The Vanderbilt Commodores are a legitimate Sweet 16 contender. Head coach Mark Byington already has led his team to as many wins (4) in the conference as it had in the entirety of last season under Jerry Stackhouse. In a deep SEC, stacking the house with wins is extremely impressive, good luck beating Auburn though. It was a big week for current and former Pittsburgh Panthers. The basketball team scratched and clawed their way onto bubble conversation with some big wins this week, while Kenny Pickett wrote some notes down to help his team reach the Super Bowl.

The San Diego State Aztec’s fourteenth-century brand of basketball knocked them completely out of the field. Auburn remains the No. 1 overall seed, while Houston joined the No. 1 line after hitting two more 3-point shots in the final five seconds of overtime than the team they replaced, Tennessee, did in an entire half against Auburn. Check out our entire projected NCAA Tournament field below!

First Four Out: San Diego State, Pittsburgh, Arkansas, Penn State

• It took the Aztec civilization 221 years to eventually fall. The San Diego State Aztecs fell out of our projected field in the span of three weeks.
• The school, and city, of Pittsburgh has gotten it’s fare share of shots thrown its way during the near-two year’s Section 400 has been a brand, but the Panthers are slowly gaining our respect as a March contender this year. The backcourt duo of Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett is the type of tandem that can turn a pumpkin into a carriage come March.
• Arkansas is lucky to even be considered among the bubble programs at this point. Somebody may want to check on Jon Calipari’s ‘Zillow’ search history. A beach side condo in Palm Beach may sound mighty nice to the 65-year-old right now.
• Death, Taxes, and Penn State falling short in big games. James Franklin’s stink may have drifted to the hard wood. That combination of words is never good news, and this is no exception, as the Nittany Lions lost yet another game by a single possession, this time falling to Iowa, who we don’t believe is a tournament team, by a single point.

Last Four In: Ohio State, Indiana, Cincinnati, North Carolina

• Ohio State is the definition of a ‘First Four’ team. The Buckeyes have all talent and star to beat anybody, but the players are somehow experiencing the championship hangover you’d expect from the football team nightly. Until the Buckeye’s stop losing games they should win, the bubble is their home.
• Indiana is lucky we’ve had a long day because the more and more I look at this the more and more I want to keep them off the bubble.
• Cincinnati is as much of a mainstay on the bubble as it’s two most famous alumni are in the media world right now.
• North Carolina had the second biggest fall of the week, barely ahead of San Diego State. The Tarheels are almost a carbon copy of Ohio State, and a loss to Pittsburgh this week would drop them to the wrong side of the bubble. How many times do you think we can say “bubble”?

16 seeds: American, SEMO/Long Island, Vermont, Omaha/Southern

15 seeds: Norfolk State, Kent State, Youngstown State, Marist

14 seeds: Arkansas State, High Point, Northern Colorado, New Mexico State

13 seeds: McNeese, Grand Canyon, North Alabama, Samford

12 seeds: Yale, George Mason, William & Mary, Drake

11 seeds: UC Irvine, Ohio State/North Carolina, Indiana/Cincinnati, St. Mary’s

10 seeds: Missouri, Utah State, Texas, Texas Tech

9 seeds: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Louisville, Nebraska

8 seeds: Clemson, West Virginia, Georgia, Vanderbilt

7 seeds: Maryland, Baylor, Arizona, UConn

6 seeds: Michigan, UCLA, Creighton, Ole Miss

5 seeds: Wisconsin, St. John’s, Memphis, Gonzaga

4 seeds: Mississippi State, Oregon, Kentucky, Purdue

3 seeds: Kansas, Illinois, Texas A&M, Florida

2 seeds: (5) Alabama, (6) Marquette, (7) Tennessee, (8) Michigan State

1 seeds: (1) Auburn, (2) Duke, (3), Iowa State, (4) Houston

 

Projected Major conference champions: Michigan State, Iowa State, Marquette, Auburn, Duke, San Diego State,