2023 NCAA Tournament December Update
Release of NET Rankings - 96 Days until Selection Sunday
2023 NCAA Tournament December Update
96 Days until Selection Sunday
The first NET rankings came out on Monday and for the casual College BB fan NET rankings are key factor that the NCAA Selection uses when comparing teams.
So far the first month of College Basketball has had Surprises, Disappointments and Cinderellas.
Surprises:
Purdue, UConn, and Maryland went from unranked in the preseason Top #25 to undefeated and ranked in the Top 15. Purdue and UConn both dominated top competition to win the inaugural Phil Knight tournaments in Oregon over Thanksgiving launching both teams into Top 5 and likely #1 seeds if the tournament started in December (To all UConn and Purdue fans - it doesn’t there is still a lot of College BB to play)
Disappointments:
Preseason #1 North Carolina and Preseason #2 Gonzaga are a combined 11-9 to start the season and 1-7 vs Quad 1 opponent according to the first NET rankings.
Last year’s Final 4 team Villanova (ranked #160 in the NET rankings) started the season 2-5 in the post Jay Wright era before beating Oklahoma last Saturday. \
The two biggest disappointments in college basketball right now could be from the ACC where Florida State is 1-9 and ranked #293 in NET and Louisville is winless (0-8) and ranked #360 in NET (there are only 363 teams in Division 1). If ACC bubble teams lose to FSU or Louisville in conference play it could keep them out of the tournament.
Cinderellas:
Sam Houston (ranked #7 in NET) as 2 Quad 1 wins Oklahoma and Utah so remember that when filling out your bracket in March. The Mountain West conference still has three undefeated teams UNLV, Utah State, and New Mexico plus the CAA might have another giant killer as Charleston is on an 8 game winning streak after losing to North Carolina in their season opener.
With the first NET rankings out teams from the WAC, C-USA, MWC, MAC, Ivy are all in the Top 40 and 5 teams (UMass Lowell, Youngstown State, SIU Edwardsville, Quinnipiac, Grambling) from Never Made the Tourney Club (@NMTC_Hoops)are in the Top 140 meaning those schools are dreaming of dancing for the first time ever in 2023.
Dates to Remember:
Conference Tournaments begins February 27, 2023. Over 90% of Division I teams will have one last shot to make the NCAA Tournament through automatic conference tournaments bids.
Selection Sunday is March 12, 2023
First Four starts March 14, 2023. March 16 to March 19 -non-stop basketball as 64 teams become 16
Sweet 16 and Elite 8: March 23 to March 26
Reminder - Final Four is April 1 in Houston, TX.
National Championship Game: April 3
Keep us with my picks and others on Bracket Project, (great website that does one of the best jobs of actually getting right the Field of 68 because of the amount of brackets it collects)
First Four (Dayton, OH)
Wagner vs Longwood
UNLV vs Texas Tech
Montana State vs NC Central
New Mexico vs St. John’s
Midwest Regional (Kansas City, MO)
Birmingham, AL
1 Houston vs 16 Wagner or Longwood
8 Utah vs 9 Marquette
Des Moines, IA
5 Baylor vs 12 Saint Louis
4 Illinois vs 13 Charleston
Columbus, OH
6 Ohio State vs 11 Kent State
3 Indiana vs 14 UC Irvine
Des Moines, IA
7 Creighton vs 10 Arizona State
2 Kansas vs 15 SIUE
East Regional (New York, NY)
Albany, NY
1 UCONN vs 16 Grambling
8 Memphis vs 9 Va Tech
Denver, CO
5 Mississippi State vs 12 UNLV or Texas Tech
4 Arizona vs 13 Iona
Albany, NY
6 Saint Mary’s vs 11 Sam Houston
3 Maryland vs 14 Oral Roberts
Orlando, FL
7 San Diego State vs 10 TCU
2 Alabama vs 15 Colgate
West Regional (Las Vegas, NV)
Birmingham, AL
1 Texas vs 16 Texas A&M CC
8 North Carolina vs 9 Xavier
Denver, CO
5 Gonzaga vs 12 New Mexico or St. John’s
4 Duke vs 13 Drake
Greensboro, NC
6 Iowa vs 11 Miami
3 Arkansas vs 14 UMASS Lowell
Orlando, FL
7 Iowa State vs 10 Missouri
2 Tennessee vs 15 Iowa State
South Regional (Louisville, KY)
Columbus, OH
1 Purdue vs 16 Montana State or NC Central
8 Utah State vs 9 Oklahoma
Sacramento, CA
5 West Virginia vs 12 James Madison
4 Auburn vs 13 Yale
Sacramento, CA
6 Kentucky vs 11 Penn State
3 UCLA vs 14 Furman
Greensboro, NC
7 Rutgers vs 10 Florida Atlantic
2 Virginia vs 15 Liberty
Last Four Out:
Other under consideration:
By Conference:
Big Ten: 8
Big 12: 8
SEC: 7
ACC: 5
Big East: 5
Pac 12:4
MWC: 4
AAC: 2
WCC: 2
CUSA, A10, WAC, MAC: 1* (teams with the auto bid - FAU, Saint Louis, Sam Houston, and Kent State could receive AL consideration)
These 10 teams likely did enough in out of conference play so far that if they do well in conference should be able to make an AL case because strength of schedule will increase
Last Teams Out: NC State, OK State, Wisconsin, Boise State
Others under Consideration: Kansas State, Michigan State, Nebraska, Colorado, Florida, Ole Miss