Bracketology 12/31/2021

It’s been a pretty quiet few weeks between the usual break around Christmas and lots of teams going into COVID pause. We enter the new year with plenty of unfamiliar faces in the at-large conversation: San Francisco, Northwestern and DePaul are among the unusual suspects with real chances at a bid. Updates will be at least weekly from now until Selection Sunday.

1: Baylor, Purdue, Gonzaga, Arizona

2: Kansas, Duke, USC, Auburn

3: UCLA, LSU, Michigan State, Alabama

4: Ohio State, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Iowa State

5: Houston, Villanova, Providence, Kentucky

6: Texas, Xavier, Connecticut, Oklahoma

7: Colorado State, Loyola Chicago, Illinois, Texas Tech

8: Seton Hall, Minnesota, Indiana, North Carolina

9: BYU, Wake Forest, West Virginia, San Francisco

10: UCF, Iowa, Creighton, Florida

11: St. Mary’s, St. Bonaventure, San Diego State, (Northwestern/Virginia Tech)

12: (Michigan/Davidson), UAB, Belmont, Chattanooga

13: Iona, South Dakota State, UC Irvine, Ohio

14: New Mexico State, Oakland, Vermont, Southern Utah

15: Liberty, Princeton, Wagner, Georgia State

16: James Madison, Navy, (Campbell/Texas Southern), (Nicholls State/Howard)

First Four Out: Creighton, Florida State, Wyoming, DePaul

Next Four Out: Arkansas, Wichita State, Memphis, Mississippi State