It’s the proverbial Christmas Day for college basketball fans. Gifts are not opened in the morning. They are open in the evening of Selection Sunday with the revelation of men’s NCAA tournament bracket of the peloton of 68 teams for March madness.
So who will be the seeds and who will see their bubble burst. The final version of USA TODAY Sports Bracketology will answer these questions.
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THE Seeds #1 seem simple Duke heading into the East Region as the top seed and Michigan, Florida and Arizona remaining in their respective geographic areas in the Midwest, South and West portion of the bracket.
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It’s not so clear at the bottom of the general selections. This year’s bubble has seen several contenders catch fire early in their conference tournaments. AuburnIndiana, Cincinnati and West Virginia are among the teams that have failed to win a game in the postseason. This opened the door for other contenders to make their case. San Diego State and Oklahoma each won two games, but ultimately fell short.
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A bubble point I went to Miami (Ohio)the MAC regular-season champion that lost its only game of the season in the conference tournament, creating a bid-stealing situation with Akron grabbing the league’s automatic berth. Texas and Missouri were able to withstand losses in the SEC tournament and maintain their spots.
There’s still drama to unpack Sunday with five conference championship games. If Dayton wins the Atlantic 10, it could make one of the three aforementioned teams sweat when the bracket is revealed.
March Madness Bracketology: NCAA Tournament Prediction
The teams in bold earned a spot in the tournament.
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March Madness has four months left
Texas, Missouri, SMU, Miami (Ohio).
March Madness, first four eliminated
Oklahoma, San Diego, New Mexico, Auburn.
NCAA Tournament Bidding Conference Breakdown
Multi-offer leagues: SEC (10), Big Ten (9), ACC (8), Big 12 (8), Big East (3), West Coast (3), Atlantic 10 (2), MAC (2).
This article was originally published on USA TODAY: March Madness Bracket Prediction: NCAA Final Tournament Bracketology
