Thursday saw another team punch its ticket to the big dance. However, unlike the last few days, this one ended in an upset: Stephen F. Austin defeated McNeese State for the Southland Conference title. We also saw another No. 1 seed fall in their conference tournament, further reshaping the bracket.
We’ll start at the top and work through some of the key points that led to the shape of this bracket:
We had some changes at the bottom of the bracket with Stephen F. Austin coming in as a 16th seed after winning the Southland tournament. We also welcome newcomer Holy Cross as the Patriot League automatic qualifier following No. 1 seed Navy’s loss to Lehigh in the semifinals. Both schools come in as No. 16 seeds and bump some lower mid-major champions up a seed line.
The biggest beneficiaries of Thursday’s results were Stephen F. Austin and Holy Cross. The Lady Jacks get their revenge in the conference championship after being swept by the Cowgirls during the regular season, earning their spot in the Big Dance. Holy Cross becomes a projected qualifier for the field of 68 after an upset in the Patriot League conference tournament.
Wednesday’s games with the greatest impact on the bracket
- Vermont vs Maine, America East Championship
Bracketology methodology
Here are some basic bracket rules that help influence my bracket:
- The top four seed lines in each region shall be from different conferences unless a conference has more than four teams in the top 16 (making this rule impossible to follow, as is the case with the SEC and Big 10 in my bracket).
- Teams from the same conference shall not be projected to meet until the Elite Eight if they met three times during the regular season, or the Sweet 16 if they met twice. Because we don’t know what will happen in conference tournaments, I am assuming every conference team will face each other one more time than what is on their schedule. I was able to keep conference teams apart until the Elite Eight.
- In order to comply with bracket rules, it is acceptable to move a team up or down one seed line. I did not have to do that with this bracket.
Bracket breakdown
Multi-Bid conferences
- Big Ten: 12
- SEC: 10
- ACC: 9
- Big 12: 8
- Big East: 2
- Atlantic 10: 2
Last four in:
- Virginia
- Nebraska
- Arizona State
- Richmond
First four out:
- BYU
- North Dakota State
- Utah
- Mississippi State
Next four out:
- Stanford
- Kansas State
- Texas A&M
- Indiana
Next update: March 14
