ten was well represented with six teams in the 68-team bracket, which includes the First Four teams.

Lunardi also released his conference breakdowns, which highlight the teams he considered for one of the 68 slots and teams looking from the outside in at the bubble.

Most Big Ten teams only have five games left before the regular season ends on March 10, and then the conference tournament starts in Minneapolis on March 14.

Zach Edey and Purdue led over Illinois is down to 1.5 games after the Boilermakers were upset this past weekend by the Ohio State Buckeyes. The loss also took the No. 1 overall seed away from Purdue. The slim conference lead makes the two schools’ March 5 matchup in Champaign all the more exciting.

In Lunardi’s new bracket, six Big Ten teams are in the fold for the tournament: Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Michigan State, and Nebraska. There has been a little movement since last Tuesday, most notably Michigan State jumping from a nine seed to a seven seed after wins against Penn State and Michigan.

Iowa, Ohio State, and Rutgers are three teams that Lunardi considered for the bracket, but they would need a big showing in Minneapolis to make the field.

Let’s take a look at where Lunardi puts the six Big Ten teams in this edition of his 2024 bracket.