Presidents' Day Bracket - 16 February

Since it's only been a couple of days since I've released a bracket, there aren't too many changes in today's edition. (Seed List, Trends) My number one seeds are in the same order they were in on Saturday: UConn, Oklahoma, UNC, Pitt. You may see a change in my next bracket, depending on what happens between the Huskies and Panthers tonight (ESPN, 7 EST).

There were also no changes to the two line, even with Duke's loss to Boston College last night. Louisville, Memphis, and Michigan State are still entrenched at this level.

Clemson remains on the three line despite a Sunday loss because of their overall body of work. Marquette and Wake Forest stay here, but Missouri switches places with Kansas. Since the Tigers and Jayhawks have very similar profiles, it will be interesting to see where they actually end up on Selection Sunday.

Joining the Jayhawks as four seeds are holdovers Villanova and Xavier and newcomer Arizona State. The Sun Devils replace UCLA, who dropped both games of their Grand Canyon State swing this week.

I had to test out one of the new best practices this week not once, but twice. You'll notice that I have the potential for ACC schools to meet in the regional semifinals in both the East and South regions. I simply ran out of ways to keep these teams separated in the bracket based on how my S-curve shook out. I did have to switch BYU and newcomer Wisconsin at the bottom of the bracket, however, to keep the Cougars on a Thursday/Saturday schedule.

The Badgers and St. Mary's are the only two new at-large entrants this week. They replace USC, who like UCLA was swept out of the desert, and Miami, who dropped yet another close one. The Gaels played Gonzaga tough and beat Portland, to show there are signs of life without Patrick Mills.

My next update will come on Saturday morning.