Tag: march madness

Despite loss, the Wildcats remain a three-seed in latest Bracketology

Kentucky remains a three seed in ESPN’s Bracketology after losing to Vanderbilt.

It’s more than love at this point, the three-seed has an iron grip on Kentucky basketball. The Wildcats remain a three-seed in the latest edition of Bracketology, released Tuesday morning to ESPN by NCAA Tournament expert Joe Lunardi.

It’s somewhat shocking that the Wildcats are again a three-seed, as they were projected to drop after a stunning 69-74 loss to Vanderbilt on Saturday. Kentucky was also a three-seed in Friday’s edition of Bracketology.

Related: How Kentucky did in their last game with Tennessee

The positioning more reflects the strength of Kentucky’s schedule, as they’ve already played 11 Quad one games with a 6-5 record (14-5 overall).

The Wildcats did move around the board, as they’re now settled into a slot in the West region. Should Lunardi’s projection hold, they would play fourteen-seed Utah Valley in the opening round.

There could be some rivalry in store as well, with Louisville following Kentucky in the bracket. The Wildcats could potentially play the sixth-seeded Cardinals, who are paired up in their part of the bracket with eleven-seed UC Irvine.

Clemson basketball sees big jump in expert’s latest NCAA Tournament projections

Clemson takes a BIG step forward in this expert’s new NCAA Tournament projections.

At 17-4 overall and 9-1 in conference play, the Clemson Tigers are gaining steam and finally getting the attention of several NCAA Tournament and March Madness experts — including one in particular.

In his latest bracketology update, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm moved Clemson up three spots to a projected No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Palm’s new projections have the Tigers in the Midwest Region bracket along with the No. 1 seed Alabama Crimson Tide. Clemson and Alabama met last season in the Elite Eight in Los Angeles, a 92-89 Crimson Tide victory.

Palm sees the Tigers facing projected Southland Conference champion McNeese State, led by former LSU Tigers coach Will Wade.

Over at USA TODAY Sports, Clemson stayed as a projected No. 7 seed in the new field of 68 forecast from experts Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith and Eddie Timanus. The three-man panel see the Tigers facing an SEC team in the first round — the Oklahoma Sooners in a No. 7/10 game.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi also kept Clemson as a No. 7 seed in his new projections, released Tuesday. In Lunardi’s forecast, the Tigers get a familiar regional rival in the first round in the Georgia Bulldogs.

Clemson picked up its fifth-straight win with a 72-57 victory over Virginia Tech last Saturday at Cassell Coliseum. Chauncey Wiggins had 16 points, including four 3-pointers, to tie a season-high in scoring, and freshman Del Jones added a career-high 13 points against the Hokies.

The Tigers travel to Raleigh to take on rival NC State (9-11, 2-7) Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on The CW Network.

Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions. 

Experts’ latest NCAA Tournament projections: Is Alabama basketball still a No. 1 seed?

The experts’ latest outlook for Alabama’s NCAA resume.

The Alabama Crimson Tide slipped one spot in this week’s USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll, falling to No. 4 after a close 80-73 win over an LSU Tigers team near the bottom of the SEC standings.

Alabama’s hairy win over LSU wasn’t anything to knock them from the list of projected No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. In Lunardi’s latest bracketology outlook for March Madness released Tuesday, the Crimson Tide (17-3 overall, 6-1 SEC) held on to the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region and the No. 4 overall seed.

The Auburn Tigers were the projected No. 1 overall seed, with the Duke Blue Devils and Iowa State Cyclones joining Alabama and Auburn as No. 1 seeds. If the tournament began today, Lunardi forecasts a first-round game between Alabama and Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) champion William & Marry at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

In something of a twist, Lunardi now projects a record 13 SEC teams to make the NCAA Tournament — two more than last week. The Texas Longhorns and Vanderbilt Commodores were new additions to ESPN’s list of projected conference teams to make the NCAA Tournament.

