Last Four In: Utah, Washington, Indiana, Virginia
First Four Out: Kansas, Rhode Island, Miami (FL), Virginia Tech
Our first bracket is here with non-conference play coming to an end and conference playing starting up. It’s no surprise Texas, UConn, South Carolina, and UCLA have reloaded alongside many other top-tier programs. However, it may be a surprise to some to see a team like TCU back in the mix for a Top 4 seed considering the talent lost from last year, but they have added some transfers who have helped them reload. One surprise team so far has to be Texas Tech. Nobody expected them to be a Top 4 seed in December … or at all. There are many teams still undefeated through these first two months of the season, and several haven’t played many quality opponents, and so it is a little challenging to gauge them so far. Until we can get a few games into conference play for, we won’t know for sure how many of these teams stand.
ACC: Louisville*, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Stanford, NC State, Syracuse, Virginia
American: Rice
Big East: Connecticut*, Villanova
Big 12: TCU*, Iowa State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, BYU, Utah
Big Ten: UCLA*, Maryland, Michigan, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska, Ohio State, USC, Oregon, Minnesota, Washington, Indiana
SEC: Texas*, South Carolina, LSU, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Mississippi State, Georgia
A-10: Richmond
America East: Albany
A-Sun: Austin Peay
Big Sky: Idaho
Big South: High Point
Big West: UC Irvine
CAA: Charleston
C-USA: UTEP
Horizon: Purdue-Ft. Wayne
Ivy: Princeton
MAAC: Fairfield
MAC: Ball State
MEAC: Howard
MVC: Bradley
MWC: Colorado State
NEC: Fairleigh Dickinson
OVC: Western Illinois
Patriot: Army
Southern: Mercer
Southland: Northwestern State
Summit: South Dakota State
Sun Belt: Marshall
SWAC: Southern
WAC: Abilene Christian
WCC: Santa Clara
