Another new bracket, another new No. 1 seed. Florida has jumped up to the top line following its win at Mississippi State, combined with Tennessee’s loss at Kentucky. The Volunteers have dropped down to the 2-line.
Kentucky made a big move up as well, going from a No. 5 seed to a No. 3 seed following the win over the Vols.
There are still seven SEC teams in the top 16 spots in the bracket, including five of the top six. Ideally, teams in the top 16 from the same conference would be bracketed to not meet each other before the Final Four. That is not possible with this many teams, of course. There are three regions in which a two top four seeded teams from the SEC could meet in the Elite Eight. Only Auburn does not have another SEC team in the top four of its region.
Texas dropped out of the bracket, leaving the SEC with thirteen teams. Arkansas and Georgia are among the Last 4 In, so all three have work to do to be in the final bracket on selection Sunday.
The Big Ten has the second most teams with 11. Indiana is the last team in today following the Hoosiers win at Michigan State on Tuesday.
The Big 12 has seven teams in the projected field. No other conference has more than four.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm’s bracket and full field of 68 at the Bracketology hub.
Wake Forest, New Mexico hang on … for now
Wake Forest nearly slid out of the bracket after a 72-70 loss at home to Florida State on Wednesday. The Demon Deacons picked up their first Quad 3 loss (and their first outside of Quad 1). Their problem is that they only have one Quad 1 win, so bad losses are not something they can afford.
New Mexico barely escaped a bad loss of its own. Wyoming led the Lobos in the Pit almost the entire way but fell 71-68. That would have been a disaster for New Mexico, which already has two bad losses. The Lobos may have been caught looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup with Utah State with first place in the Mountain West on the line.
Intrigue around St. John’s, Memphis
St. John’s nine-game winning streak was broken Wednesday night at Villanova. The Johnnies dropped a line to a 5-seed. I’m curious how the committee will view them during the NCAA Bracket Reveal Show on Saturday (12:30 p.m., CBS).
The other team I am curious about is Memphis. The Tigers have done some impressive work in their Quad 1 games, but they have a couple of Quad 3 losses. They also do not have any games left that can help them build their résumé.
Seeding notes entering Saturday
There are not many bracket impact games Thursday and Friday leading into the show. There are a couple in the Big Ten, though, as Maryland plays at Nebraska on Thursday, and the Hoosiers host UCLA on Friday.
Typically, I do not have to swap teams from their natural seed to accommodate the bracketing rules, but it was unavoidable today. The projected First Four matchup between Arkansas and Indiana was moved from an No. 11 seed to a No. 12 seed because there was no valid place to put them as an 11. UC San Diego was moved up to replace them.
I would not be surprised if there isn’t a seed swap in the final bracket if we still have a double-digit number of teams from the SEC and Big Ten.
The next bracket will be revealed in the second half of the show on Saturday, which will be on CBS Sports Network at 1 p.m. After that, we will return to the regular Monday-Friday schedule.
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