The NCAA selection committee gave us its top 16 on Saturday. Before the end of the day, four of those teams lost. One was inevitable because Oklahoma and West Virginia played each other. Joining the Mountaineers as losers that day were Villanova, Tennessee and Missouri.
There was a bit of shuffling around in that group in Monday's updated Bracketology. Only the Tigers dropped out of the top 16. Mizzou was replaced by Florida State, which needed overtime to beat Wake Forest, as one of the top 16 teams in the updated bracket.
At the bottom of the bracket, there was some shuffling around, because there is always shuffling at the bottom of the bracket. Seton Hall joined as one of the last four in the field. North Texas took the automatic qualifier spot in Conference USA, putting Western Kentucky back in the at-large pool. Dropping out were Boise State and North Carolina.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm's latest bracket, full field of 68 and all the teams on the bubble on the Bracketology hub.
Big bubble battle in MVC
In a much anticipated series last weekend, Drake and Loyola Chicago split two games, leaving the teams still tied in the loss column in the Missouri Valley Conference standings. The Ramblers won the first one in a blowout, while the Bulldogs took Sunday's game in overtime.
Drake is now playing without its best player, ShanQuan Hemphill, who leads the team in scoring and is second in rebounding. He is expected to be out for at least the rest of the regular season. The Bulldogs hope to get him back in time for Arch Madness, but even that is questionable.
Gophers dig a deeper hole
Minnesota took another road loss, this time at Maryland. That gave the Terrapins a season sweep of the Gophers, which may come in handy if they get a good enough record to get in the bracket. I think the committee would have to swallow really hard to take a .500 team. That said, I would not be surprised to see a team or two get in this season with overall records that would not normally be good enough due to the shortened schedules.
Meanwhile, Minnesota is still looking for its first road win of the season. The Gophers are now 0-7 away from The Barn. They still have road games at Indiana and Penn State, and conference tournament games are away from home as well.
Coincidentally, I have Drake and Minnesota playing each other as No. 11 seeds in a First Four game in the latest bracket. Indiana is paired with Seton Hall in the other First Four game as the last two teams in the field.
Many returns aren't happy
Teams coming out of COVID pauses have had mixed results so far. Clemson is the poster child for a disastrous post-pause performance. The Tigers took four blowout losses in their first five games back. They seem to have righted the ship for now though and are a No. 5 seed in the latest Bracketology.
No. 1 seed Michigan came out of a three week pause on Sunday at Wisconsin. The Wolverines were down 12 at the half, but early in the second half, they got a spark from when the Badgers' Brad Davison threw an elbow at Mike Smith's face while going up for a layup. That sparked Michigan on a big run through the rest of the game, which the Wolverines won comfortably. So far so good for Michigan coming out of a three-week break
It will be interesting to see how No. 1 seed Baylor responds, but it'll be at least Saturday before we find out. The Bears are scheduled to host Oklahoma State then.
