Bracketology 12/27/2022

It’s been a month since my last update as I’ve been busy with NFL season and the World Cup. In that time, Connecticut has flown up the seed list and looks to be in line for their first 1 seed since Hasheem Thabeet and Kemba Walker were playing for the Huskies. We have a bit of a weird dynamic where two of the 1 seeds (Connecticut and Houston) play in conferences with only a few bids while others (Purdue and Kansas) will get plenty of quality win opportunities.

It’s shaping up to be an interesting year for mid-majors on the bubble. Charleston and Florida Atlantic haven’t sniffed an at-large in the 13 years I’ve been doing this, but both are off to great starts. Some of our usual suspects like the Atlantic 10 and Missouri Valley are quite weak this year- instead we have a bumper crop of contenders from the Mountain West and Conference USA.

1: Connecticut, Purdue, Houston, Kansas

2: Arizona, Alabama, Tennessee, UCLA

3: Arkansas, Gonzaga, Texas, Baylor

4: West Virginia, Duke, Virginia, Indiana

5: Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland

6: Ohio State, North Carolina, Kansas State, Auburn

7: New Mexico, TCU, Miami (FL), Wisconsin

8: Xavier, Memphis, San Diego State, Missouri

9: Arizona State, St. Mary’s, Illinois, Iowa State

10: UNLV, Marquette, Charleston, Northwestern

11: Florida Atlantic, Utah State, Penn State, (Oklahoma/NC State)

12: (UAB/Michigan State), Sam Houston State, Kent State, Iona

13: Yale, Oral Roberts, Dayton, Marshall

14: Liberty, Drake, Furman, UC Santa Barbara

15: UMass Lowell, Colgate, Youngstown State, Montana State

16: Longwood, SIU Edwardsville, (Norfolk State/Texas A&M CC), (Grambling State/Wagner)

First Four Out: Texas Tech, Rutgers, Creighton, LSU

Next Four Out: USC, Utah, Iowa, Clemson

Bids by Conference:

Big Ten: 9

Big 12: 8

SEC: 7

ACC: 6

Mountain West: 4

Big East: 3

Pac-12: 3

American: 2

Conference USA: 2

West Coast: 2