College Basketball: NCAA Tournament Bracketology 1.0 (2021)
Welcome to my first bracketology article this season. College hoops are in full swing, and most teams are starting to show their true colors as we gain more and more data daily. I will be here to update my projected bracket weekly, and then I’ll provide more consistent updates in early March as the tournament approaches.
Now, you may wonder what the point of bracketology is, so let me tell you. Participating in this practice is a great way to identify better value for teams’ betting futures. You may be high on a team, but an understanding of their seeding and potential opponents is critical, and I’m here in attempts to give you the most accurate projections to determine just that.
Bracketology also gives you an early introduction to the potential Cinderella’s of the field, allowing you to be a step ahead of everyone else when it’s time to fill out your bracket.
Before I get started, let me give you the rundown. For now, I’ll simply provide my projected seeding for the field of 68. Regions shouldn’t be too much of a consideration this year, as the entire tourney will be played in Indianapolis. That said, as we grow closer to March Madness, I will organize teams by their region, too.
Before conference-champion auto-bids start to roll in, I will provide my tournament “locks.†These are teams that have left no doubt that they are tournament-worthy, even though they may not have clinched a bid outright yet. I’ll take a conservative approach here, however, because college basketball is like the Wild West sometimes, and any teams’ season can turn on a dime at any given moment.
Finally, I’m building this bracket based on today’s standings rather than by projecting where it might be in the future. But that’s enough rambling; let’s get to the bracket.
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Locks
- Gonzaga (14-0)
- Baylor (13-0)
As I said, I’m hesitant to guarantee many teams a tournament spot just yet. Gonzaga and Baylor are playing on an entirely different level than the rest of the field, however. Each of Baylor’s last five games has come against top-100 KenPom opponents, and they’ve essentially breezed by all of them, including Texas Tech and Kansas. It’s good to see the Bears pick up where they left off last season. Gonzaga has been an unstoppable force, too, and they should cruise to an undefeated season. BYU is the toughest opponent they have yet to face on their schedule, and they already beat them by 20 earlier this year.
The Bracket
1 Seeds
- Gonzaga (14-0)
- Baylor (13-0)
- Michigan (12-1)
- Iowa (12-2)
2 Seeds
- Texas (11-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- Houston (12-1)
- Alabama (12-3)
3 Seeds
- Villanova (9-1)
- Wisconsin (12-3)
- Virginia (9-2)
- Illinois (10-5)
4 Seeds
- Texas Tech (11-4)
- Kansas (10-4)
- Creighton (10-4)
- Ohio State (11-4)
5 Seeds
- Colorado (11-4)
- West Virginia (9-4)
- Minnesota (11-4)
- Clemson (9-3)
6 Seeds
- Missouri (9-2)
- Florida State (8-2)
- Oregon (9-2)
- Saint Louis (7-1)
7 Seeds
- USC (11-3)
- UCLA (11-2)
- Drake (13-0)
- Virginia Tech (11-2)
8 Seeds
- Oklahoma (8-4)
- Utah State (12-3)
- Connecticut (7-2)
- Boise State (13-1)
9 Seeds
- Louisville (9-3)
- LSU (10-3)
- Oklahoma State (9-3)
- Purdue (11-5)
10 Seeds
- Xavier (10-2)
- Florida (7-4)
- BYU (11-3)
- Rutgers (7-5)
11 Seeds
- Loyola Chicago (11-3)
- Indiana (8-6)
- North Carolina (9-5)
- San Diego State (9-4)
12 Seeds
- Pittsburgh* (8-2)
- Richmond* (9-3)
- Michigan State* (8-4)
- Arkansas* (11-4)
- Toledo (12-4)
- Winthrop (15-0)
13 Seeds
- Furman (10-4)
- Western Kentucky (11-4)
- South Dakota State (8-3)
- Belmont (14-1)
14 Seeds
- Georgia State (8-2)
- Liberty (12-5)
- Colgate (5-1)
- Wright State (9-4)
15 Seeds
- UC Santa Barbara (8-3)
- Siena (6-0)
- Abilene Christian (11-3)
- Vermont (7-3)
16 Seeds
- Bryant (10-3)
- Grand Canyon (8-3)
- Northeastern* (7-5)
- Southern Utah* (10-2)
- Texas Southern* (3-4)
- Norfolk State* (8-4)
*Play-in games
Bold = Conference Champions
First Four Out
- Syracuse (8-4)
- Seton Hall (9-6)
- Stanford (8-5)
- Duke (5-4)
Next Four Out
- St. Bonaventure (7-1)
- Maryland (8-7)
- Ole Miss (7-6)
- Georgia Tech (7-3)
View consensus odds from all major sportsbooks for the NCAAB Champion >>
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Ryan Coleman is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Ryan, check out his archive.