Tag: ncaa tournament

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.

Is Georgia basketball playing its way out of the NCAA Tournament?

The Georgia Bulldogs’ basketball team is on the NCAA Tournament bubble

The Georgia Bulldogs are predicted a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament after a recent losing streak according to ESPN’s latest bracketology. Joe Lunardi, who updated his projections on Tuesday, has Georgia as one of his final four teams with a first round bye. UGA is on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament just a couple of weeks after being ranked.

Georgia is on a four game losing streak and needs to turn things around. Head coach Mike White and Georgia are projected to play the Clemson Tigers (a No. 7 seed) in March Madness, but the Bulldogs could get knocked out of the projected NCAA Tournament field with a few more losses.

Georgia desperately needs to win on Tuesday, Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. ET (televised on SEC Network) against the South Carolina Gamecocks to improve their NCAA Tournament hopes. Georgia (14-6, 2-5) has a 78.5% chance to beat South Carolina (10-10, 0-7) according to ESPN. The Dawgs simply can’t afford to lose at home to the worst team in the SEC.

The SEC is the top conference in college basketball and has a nation’s best 13 teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament. Georgia is coming off a disappointing week where the Bulldogs blew a big lead against Arkansas and then got demolished in a 30-point loss to Florida.

The Bulldogs received six votes in the latest USA TODAY Sports Men’s Basketball Coaches Poll. Georgia also has a major opportunity on Saturday, Feb. 1 at No. 4 Alabama.

The NCAA finally moved up the March Madness championship start time, but it’s still way too late

The NCAA’s war on East Coast national championship game viewers continues despite an earlier start time.

Everyone loves March Madness. The upsets, buzzer-beaters and Cinderella stories captivate fans year after year.

But there’s one element of the NCAA tournament that most viewers, particularly those who live on the East Coast, aren’t fans of, and that’s just how absurdly late the national championship game finally tips off. The usual tip-off time for the title matchup is 9:20 p.m. ET, but this year, the NCAA has heard the fans’ complaints and opted to change it.

Now, the championship game will begin at… 8:50 p.m.

Oh, no.

While a start time pushed back 30 minutes is certainly better than what we had previously, it’s still just way too late, especially on a Monday night.

Look, I understand the need to make the game accessible across all time zones. For example, a 7 p.m. ET tip would leave many on the West Coast still at work when the contest began.

But my goodness, NCAA: Would an 8 p.m. start time be too much to ask for when it’s a championship game on a Monday night?

North Carolina faces big bubble game for NCAA Tournament

Here is where the UNC basketball program stands in the latest ESPN Bracketology.

The next two or three weeks will be crucial for the North Carolina Tar Heels’ 2025 NCAA Tournament chances. After a loss at Wake Forest and a close win over Boston College, UNC is still on the bubble and they have a very important game on Tuesday.

With a big week ahead, North Carolina is on the road Tuesday night at Pitt before taking on the No. 2 team in the country Duke on Saturday.

For Tuesday’s game, UNC enters the matchup against Pitt still on the bubble as ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has made an update to his Bracketology. Lunardi has UNC as one of the last four in the field along with Ohio State, Texas and UCF.

Lunardi has UCF as the last team in, meaning UNC is team No. 67 in his bracket.

So here’s where it gets interesting. Lunardi also has Pitt on the bubble and as one of the last four byes. A win for UNC on Tuesday would give them a Quad 1 win and would help them jump Pitt in the mock bracket. If UNC could somehow stun Duke on Saturday, it would help their chances even more.

The bottom line for UNC is that they need to win games no matter who the opponent is. The ACC is considered to be in a down year, so any bad losses would absolutely ruin their chances.

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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.

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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.

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Iowa women’s basketball climbs seed lines in CBS Sports NCAA Tournament bracketology

The Hawkeyes can move off the bubble with a few more wins.

After looking like things were going to be a bit dicey and questionable down the stretch, the Iowa Hawkeyes put an end to a five-game losing streak and boosted their NCAA Tournament resume with their win over Washington, a team currently in the bracket.

Sitting at 13-7 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play, the Hawkeyes are far from a lock to make the tournament. They are much closer to living life on the bubble than they are wondering what seed they can get.

They are going to need to notch every win they can in February to continue to build their resume, but as things stand now, CBS Sports’ latest NCAA Tournament bracketology has the Hawkeyes more comfortably in the field.

CBS Sports not only has Iowa in the field but has moved them off of the No. 11 seed line and a potential play-in game and up to the No. 9 seed line.

Iowa sits as a No. 9 seed alongside Louisville, Florida State, and South Dakota State, the only No. 9 seed that is not an at-large bid, but rather a projected conference champion.

Iowa gets back in action on Tuesday, Jan. 28 when they host the Northwestern Wildcats (7-11, 0-7 Big Ten) at 7 p.m. CT on Big Ten Network. This is a game that Iowa simply cannot afford to lose. The win does not do much to their resume, but a loss would have catastrophic consequences.

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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.

UNC basketball falling in USA TODAY Sports bracketology update

UNC is now outside the NCAA Tournament bubble.

The North Carolina Tar Heels started the 2024-2025 college basketball season with high expectations.

UNC won the 2024 ACC Regular Season Championship, earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament and watched RJ Davis win ACC Player of the Year honors. Though North Carolina missed out on several big men in the transfer portal, Cade Tyson’s addition was thought to be a needed missing piece.

Through 20 games this year, it’s safe to say UNC is disappointingly falling short of expectations. The Tar Heels (12-8, 5-3 ACC) struggle to close out games, make 3-pointers, have a spotty defense and miss Armando Bacot’s post production.

If you’re thinking NCAA Tournament, North Carolina has to essentially win out for a shot.

Speaking of the Big Dance, UNC is currently one of USA TODAY Sports’ Last Four Out. The Tar Heels join Wake Forest, Cincinnati and SMU in the grouping, which could easily change through conference tournament play in March.

North Carolina is losers of its past two games: 67-66 at Wake Forest on Tuesday, plus 72-71 against Stanford on January 18. These are just two of nine, one-possession games UNC has played in – and follow a season-best 4-game winning streak.

A troubling trend in each of the Tar Heels’ past two losses: they led at halftime. North Carolina outplayed Wake Forest early in the first half, with defense holding the host Deacs to a poor shooting percentage, but later endured a scoreless spell for over five minutes in the second half. Wake, on the other hand, seemingly couldn’t miss in the final five minutes.

Until UNC can generate consistent momentum and start a big winning streak, it’ll be a second NCAA Tournament miss in three years under Hubert Davis.

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