Bracketology 3/1/18

I arrived in New York last night for the Big Ten tournament, and to pass the time on the trip here I printed out every at-large contender's resume and combed through them. That leads to changes throughout the bracket- beneficiaries include USC and Louisville, while Creighton and Alabama were among the teams who moved down. Louisville has a chance for a season-defining win tonight at home against Virginia, but the most interesting game of the day is in Conference USA as Western Kentucky takes on Middle Tennessee. Even though I have the Hilltoppers in the Next Four Out I think they have virtually no shot at an at-large: they'd have to win out until the tournament final at least. The scenario where CUSA sends 2 teams dancing is where MTSU wins tonight, avoids a bad loss in the conference tourney but loses to Old Dominion/Marshall/WKU.

1: Virginia, Villanova, Kansas, Xavier
2: Duke, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina
3: Auburn, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Wichita State
4: West Virginia, Texas Tech, Clemson, Ohio State
5: Arizona, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Michigan
6: Houston, TCU, Arkansas, Nevada
7: Texas A&M, Miami (FL), Rhode Island, Florida
8: Seton Hall, Missouri, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech
9: North Carolina State, Florida State, Creighton, Butler
10: St. Mary's, Arizona State, St. Bonaventure, USC
11: Kansas State, Middle Tennessee, Alabama, (Providence/Louisville)
12: (Baylor/Washington), Loyola Chicago, New Mexico State, Louisiana
13: Vermont, Buffalo, Murray State, South Dakota State
14: Montana, UNC Greensboro, Northern Kentucky, Northeastern
15: Bucknell, UC Santa Barbara, Florida Gulf Coast, Canisius
16: Penn, Wagner, (Nicholls State/UNC Asheville), (Hampton/Arkansas Pine Bluff)

First Four Out: Texas, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Boise State
Next Four Out: UCLA, Marquette, LSU, Western Kentucky
In Consideration: Syracuse, Utah, South Carolina, Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State

Moving In: Louisville, Washington
Moving Out: Texas, Mississippi State