NCAA tourney projected seeding sees movement on top after top-10 upsets

Five teams in the Associated Press top 10 suffered losses last week, which caused some changes in the projected NCAA tournament seeding

March 5, 2019 at 4:38PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The top three seed lines in the NCAA tournament might not be as clear cut for the selection committee to figure out, especially if upsets over top-10 teams keep coming like they did last week.

Five of the top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll suffered losses at the end of February and to open March, including three against unranked opponents.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Duke and Kentucky remained projected No. 1 seeds despite falling to Virginia Tech and Tennessee, respectively. Part of that is because the Blue Devils lost without freshman sensation Zion Williamson, who could return soon from a mild knee sprain. The Wildcats also have now split with the Volunteers this season. Both Coach K and Coach Cal probably can't afford too many more losses, though, to be considered top seeds. Gonzaga and Virginia are currently the highest No. 1 seeds in the mock field of 68.

The biggest shocker over the weekend was probably Indiana sweeping No. 6 Michigan State after a 63-62 win in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have 14 losses and are 6-12 in the Big Ten, but they'll make things interesting on Selection Sunday with six Quadrant 1 victories. Meanwhile, the Spartans dropped from a No. 2 to No. 3 seed in at least one prominent bracket projection. They can either help or hurt themselves in seeding and for a possible Big Ten title in the regular season finale vs. Michigan at home Saturday.

Houston had the nation's best record at 27-1 and the longest Division I home winning streak at 33 straight games. That was snapped when the No. 8 Cougars lost 69-64 to Central Florida. Kelvin Sampson's squad is still a No. 3 NCAA tourney seed, so it was more a boost to UCF's bubble resume than anything else.

Marquette was the only top 10 team to lose twice last week, falling to Villanova and Creighton. The Golden Eagles lost their chance to win the Big East title outright. They also dropped from a potential No. 2 seed to as low as No. 4 right now.

New teams to join the AP top 10 this week were Texas Tech and LSU. We'll see how much shakeup happens near the top on the final week of the regular season. You can bet there will be more chaos, because March is finally here!

about the writer

about the writer

Marcus Fuller

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Marcus Fuller covers Gophers men's basketball, national college basketball, college sports and high school recruiting for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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