Bracketology 12/20/2023

One of the better developments in college basketball in recent years has been the increase in meaningful games in December. Good teams are playing a much stronger out of conference slate than they did a decade ago and it’s led to a much better December schedule than the dregs we used to see.

The biggest riser since my last update is Memphis, who has rattled off three wins in a row against Texas A&M, Clemson and Virginia. The AAC is weird this year in that Florida Atlantic and Memphis look like top 4 seeds and the rest of the conference is really bad, with most teams outside the top 100.

The schedule slows down a lot around the holidays and I’ll be back with another update around New Year’s.

1: Purdue, Houston, Connecticut, Arizona

2: Kansas, BYU, Oklahoma, Tennessee

3: Florida Atlantic, Marquette, Memphis, Colorado State

4: Wisconsin, North Carolina, Creighton, Baylor

5: Clemson, Illinois, Auburn, Kentucky

6: Gonzaga, Alabama, San Diego State, Utah

7: Ole Miss, James Madison, Ohio State, Duke

8: New Mexico, Virginia, Texas, Texas A&M

9: Providence, Mississippi State, Colorado, Iowa State

10: Miami (FL), Nebraska, South Carolina, Princeton

11: Nevada, Florida, Villanova, Indiana State

12: Dayton, (Texas Tech/Cincinnati), (Kansas State/Michigan State), Grand Canyon

13: UNC Greensboro, Louisiana Tech, Hawai’i, Purdue Fort Wayne

14: McNeese State, UNC Wilmington, Akron, Weber State

15: Vermont, South Dakota State, Longwood, Colgate

16: Lipscomb, Morehead State, (Marist/Norfolk State), (Prairie View A&M/Merrimack)

First Four Out: Utah State, TCU, Indiana, Northwestern

Next Four Out: Butler, Virginia Tech, Arkansas, Wake Forest

Bids by Conference:

Big 12: 9

SEC: 9

Big Ten: 7

ACC: 5

Big East: 5

Mountain West: 4

Pac-12: 3

American: 2