Battle for top seeds gets heated in March's first mock bracket
Can you believe it's March?
With Selection Sunday fast approaching, the No. 1 seed line remains as volatile as it's been all season. Torrid Kansas (26-4) is the only surefire bet. There are at least eight teams in contention for the other three spots.
Right now, I've got Virginia (22-6) and Villanova (25-4) as the No. 2 and 3 overall seeds. Mind you, the Cavs only moved up after last weekend's win over North Carolina (24-6). And the Wildcats are less than a week removed from a blowout loss to fellow No. 1 contender Xavier (25-4). That's how fluid it's been.
Meanwhile, Michigan State (24-5) has risen to the No. 1 overall ranking on KenPom.com, and the Spartans edged Xavier and Oklahoma (22-6) for my final No. 1 seed in this edition. Miami (23-5) and Oregon (23-6) could make their own cases with a strong finish.
With this much uncertainty at such a late stage, the conference tournaments will likely carry more weight than usual. Winning the ACC tournament or losing in the semifinals could well mean the difference between a No. 1 or 2 seed for Virginia, Miami or North Carolina.
NOTE: The current first-place team in each conference (or highest remaining seed in this week's conference tournaments) is designated as the automatic berth (*). In the event of ties, I use the highest-ranked RPI team.
| Midwest Region (Chicago) | ||
| Seed | Team | Location |
| 1 | Kansas* | at Des Moines |
| 16 | Texas So.*/Hampton* | |
| 8 | USC | |
| 9 | Providence | |
| 4 | Purdue | at Spokane |
| 13 | Hofstra* | |
| 5 | Texas A&M | |
| 12 | Temple* | |
| 6 | Arizona | at Providence |
| 11 | Cincinnati/Michigan | |
| 3 | North Carolina | |
| 14 | Akron* | |
| 7 | Texas Tech | at St. Louis |
| 10 | Pittsburgh | |
| 2 | Xavier | |
| 15 | Weber State* |
