by Despite its second loss to Texas in a week, Kansas is still the No. 1 seed in the latest bracketology heading into selection Sunday. The Jayhawks lost Saturday’s Big 12 Tournament championship game to the Longhorns 76-56, who are now No. 2 in the predicted bracket.
1-seeded Alabama, Houston and Purdue also won and stay top of the table behind Kansas, in that order, before playing for their respective conference tournament championships on Sunday.
Houston may be without star Marcus Sasser, who sustained a groin injury in the Cougars’ win over Cincinnati on Saturday when they meet Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Tournament Finals. It counts as a game decision.
The Crimson Tide meets Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament Finals and the Boilermakers meet Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament title game.
UCLA played their first challenging opponent since losing Jaylen Clark to a season-ending injury. The Bruins lost the Pac-12 title game to Arizona 61-59 and gave the Wildcats two wins in three games against UCLA that season. I put Arizona in the #2 row, beating out UCLA, which fell to #3 and ninth overall. Clark’s injury was a consideration here.
Marquette, who won the Big East Tournament championship on Saturday, and Gonzaga are the other No. 2 seeds.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm’s latest bracket, the full field of 68, and all the teams on the bubble on the Bracketology hub.
Bid thieves shoot into the void
Despite some good chances, there were no thieves on Saturday and this season as well.
FAU smashed UAB in the Conference USA Tournament Championship Game to prevent the Blazers from stealing a bid. Houston and Memphis won the semifinals of the AAC tournament, knocking out two other potential bid thieves.
Vanderbilt lost to Texas A&M in the semifinals of the SEC tournament and stayed in the first four out. and the Commodores will not steal a bid either. Eventually, Ohio State lost to Purdue in the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament, ending the Buckeyes’ hopes of fielding.
I may make additional changes on Selection Sunday based on championship game results, but I do not expect any additional changes as we prepare for the 6:00 p.m. bracket reveal on the NCAA Tournament Selection Show at 6:00 p.m ET on CBS.
NCAA Tournament Bans
Block by CV: 31| Automatic bids secured: 26 of 32 | At-Large spots to be won: 5
|
Acc |
3 |
Miami, Virginia, Duke |
|
Great East |
4 |
Marquette, UConn, Xavier, Creighton |
|
big ten |
6 |
Indiana, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa, Northwest, Penn |
|
big 12 |
7 |
Baylor, Kansas, Texas, State of Kansas, State of Iowa, TCU, West Virginia |
|
Pac-12 |
2 |
Arizona, UCLA |
|
SEC |
5 |
Alabama, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, Kentucky |
|
American |
1 |
Houston |
|
Other |
3 |
Saint Mary’s, State of San Diego, FAU |
On the cutting line
Check out all the teams on Palms Bubble Watch, the Field of 68 and the entire bracket on the Bracketology hub
All references to records and trends in NCAA tournament selections are only to tournaments since 1994, with the exception of 2021. Due to tightened schedules and a relatively small number of non-conference games in 2021, these rankings were not reliable enough to be considered to become.
