Championship weeks are here! The conference tournaments get started Monday with the opening round of the ASUN Tournament. The Ohio Valley Conference will hand out the first automatic bid on Saturday as things begin to get busier when it comes to Bracketology.
Purdue lost to Indiana at home on Saturday night for the Boilermakers' fourth loss in six games and second to the Hoosiers. Purdue remains a No. 1 seed for now, but the Boilers dropped from No. 3 to No. 4 overall. In fact, had either Texas or Arizona won this weekend, Purdue would have dropped down to a No. 2 seed.
The Longhorns remained a No. 2 seed despite their loss to Baylor, but Arizona fell to a No. 3 seed after a heartbreaking loss to Arizona State on a buzzer-beating 55-foot shot. That is the Wildcats fifth loss of the season, all of which are to teams not in the current bracket.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm's latest bracket, full field of 68 and all the teams on the bubble on the Bracketology hub.
At the other end of the bracket, North Carolina finally picked up a Quad 1 win, defeating Virginia at home. It remains to be seen if that win will stick in Quad 1.
With Miami's loss at home to Florida State, during which it blew a 25-point lead, the Hurricanes dropped outside the top 30 of the NET, which is the line that determines whether a home win is Quad 1 or Quad 2. Virginia and Duke are the only teams that other ACC teams can beat at home and still get credit for a Quad 1 win. Maybe not for long though because those teams' NET rankings are 28 and 24 respectively. They could each be one loss away from not qualifying as Quad 1 home wins for the other ACC teams.
Back to the Tar Heels, they likely need another Quad 1 win to get into the field, assuming they do not lose to anyone else. That may have to wait for the ACC Tournament. Those are neutral-site games and wins over teams in the top 50 will qualify as Quad 1.
Michigan beat Wisconsin in overtime in Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon, which brings the Wolverines closer to the field, but not quite in yet. The Badgers are still in for now, but in the First Four. The teams split the season series, so head to head is not really a factor. Wisconsin has been better against better teams and does not have a Quad 4 loss.
Monday is the beginning of daily bracket updates, assuming an update is needed. Also, look for Bubble Watch later. The On the Bubble section of the Bracketology page will be updated when that column is posted.
