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Notes:
- Auto bid holders in this section are noted by the conference names in parentheses.
- Arrows indicate movement up or down the seed list (down to the spot on the seed list).
- New entrants are marked with an asterisk.
- For at-large candidates only, the numbers in parentheses after the team’s name are as follows: record vs. D1 opposition/record in Group 1 and Group 2 games/record in Group 1 games only. This information reflects NET data as of Tuesday, Feb. 19. I pulled the quality win info from WarrenNolan.com’s selection sheets.
No. 1 Seeds
(1) Duke Blue Devils (ACC) (23-2/14/7) - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Columbia 1
(2) Virginia Cavaliers (23-2/13/8) - LOUISVILLE - Columbus 1
(3) Tennessee Volunteers (SEC) (23-2/11/4) - KANSAS CITY - Columbia 2
(4) Gonzaga Bulldogs (WCC) (25-2/10/4) - ANAHEIM - Salt Lake City 1
No. 2 Seeds
(5) Kentucky Wildcats (22-4/12/8) - LOUISVILLE - Columbus 2
(6) Michigan Wolverines (Big Ten) (23-3/14/6) - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Des Moines 1
(7) North Carolina Tar Heels (20-5/10/5) - LOUISVILLE - Jacksonville 1
(8) Michigan State Spartans (21-5/13/10) - ANAHEIM - Des Moines 2
No. 3 Seeds
(9) Kansas Jayhawks (20-6/14/9) - KANSAS CITY - Tulsa 1
(10) Houston Cougars (American) (25-1/14/4) - ANAHEIM - Tulsa 2
(11) Marquette Golden Eagles (21-4/11/7) - WASHINGTON, D.C. - Hartford 1
(12) Purdue Boilermakers (19-7/13/7) - LOUISVILLE - Jacksonville 2
No. 4 Seeds
(13) LSU Tigers (21-4/13/6) - ANAHEIM - Hartford 2
(14) Nevada Wolf Pack (MW) (24-1/9/0) - WASHINGTON, D.C. - San José 1
(15) Wisconsin Badgers (18-8/11/7) - KANSAS CITY - Salt Lake City 2
(↑16) Kansas State Wildcats (Big 12) (20-6/10/6) - LOUISVILLE - San José 2
Thanks to Iowa State’s 73-69 home loss to Baylor, the Cyclones drop out of the top 16, with Big 12 leader Kansas State replacing them.
No. 5 Seeds
(↑17) Florida State Seminoles (21-5/10/5)
(↑18) Maryland Terrapins (20-7/11/6)
(19) Texas Tech Red Raiders (21-5/12/4)
(↓20) Iowa State Cyclones (19-7/8/5)
Both FSU and Maryland picked up huge road wins Tuesday, at Clemson and Iowa, respectively.
No. 6 Seeds
(↓21) Iowa Hawkeyes (20-6/10/4)
(↓22) Villanova Wildcats (Big East) (20-6/11/3)
(↓23) Louisville Cardinals (18-8/9/4)
(24) Mississippi State Bulldogs (18-7/12/7)
No. 7 Seeds
(↑25) Baylor Bears (17-9/11/4)
(↓26) Virginia Tech Hokies (20-6/8/3)
(↓27) Washington Huskies (Pac-12) (20-5/6/2)
(↓28) Cincinnati Bearcats (21-4/6/4)
Baylor is now 5-4 in true road games following its win at Hilton Coliseum.
No. 8 Seeds
(29) Buffalo Bulls (22-3/7/2)
(↑30) St. John’s Red Storm (19-7/9/5)
(↑31) Wofford Terriers (SoCon) (20-4/6/2)
(↓32) Mississippi Rebels (18-8/7/4)
Ole Miss’s loss at South Carolina Gamecocks, the Rebels’ first Group 2 defeat, didn’t cost them a seed line ... yet.
No. 9 Seeds
(33) Auburn Tigers (16-8/8/0)
(34) Syracuse Orange (17-8/6/2)
(35) Texas Longhorns (15-11/8/4)
(36) Ohio State Buckeyes (16-9/7/4)
No. 10 Seeds
(37) Lipscomb Bisons (19-5/4/2)
(38) Seton Hall Pirates (16-9/9/3)
(39) Oklahoma Sooners (16-10/9/3)
(↑40) VCU Rams (A 10) (20-6/4/1)
VCU is the rare bubble team that’s taking control of its fate. The Rams obliterated the Rhode Island Rams 76-42 on Tuesday night in Richmond. URI beat VCU by six in their first meeting in Kingston. But last night’s win, combined with Davidson’s home loss to the Dayton Flyers means VCU is the lone Atlantic 10 team in today’s field.
