NCAA Tournament Projections: Arizona Surges With Big Road Win at UCLA Return of Alonzo
By Jason Lisk
This week’s projections see a change at the top, as UCLA drops out of the top seed line with the home loss to Arizona. The Wildcats moved to the top of the Pac-12 with a 7-0 record in the conference, and now are above UCLA after the big road win.
That last top seed is wide open, with the nod going to Baylor based on top wins, though there’s a good chance that one of the West teams (Gonzaga, Arizona, or UCLA) ultimately grabs it.
Again, my tournament projections are not just based on year-to-date results but also projecting forward, and using RPI forecast to estimate Top 50 wins and likely RPI positioning.
Teams that have seen their win projection increase since last week are in red; teams that have declined are in blue.
The new additions to the bracket projection this week are Wake Forest (surging with two wins and a projected RPI now inside the top 35), Marquette (big road win at Creighton), Utah (two big wins against the Washington schools) and Georgia (precariously in by default, as others fell out).
The teams that dropped out are Clemson, Houston, Texas Tech and Miami.
The next eight teams considered for an at-large projections, and thus just out: Texas Tech, Michigan, Miami, Seton Hall, Houston, Clemson, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, BYU.