January 19, 2017

The bubble is starting to get crowded.  As teams like Indiana, Iowa State and Marquette have improved their RPI to a point where they qualify for the field, others like VCU and Pittsburgh have suffered bad losses that hurt their resumes.  Yet others like Kansas State and Wichita State just need a chance to beat some quality opponents to boost their selection stock.  Aside from those above clearly moving in one direction or another, there's very little separation between the 10-line and NFO.  I could probably add 5-6 more teams after my NFO that could vie for a bubble spot (Georgia Tech, Michigan, Utah to name a few).


This bracket is created as if today were Selection Sunday, not a forward looking projection.

1's: Villanova, Baylor, Florida State, Gonzaga
2's: Creighton, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville
3's: North Carolina, Butler, Oregon, UCLA
4's: Arizona, Maryland, Cincinnati, Florida
5's: Notre Dame, Virginia, Minnesota, Duke
6's: Saint Mary's, South Carolina, Purdue, West Virginia
7's: Xavier, Northwestern, Wisconsin, USC
8's: Dayton, TCU, SMU, Virginia Tech
9's: Arkansas, Michigan State, Clemson, Texas Tech
10's: Middle Tennessee, Seton Hall, Georgia, Rhode Island
11's: Wake Forest, California, La Salle, Ole Miss, Iowa State, Indiana
12's: UNC Wilmington, Akron, Nevada, Illinois State
13's: Florida Gulf Coast, New Mexico State, Valparaiso, Vermont
14's: Chattanooga, UTA, Belmont, Monmouth
15's: Bucknell, UNC Asheville, North Dakota State, Princeton
16's: Texas Southern, Sam Houston State, UC Irvine, Weber State, North Carolina Central, Mount Saint Mary's

FFO: Marquette, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Miami (FL)
NFO: Kansas State, Ohio State, North Carolina State, VCU