Men’s Bracketology 2/17/23

Northwestern charges up the projected field.

At-Large Movement:
IN: Texas A&M, Wisconsin
OUT: Clemson, New Mexico

First off, I’m thrilled to announce that my women’s bracketology will now be appearing on CBSSports.com through the rest of the season.

You can find my most recent projections (from this Wednesday) here, and the plan is for updates to be released every Monday.

That’s why this week’s men’s bracket is coming out on Friday. The tentative plan will be to continue with Friday releases.

It’s been quite a week and a half since my last update — Northwestern has won three straight Q1 games to rocket up to the 6 seed line, and they even have a chance at winning the Big Ten regular season title, which is unfathomable for the program.

On the other hand, three straight losses for New Mexico sends what was once the nation’s last unbeaten men’s team tumbling out of the field. Hopes of a 5-bid Mountain West have now turned into hoping the league can still manage three teams.

In general, it’s an unusual season. I’ll second the comments of someone I saw on Twitter (I can’t remember who) that the bubble is much smaller this year than in years previous, meaning that there are far fewer teams currently outside of the field that feel like they have a chance of sneaking in (conference tournament bid stealers aside).

It feels like it’ll take a lot for anyone even in the Next Four Out right now to make it into the field. But of course, you never know.

Feel free to ask any questions and follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates. I post the Bracketology there as well.