Bracketology: New year, new bracket

I’ve waited nearly a month to say this; bracketology is officially back! It’s been roughly a month since our last bracket update, and all I can say is they don’t call it March Madness for nothing.

With the New Year comes a new format to our Bracketology updates. Here’s what will be added:

• A full seed list
• Key “bracket games”

And as a refresher, here are the key considerations for selecting teams:

• NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool)
• Quad Wins
• SOS (Strength of Schedule)
• Quality Wins
• Losses
• “Quality Losses”
• Injuries

This week, we’ll be starting fresh; no trend arrows. Let’s begin; shall we?

Note: All rankings mentioned are from the January 17th AP Poll update

UPDATED:  JANUARY 19th

Back in our December 13th bracket update, our 1-seeds were Baylor (Region 1), Duke (R2), Gonzaga (R3), and Purdue (R4). Fast-forward to today, only two (Gonzaga and Baylor) remain. Since December 13th, we’ve seed 1-seed mayhem since then. Baylor is the latest 1-seed to fall. Back on January 11th, Baylor lost to previously ranked No. 19 Texas Tech in Waco in a thriller then again four days later to Oklahoma State. With these two losses, the Bears fell from No. 1 overall to No. 3 overall (reflected on seed list below). After Baylor’s two losses, there’s still a valuable question to be answered. How much longer will Baylor stay atop the 1-line?

Duke was previously slotted as the No. 2 overall team in the bracket on December 13th. The Blue Devils suffered their third loss on the season, second in conference, to a rising Florida State team in overtime Tuesday night (Jan. 18th). So who replaces Duke then, you might be asking. Gonzaga rises to Region 2 and No. 2 overall. Gonzaga was able to breeze by conference foe, BYU, 110-84 back on January 13th and faces a similar test Thursday (Jan. 20th) when the San Francisco Dons come to town. If the Zags play quality basketball against the Dons, they could be in contention for claiming the No. 1 spot from Auburn.

The No. 3 overall 1-seed this week is none other than the Baylor Bears. As previously stated, the Bears lost two consecutive games at home (Texas Tech and Oklahoma State) and are in trouble of falling off the 1-line with a loss to either Oklahoma (Sat., Jan. 22nd) or Kansas State (Tues., Jan. 25th).

And to close out our 1-seeds is Arizona. The Wildcats are up to No. 2 in the recent NET rankings (per, Warren Nolan) but have some roadblocks waiting for them. In order for Arizona to hold its position as a 1-seed, they must beat UCLA (AWAY – Tues., Jan. 25th and HOME Feb. 3rd). UCLA has climbed in recent days and could become a threat if they sweep the Wildcats in the coming days.

Bracketology Seed List

Note: Seed list was created through January 18th games