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Georgia got a nice win at home against Florida to move them into the field. North Carolina is out of the protected seeds for the first time all season in the wake of their 3-game skid, although a home date with Pittsburgh on Saturday should allow the Tar Heels to snap out of the skid. Tonight, I'll be keeping my eye on Butler @ Marquette. With 70% of the Big East in the field, it's going to be a struggle for bubble teams like these two to rack up wins. 1: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Kansas 2: Duke, Xavier, Clemson, Auburn 3: Cincinnati , Oklahoma, West Virginia, Michigan State 4: Texas Tech, Arizona , Tennessee, Kentucky 5: Seton Hall, North Carolina, Rhode Island , Wichita State 6: Miami (FL), Ohio State, TCU, Florida 7: Creighton, Texas, St. Mary's , Gonzaga 8: Arizona State, Florida State, Nevada , Alabama 9: Texas A&M, Michigan, Louisville, Providence 10: Arkansas, Butler, Kansas State, North Carolina State 11: Houston, USC, (Georgia/Boise State), Midd

The biggest bubble result of the weekend was North Carolina State's victory in Chapel Hill. The Wolfpack vault into the bracket as a 10 seed. Elsewhere, Duke's loss to Virginia puts Kansas on the 1 line. 1: Villanova, Virginia, Purdue, Kansas 2: Duke, Xavier, Auburn , Clemson 3: Cincinnati , Oklahoma, West Virginia, Michigan State 4: Texas Tech, Arizona , North Carolina, Tennessee 5: Kentucky, Seton Hall, Florida, Rhode Island 6: Wichita State, Miami (FL), Arizona State, Creighton 7: Texas, TCU, St. Mary's , Ohio State 8: Gonzaga, Florida State, Nevada , Alabama 9: Arkansas, Michigan, Louisville, Kansas State 10: Providence, Texas A&M, Butler, North Carolina State 11: Houston, USC, Middle Tennessee , (Boise State/LSU) 12: (Missouri/Marquette), New Mexico State, Louisiana, Loyola Chicago 13: East Tennessee State, Murray State, Vermont, Buffalo 14: Montana, Northern Kentucky, South Dakota State, UC Santa Barbara 15: Bucknell, Northeastern, Iona, Princeton

The most surprising result of the night was Penn State winning in Columbus, handing Ohio State their first loss in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes only have two wins over tournament teams, both on their home court, so the addition of a tier 3 loss drops them from a 5 to a 7. Elsewhere, Utah won in Tempe, moving the Utes closer to the field and dropping Arizona State. With how weak the Pac-12 is, it'll be difficult for the Sun Devils to fight their way back up to a protected seed. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Xavier, Kansas, Oklahoma, Cincinnati 3: West Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Auburn 4: Texas Tech, Arizona , Michigan State, Seton Hall 5: TCU, Miami (FL), Creighton, Tennessee 6: Florida, Rhode Island , Wichita State, Arizona State 7: Texas, Kentucky, St. Mary's , Ohio State 8: Gonzaga, Nevada , Michigan, Louisville 9: Providence, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Florida State 10: Butler, Kansas State, Houston, Alabama 11: USC, Boise State, (Missouri/Marqu

The biggest surprise last night was South Carolina's win at Florida. The Gamecocks are now in the First Four Out, where they're joined by fellow SEC teams LSU and Georgia. In addition to those 3, the SEC has 8 teams in this bracket. Mississippi and Vanderbilt are the only teams in the conference not in bracket consideration. Out west, Nevada fell at Wyoming last night in a double-OT thriller. I was prepared to move the Wolfpack down quite a bit, only to realize that Wyoming's RPI was a shockingly high 58 and so it counts as a tier 1 loss. Thus, Nevada remains in the top half of the bracket. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Xavier, Kansas, Oklahoma, Cincinnati 3: West Virginia, North Carolina, Clemson, Auburn 4: Texas Tech, Arizona , Michigan State, Arizona State 5: Seton Hall, TCU, Ohio State, Miami (FL) 6: Creighton, Tennessee, Florida, Rhode Island 7: Wichita State, Texas, Kentucky, Gonzaga 8: St. Mary's, Michigan, Nevada , Louisville 9: Providenc

Kansas State got a big win at Baylor to propel them to 4-3 in the Big 12. The Wildcats are a 10 seed now, they're held down by an abysmal non-conference schedule whose best result is a win at Vanderbilt, the worst team in the SEC. Kansas @ Oklahoma will be fascinating tonight, but the bubble action will be in the SEC as Texas A&M travels to Baton Rouge and Arkansas goes to Athens. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Kansas, Xavier, Oklahoma, Clemson 3: Cincinnati , West Virginia, North Carolina, Texas Tech 4: Auburn, Arizona , Michigan State, Florida 5: Arizona State, Seton Hall, TCU, Ohio State 6: Creighton, Tennessee, Miami (FL), Rhode Island 7: Wichita State, Nevada , Texas, Louisville 8: Gonzaga , Texas A&M, St. Mary's, Kentucky 9: Providence, Michigan, Alabama, Florida State 10: Butler, Kansas State, Missouri, Houston 11: Arkansas, Georgia, (USC/Marquette), (Boise State/SMU) 12: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Louisiana, Murray State 13: East

