The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, led by North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham, revealed its top 16 teams on the Bracket Preview Show on CBS earlier this afternoon. The bracket consisted of every team seeded No. 1 through No. 4 in the order it landed on each seed line.
It came as no surprise as Auburn was the No. 1 overall seed, based on it having a robust 13 quadrant one wins, as well as possessing the No. 1 overall strength-of-record, KPI (Kevin Pauga Index) and WAB (Wins Above Bubble). The Tigers also have seven quadrant 1A wins, with strong victories over Houston, Iowa State, Purdue and Tennessee. All four of these opponents were part of today’s unveiling of the top 16 teams. Alabama ended up being the No. 2 overall one seed. The Crimson Tide are a stellar 15-3 against the first two quadrants with road wins at Texas A&M and Kentucky and a neutral site win over Houston.
Rounding out the No. 1 seed line is Duke and Florida, respectively. Duke is 21-3 overall, owns a NET ranking of No. 2 in the country and is only one of two teams to beat the top overall No. 1 seed Auburn. Florida is the fourth No. 1 seed and won at Auburn, which is arguably the most impressive road win for any team this season.
Tennessee is the top overall No. 2 seed. The Volunteers are No. 1 on KenPom in adjusted defensive efficiency and have eight quadrant one wins, which is tied for second most in the nation. Texas A&M came in next as it edged out Purdue for the second No. 2 seed as the Aggies beat the Boilermakers on a neutral court. Purdue is the No. 7 overall seed as it beat Alabama and has 14 wins over the first two quadrants. Houston is the overall No. 8 seed thanks to a great road win at Kansas and a Torvik ranking of No. 1, a metric used to predict future performance.
Iowa State is the consensus top No. 3 seed. With a NET ranking of No. 7, the Cyclones have key wins over Kansas and at Texas Tech. Next up is Kentucky, which is the only team besides Auburn that has seven Q1A victories. Some of those wins include Duke, Texas A&M and Tennessee twice. Wisconsin joins the fray as the third overall No. 3 seed. The Badgers have 12 wins over the top two quadrants, own the No. 9 strength-of-record and the No. 12 KenPom ranking. Arizona is the final No. 3 seed with a No. 9 Torvik ranking and impressive wins against Iowa State and Texas Tech.
With one of the more important wins on the season, Texas Tech enters as the top overall No. 4 seed as its win at Houston separated them from other teams trying to crack the top four seed lines. Michigan follows Texas Tech with a strong 6-3 record against quadrant one opponents, which included wins over Purdue, at Wisconsin and at UCLA. Kansas is the third No. 4 seed due to the fact that it owns two neutral site wins over Duke and Michigan State, as well as a victory over Iowa State. And finally, St. John’s out of the Big East rounds out the top 16 team reveal. The Red Storm came into the day with a strong No. 10 SOR and key wins over Marquette and UConn. They also possess top 15 result-based metrics across the board. Michigan State and Marquette were mentioned as the two teams that just missed out of being in the top 16.
Selection Sunday is on March 16th.
Here are the top 16 teams and the regions they have been assigned to:
EAST (NEWARK): Duke, Tennessee, Arizona, St. John’s
WEST (SAN FRANCISCO): Florida, Houston, Kentucky, Michigan
MIDWEST (INDIANAPOLIS): Alabama, Purdue, Iowa State, Kansas
SOUTH (ATLANTA): Auburn, Texas A&M, Wisconsin, Texas Tech