No. 11 Seeds
(↓41) Minnesota Golden Gophers (17-9/8/3)
(42) N.C. State Wolfpack (18-8/7/1)
(43) TCU Horned Frogs (17-9/6/1)
(44 - First Four) Arizona State Sun Devils (17-8/9/3)
(↑45 - First Four) UCF Knights (19-5/6/0)
No. 12 Seeds
(*46 - First Four) Florida Gators (14-11/6/3)
(*47 - First Four) Utah State Aggies (19-6/3/1)
(↓48) Belmont Bruins (OVC) (20-4/5/2)
(↓49) Liberty Flames (ASUN) (20-5/3/1)
(50) New Mexico State Aggies (WAC) (21-4/2/0)
With Davidson and Alabama losing and tumbling out as a result of those defeats, idle Florida and Utah State are today’s final two at-large entrants. Both are in action tonight.
No. 13 Seeds
(51) Yale Bulldogs (Ivy)
(52) Hofstra Pride (CAA)
(53) Vermont Catamounts (America East)
(54) Old Dominion Monarchs (C-USA)
No. 14 Seeds
(55) Bowling Green Falcons (MAC)
(56) Radford Highlanders (Big South)
(57) South Dakota State Jackrabbits (Summit)
(58) UC Irvine Anteaters (Big West)
No. 15 Seeds
(59) Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky)
(60) Texas State Bobcats (Sun Belt)
(61) Northern Kentucky Norse (Horizon)
(*62) Drake Bulldogs (MVC)
Drake leads the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and Missouri State Bears by a half-game in the Valley, so the Bulldogs take temporary control of the auto bid.
No. 16 Seeds
(63) Bucknell Bison (Patriot)
(64) Sam Houston State Bearkats (Southland)
(65 - First Four) Prairie View A&M Panthers (SWAC)
(66 - First Four) Norfolk State Spartans (MEAC)
(67 - First Four) St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash (NEC)
(68 - First Four) Canisius Golden Griffins (MAAC)
Bucknell lost to the Colgate Raiders on Tuesday night, but they’re still a half-game up on the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in the Patriot race. Plus, the Bison swept the season series, so they own the first tiebreaker.
First Four Out (NIT No. 1 Seeds)
(↑69) Butler Bulldogs (15-11/7/2)
(↑70) Temple Owls (19-7/6/1)
(↓71) Alabama Crimson Tide (15-11/8/3)
(↑72) Furman Paladins (19-5/4/1)
The Crimson Tide have home wins over Kentucky and Mississippi State, but they’ve also been swept by Texas A&M Aggies.
Next Four Out
(↑73) Saint Mary’s Gaels (17-10/2/1)
(↑74) Oregon State Beavers (16-8/5/2)
(↓75) Clemson Tigers (15-11/4/1)
(↓76) Davidson Wildcats (18-7/3/0)
The 14-12 Nebraska Cornhuskers are now out of the “First Eight Out” group, thanks to a bad 95-71 loss at Penn State. Clemson remains despite falling to FSU at home by 77-64 score. So does Davidson, though the Wildcats’ lack of quality wins dooms their case. Keep an eye on Oregon State, even though all of the Beavers’ Group 1 and 2 wins came against teams from outside the top 50.
Conference Ranking With Seeds
Note: Auto bid holders are denoted by asterisks.
ACC (8): 1. Duke*, 1. Virginia, 2. North Carolina, 5. Florida State, 6. Louisville, 7. Virginia Tech, 9. Syracuse, 11. N.C. State
Big 12 (8): 3. Kansas, 4. Kansas State*, 5. Texas Tech, 5. Iowa State, 7. Baylor, 9. Texas, 10. Oklahoma, 11. TCU
Big Ten (8): 2. Michigan*, 2. Michigan State, 3. Purdue, 4. Wisconsin, 5. Maryland, 6. Iowa, 9. Ohio State, 11. Minnesota
SEC (7): 1. Tennessee*, 2. Kentucky, 4. LSU, 6. Mississippi State, 8. Mississippi, 9. Auburn, 12. Florida (First Four)
Big East (4): 3. Marquette*, 6. Villanova, 8. St. John’s, 10. Seton Hall
American Athletic (3): 3. Houston*, 7. Cincinnati, 11. UCF (First Four)
Atlantic Sun (2): 10. Lipscomb, 12. Liberty*
MAC (2): 8. Buffalo, 14. Bowling Green*
MW (2): 4. Nevada*, 12. Utah State (First Four)
Pac-12 (2): 7. Washington*, 11. Arizona State (First Four)
Auto Bid Selection Procedures
Now that we are less than one month away from Selection Sunday, when necessarily and applicable, I’m using each conference’s tiebreaker procedures to determine auto bid holders.
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