Written By: @ToddFuhrman – Columnist for OutKickTheCoverage
This bracket isn’t designed to project the selection committee’s field. The bracket’s not designed to appease fans of a certain team who’ve spent a full year waiting for selection Sunday and a chance at redemption. The bracket’s not here to reward teams that “deserve a chance” because they have an artificially high strength of schedule or RPI. The Vegas bracket is designed to show how the top 68 teams in the land would be seeded by oddsmakers and bettors to create the perfectly balanced field.
Before you jump into the actual match-ups, I’ll prepare Georgetown and Gonzaga fans for what you’re about to see: egregious injustice! For our purposes, team’s are judged by their entire body of work and the resume they’ve compiled since November. Every loss isn’t created equally, just ask Middle Tennessee State who took a nose dive in the poll after losing to FIU as double digit favorites.
It’s important to include the explanation that the pointspread isn’t designed to predict the future but rather to indicate relative strength between 2 teams to stimulate betting interest. The point differential between a team ranked #1 and #11 doesn’t correlate to the difference between #12 and #22. Pointspreads are for betting and the power ratings/rankings we compile are merely an outline for the finished product you see on every casino’s LED boards.
Special thanks to professional bettor @Payneinsider for his input and collaboration in compiling your up to the minute power charts as of Wednesday morning.
Teams that appear with conference affiliation included have already clinched their conference’s automatic bid.
#1 Overall Seed: Indiana
(1) Indiana vs (16) Liberty (Big South) / James Madison (Colonial)
(2) Michigan St vs (15) South Dakota St (Summit)
(3) Wisconsin vs (14) Ohio
(4) Oklahoma St vs (13) Davidson
(5) Arizona vs (12) Boise St / Lasalle
(6) Minnesota vs (11) Memphis
(7) Belmont (Ohio Valley) vs (10) Kentucky
(8) Denver vs (9) North Carolina
#2 Overall Seed: Louisville
(1) Louisville vs (16) Western Kentucky (Sun Belt) / LIU Brooklyn (Northeast)
(2) Michigan vs (15) Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)
(3) Creighton vs (14) Weber St
(4) Syracuse vs (13) Stephen F Austin
(5) Colorado St vs (12) Colorado / Oklahoma
(6) St Louis vs (11) Cincinnati
(7) Middle Tennessee St vs (10) North Carolina State
(8) St Mary’s vs (9) Iowa
#3 Overall Seed: Duke
(1) Duke vs (16) North Carolina Central
(2) Kansas vs (15) Pacific
(3) Ohio St vs (14) Iona (MAAC)
(4) Pittsburgh vs (13) Bucknell
(5) Missouri vs (12) Ole Miss
(6) Wichita St vs (11) Illinois
(7) New Mexico vs (10) Iowa St
(8) Marquette vs (9) Notre Dame
#4 Overall Seed: Florida
(1) Florida vs (16) Southern
(2) Gonzaga vs (15) Albany
(3) Miami vs (14) Harvard (IVY)
(4) Georgetown vs (13) Valparaiso (Horizon)
(5) VCU vs (12) Stanford
(6) Virginia vs (11) UCLA
(7) San Diego St vs (10) Baylor
(8) Kansas St vs (9) UNLV
Power 68 (teams in bold have clinched automatic bids)
One interesting note you’ll see Akron listed at #62 despite not being tabbed as our MAC champion. After losing their star PG Abreu, the Zips have been downgraded to 2nd best in their league but still rank in our Power 68 field until their on court performance changes.
1 Indiana
2 Louisville
3 Duke
4 Florida
5 Gonzaga
6 Kansas
7 Michigan
8 Michigan State
9 Wisconsin
10 Creighton
11 Ohio State
12 Miami
13 Georgetown
14 Pittsburgh
15 Syracuse
16 Oklahoma State
17 Arizona
18 Colorado State
19 Missouri
20 VCU
21 Virginia
22 Wichita State
23 St. Louis
24 Minnesota
25 Belmont
26 Middle Tennessee State
27 New Mexico
28 San Diego State
29 Kansas State
30 Marquette
31 St. Mary’s
32 Denver
33 North Carolina
34 Iowa
35 Notre Dame
36 UNLV
37 Baylor
38 Iowa State
39 North Carolina State
40 Kentucky
41 Memphis
42 Cincinnati
43 Illinois
44 UCLA
45 Stanford
46 Mississippi
47 Colorado
48 Oklahoma
49 Boise State
50 La Salle
51 Davidson
52 Stony Brook
53 Oregon
54 Stephen F. Austin
55 UCONN
56 California
57 Butler
58 Southern Mississippi
59 Villanova
60 Bucknell
61 Temple
62 Akron
63 Tennessee
64 North Dakota St
65 Illinois State
66 Valparaiso
67 Providence
68 BYU