RELATED: SEC Power Rankings: Conference outlook after Top 10 showdown

Alabama also held on to the No. 1 seed in Jerry Palm’s latest bracketology over at CBS Sports. The veteran prognosticator puts Alabama in line to face the Bryant Bulldogs as champions of the America East conference in a first-round game. Palm caps the number of SEC teams to reach the tournament at 12.

Over at USA TODAY Sports, Alabama moved up to a No. 1 seed, replacing the Tennessee Volunteers in the latest projections from the three-man panel of Eddie Timanus, Erick Smith and Paul Myerberg. The trio see Nate Oats’ team facing projected MAAC champion Marist in a first-round game.

Alabama (17-3 overall) takes on No. 13 Mississippi State (16-4, 4-3) Wednesday at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions. 

UCLA men left out of AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll

The Bruins received only one AP Poll vote despite taking down a ranked Wisconsin team.

The UCLA Bruins have found their footing lately, rebounding from a tumultuous four-game losing streak to start the new year. Jockeying for position in the Big Ten standings in the back half of their schedule, the Bruins seem to be figuring things out. Despite this, the Bruins did not crack the AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll.

Receiving only one vote, UCLA’s wins over Iowa, then-ranked No. 18 Wisconsin, and Washington were not enough to crack the Top 25. That said, a case could be made that it was a blessing in disguise.

With a handful of Big Ten games remaining on the Bruins’ schedule as they inch toward March, feats such as being ranked in the Top 25 are distracting.

As the Bruins continue to work out the kinks in their offense and maintain focus throughout the season, lofty goals of nationally-ranked recognition should not be in the front of their minds.

The Bruins boast a talented roster with above-average coaching which should focus on taking the remainder of their season one game at a time. If UCLA can do that, the Bruins should find themselves firmly in the mix in the NCAA Tournament when March rolls around.

Kentucky remains three-seed in Friday’s Bracketology update

Kentucky is back to a three-seed in the updated ESPN Bracketology.

Kentucky basketball still can’t escape the three-seed.

The Wildcats remain a third-seed in the latest edition of Bracketology from ESPN’s NCAA Tournament expert Joe Lunardi, which was released this past Friday.

The Wildcats are currently slotted into that position in the South region, and would play fourteen-seed Northern Colorado in the opening round should Lunardi’s projection hold.

A local rivalry could be in store as well, as Kentucky could potentially play Louisville in the following round. The Cardinals are a six-seed paired with New Mexico, with the winner slated to play the Wildcats in the next round.

Related: Five takeaways from Kentucky’s loss to Vanderbilt

The Wildcats likely didn’t fall because they hadn’t played a game between January 21-24 — which is what Friday’s edition considered in addition to each team’s body of work throughout the year. Kentucky fell from a two to a three-seed in the prior January 21 edition of Bracketology after a 97-102 loss to one-seed Alabama on January 18.

Friday’s edition did not consider Saturday’s 74-69 loss to Vanderbilt, who are now into the bracket as a ten-seed after that matchup. However, tomorrow’s new edition will likely feature a Wildcat drop because of the loss.

That new edition releases tomorrow morning. The Wildcats will also play again tomorrow night, as they’re set to take on two-seeded Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville at 7 p.m.

Where Clemson lands in USA TODAY Sports’ first NCAA Tournament bracketology of 2025

Here’s where Clemson is projected in USA TODAY’s first bracketology of the season.

With a four-game winning streak in ACC play and a conference record second only to the Duke Blue Devils and freshman sensation Cooper Flagg, the Clemson Tigers are in a great position to make the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season.

To that end, USA TODAY Sports unveiled its first edition of bracketology for the 2024-25 college basketball season Friday.

Brad Brownell’s Tigers were a projected No. 7 seed according to the panel of Paul Myerberg, Eddie Timanus and Erick Smith, who have Clemson facing the Vanderbilt Commodores in a No. 7 vs. No. 10 seed game in the first round of the Midwest Region in Raleigh, N.C.

