Can you believe we're only 24 hours away from getting ready to think about the real bracket and making picks? I sure can't, as it seems like the season has just flown by, as always. There's still a lot that can happen over the next day, but let's take a look at where the bracket stands right now (at least according to me). (Seed List, Trends)
Pittsburgh wins by not playing, as they move up to the top spot overall after North Carolina's loss to Florida State this afternoon. The Tar Heels slip down to the number two overall seed. Louisville is third overall for now, as they still play Syracuse tonight for the Big East crown. Connecticut's standing also improved without any effort required on their part. The Huskies moved back up to the top line after Michigan State was dumped out of the Big Ten tournament by Ohio State.
Joining the Spartans on the two line are Conference USA champions Memphis, Oklahoma, and Duke. The Blue Devils defeated Maryland in the ACC semifinals today, meaning the door is open for them to potentially crack the top line tomorrow.
Kansas, Missouri, Villanova, and Wake Forest make up the three line. It's possible, but not likely that the Tigers move up if they win the Big 12 crown tonight.
Florida State jumps up to the 4 line after their win today. The Seminoles join Gonzaga, Washington, and Syracuse in the final group of protected seeds. It's possible that the Orange move up even further if they can complete another amazing Big East tourney run tonight.
I made some adjustments to the seedings for a few of the higher-ranked champions/auto bid holders of the one-bid leagues (Siena and Utah State, in particular), as they may get higher seeds than I've been anticipating of late because of the struggles of teams on lines 10-12.
Finally, there's one newcomer to this bracket. After spending quite a bit of time this afternoon on this (especially after creating the RPI only bracket), I added Creighton to this bracket, in place of Arizona. That decision could be made moot if USC defeats Arizona State in the Pac 10 final or Baylor knocks off Missouri in the Big 12 final.
My next update will come out sometime after midnight.