Another busy weekend has changes all throughout the bracket. At the bubble, Houston is the biggest winner as they got a huge win against Wichita State to propel them into the field. The American now has 4 teams in, as many as the Big Ten and more than the Pac-12. The Atlantic 10 is continuing their worst year in memory, as St. Bonaventure dropped their second game in a row. Rhode Island looks quite safe but to have a conference as perennially strong as the A-10 looking like a 1-bid league is striking. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Kansas, West Virginia, Xavier, North Carolina 3: Oklahoma, Cincinnati , Clemson, Texas Tech 4: Auburn, Arizona , Michigan State, Florida 5: Arizona State, Seton Hall, Ohio State, Creighton 6: Tennessee, Miami (FL), TCU, Rhode Island 7: Wichita State, Nevada , Texas, Louisville 8: Gonzaga , Texas A&M, St. Mary's, Kentucky 9: Providence, Michigan, Alabama, Florida State 10: Butler, Missouri, Houston, Arkansas 11: Georgia, USC, (Ma

The Big 12 cannibalism continues as Oklahoma, West Virginia and Texas Tech all lost. I think that the conference could be won at 13-5 or maybe even worse. The biggest bubble game in the last few days was SMU picking up a huge win in Wichita, which moves them into the bracket. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Kansas , West Virginia, Oklahoma, Xavier 3: North Carolina, Texas Tech, Seton Hall, Clemson 4: Auburn, Cincinnati , Creighton, Michigan State 5: Arizona , TCU, Arizona State, Ohio State 6: Wichita State, Florida State, Rhode Island , Texas 7: Tennessee, Miami (FL), Gonzaga , Kentucky 8: Michigan, Louisville, Nevada , Missouri 9: Alabama, Texas A&M, Georgia, Butler 10: Arkansas, St. Mary's, Providence, Boise State 11: Marquette, Florida State, (UCLA/Notre Dame), (SMU/Baylor) 12: Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Missouri State, East Tennessee State 13: Murray State, Northern Kentucky, Louisiana, Vermont 14: South Dakota State, Montana, Buffalo, Towso

Most of my update are just tweaks on the previous day's bracket, but today I re-did the whole thing top to bottom. This leads to a lot of changes throughout- major beneficiaries include Seton Hall, Rhode Island, Marquette and LSU while Michigan State, Florida State, Baylor and Maryland are among those hurt by it. The 2-line is all Big 12 teams right now, as those teams beat up on each other some will fall a bit while one or two will make a run at a 1 seed. However, the biggest headline has to be the presence of 10 SEC teams in the bracket. While the Big 12 is the best conference in the country, the SEC scheduled well in the non-conference and the middle of the conference is exceptionally strong. I'm going to update more often from here on out- probably 5 days a week or so. Expect daily updates beginning in February. 1: Villanova, Virginia , Duke, Purdue 2: Oklahoma, West Virginia, Kansas, Texas Tech 3: Seton Hall, Auburn , Clemson, Xavier 4: North Carolina, Wichita Sta

The most surprising result since my last update is Ohio State's drubbing of Michigan State in Columbus. That drops the Spartans down to a 2, and moves Ohio State safely into the field. Villanova demolished Xavier to cement their place as a 1. Last night, TCU fell to Texas- TCU remains a 5 seed despite now being 1-3 in the Big 12. Speaking of the Big 12, one number I like to keep my eye on is conference record. No team with a conference record of 7-11 or worse has ever made the tournament- although the Big 12 is so deep this year that I could see say, Baylor or Texas making it this year at 7-11 in the conference. 1: Villanova , West Virginia, Virginia , Duke 2: Oklahoma, Michigan State, Purdue , Kansas 3: Arizona, Texas Tech , North Carolina, Arizona State 4: Auburn, Cincinnati , Kentucky, Wichita State 5: TCU, Creighton, Xavier, Seton Hall 6: Gonzaga , Florida, Miami (FL), Clemson 7: Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Texas A&M 8: Florida State, Michigan, Butler, Rhode Isla

4 of the top 8 teams in my last seed list (Duke, Oklahoma, Arizona and Xavier) lost yesterday, leading to a lot of upheaval at the top of the seed list. This is reflected in two new 1 seeds (West Virginia and Virginia) and two new 2 seeds (Kansas and Purdue). Auburn joins the ranks of the protected seeds with a big win over Arkansas and is now projected to win the SEC. However, other SEC teams like Tennessee and Alabama are sliding. It was also a bad day for mid-major at-large bids: Boise State lost at Wyoming and St. Bonaventure lost at St. Joseph's. 1: Michigan State , Villanova , West Virginia, Virginia 2: Duke, Kansas, Oklahoma, Purdue 3: Texas Tech, Arizona , Seton Hall, Xavier 4: TCU, North Carolina, Auburn , Arizona State 5: Wichita State, Cincinnati , Kentucky, Arkansas 6: Creighton, Florida State, Florida, Gonzaga 7: Clemson, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri 8: Notre Dame, Michigan, Butler, Miami (FL) 9: SMU, Rhode Island , Texas, St. Mary's 10: Nevada , U

Lots of changes in the first seed list of 2018. Oklahoma moves up to the 1-line, but I doubt they stay there. The Big 12 is so deep that every team in the league will probably pick up at least 4 or 5 losses in the conference, hindering any one team's chance at a 1. Elsewhere, lots of teams close to the cut-line got important wins, Butler beat Villanova, St. Mary's beat BYU, and Utah swept the Oregon trip, among others. It is continuing to look like a weak year for mid-major at-large teams. If you define mid-majors as teams outside the 7 biggest conferences and Gonzaga, there's only 2 mid-major at-large teams in the field. Part of this is certainly due to the successful mid-majors moving up over recent years (Butler, Xavier, Creighton, Wichita State etc.) but this year is missing the successful Murray States and Southern Illinois of years past. 1: Duke, Michigan State, Villanova, Oklahoma 2: West Virginia, Virginia , Xavier, Arizona State 3: Arizona , Purdue, Kansas, T