Duke joined Auburn, Iowa State and Tennessee as projected No. 1 seeds, with Bruce Pearl’s Tigers the overall No. 1 seed. Only four ACC teams were projected to make the NCAA Tournament in USA TODAY Sports’ first field of 68 projections: Louisville and Pittsburgh joined Duke and Clemson, with Wake Forest and North Carolina listed as bubble teams.

Clemson picked up its fourth-straight win with an 86-72 victory over Syracuse earlier this week at Littlejohn Coliseum. Chase Hunter had 18 points in the first half and finished with 23 on 7-of-13 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 from behind the arc.

The Tigers travel to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech Saturday beginning at 5 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ACC Network.

Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions. 

Where Alabama lands in USA TODAY Sports’ first NCAA Tournament projections of 2024-25

Here’s where Alabama is projected in USA TODAY’s first bracketology of the season.

USA TODAY Sports unveiled its first edition of bracketology for the 2024-25 college basketball season Friday, with two SEC teams garnering No. 1 seeds and the rest of the conference’s fingerprints all over the full, projected 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket.

It should come as no surprise that Auburn is the projected No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament. Bruce Pearl’s team is 17-1 overall and are unbeaten in conference play as star forward Johni Broome continues to work his way back from an ankle injury.

Tennessee was the other projected No. 1 seed from the SEC after beating Mississippi State 68-56 on Tuesday. Duke and Iowa State round out the No. 1 seeds as projected by USA TODAYS Sports.

As for Alabama, the Crimson Tide (16-3 overall, 5-1 SEC) are the “strongest” No. 2 seed and the likeliest to move up to a top seed. Florida joined Alabama as a projected No. 2 seed, with Kentucky as a No. 3 seed and Texas A&M and Mississippi State as No. 4 seeds.

Ole Miss, Missouri, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Texas also made USA TODAY Sports’ first projected field of 68, giving the SEC a total of 11 NCAA Tournament teams. Texas is the lowest-ranked seed and would be play in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, in these projections.

The three-member panel of Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith and Eddie Timanus have Alabama facing William & Mary in a No. 2 vs. No. 15 first-round game in the Midwest Regional in Raleigh, N.C. The Tribe are currently tied with Towson atop the CAA (Coastal Athletic Association) standings at 6-1 in conference play.

Alabama defeated Vanderbilt 103-87 earlier this week and returns to Coleman Coliseum Saturday night to take on LSU. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on SEC Network.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Alabama news and notes, plus opinions. 

Where are the Duke Blue Devils in USA TODAY Sports’ updated bracket projection?

USA TODAY Sports released its updated men’s basketball bracket on Friday, and the Blue Devils naturally grabbed a No. 1 seed.

With a full week of January left on the calendar, it’s hard to find consensus among national basketball analysts about the hypothetical bracket this early. After Duke’s 12th straight win over Boston College last Saturday, however, there’s one thing everyone in the sport agrees on: the Blue Devils are a No. 1 seed.

[autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his teammates drew the top spot in the East region in USA TODAY Sports’ updated Bracketology on Friday. Duke, one of four ACC teams included in the hypothetical field, would play the winner of Colgate and Howard’s First Four game in the opening round before taking on either Gonzaga or the Georgia Bulldogs.

The Auburn Tigers, Iowa State Cyclones, and Tennessee Volunteers nabbed the other three No. 1 spots.

The Blue Devils, despite their 16-2 record and dominant margins of victory, drew a pretty tough region. The Florida Gators, Oregon Ducks, and Texas A&M Aggies, with a combined 48-9 record between them, completed the East’s top four seeds in what would be a challenging path to the Final Four.

There’s good news to be found in the bracket, however. The North Carolina Tar Heels, with a 12-8 record so far this season, did not make the field. Paul Myerberg, Eddie Timanus, and Erick Smith listed them as the third team out.