Sometimes, the last impression you leave is the strongest. Vanderbilt dominated Texas from the jump on Thursday in a matchup of No. 1 seed hopefuls, leading by 12 points after the first quarter and by as many as 26 points before ultimately winning 86-70. It was the Longhorns’ second-largest regular-season loss in the last five seasons. Still, they had a better resume than Vanderbilt in nearly every other metric, including the nation’s two best wins against UCLA and South Carolina at neutral sites.
Yet, Vanderbilt surprisingly received the final No. 1 seed in the selection committee’s top-16 reveal on Saturday. But that No. 1 seed status for the Commodores was short-lived, as they fell on Sunday at Georgia while Texas picked up a road win at Tennessee. Vanderbilt is now our top No. 2 seed with head-to-head wins over both Texas and Michigan potentially looming large.
For now, though, Texas’s overall resume gives it the edge. Here’s a look at how both teams compare entering this week.
|
|
 |
|
|
W-L |
24-3 |
24-3 |
|
NET |
4 |
7 |
|
WAB |
3 |
6 |
|
Quad 1 |
10-3 |
6-3 |
|
Head-to-Head |
Lost |
Won |
The rest of the top-16 reveal went mostly as expected. UConn remained the No. 1 overall seed despite UCLA’s sizable advantage in Quad-1 wins, and Duke was rewarded for more than two straight months of undefeated play by rising to the No. 10 overall seed.
Bracketology — Feb. 17
Last four in
- Virginia Tech
- Arizona State
- Colorado
- Virginia
First four out
- Stanford
- Clemson
- Richmond
- Utah
Next four out
- South Dakota State
- BYU
- California
- Kansas
What to watch for
Minnesota looks to grab hosting spot
After debuting as a No. 9 seed in our first projections of the season, Minnesota has steadily risen and now finds itself on the No. 5 line, knocking on the door of a coveted top-four seed and hosting spot. It would be just the second time the Golden Gophers have ever received a top-four seed – they were a No. 3 seed in the 2004-05 season, recording a program-best 26 wins and reaching the Sweet 16.
Minnesota has ranked in the top 20 of the NET rankings all season long but lacked the quality wins to justify a higher seed until its current eight-game win streak that began on Jan. 21 at Oregon. All four of Minnesota’s Quad-1 wins have come during this stretch, which has seen the team rise to No. 9 in the NET and No. 21 in WAB.
This week provides a golden opportunity to keep the pedal to the metal, with home games against current No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 4 seed Michigan State. A win in the latter contest could be enough to wrestle the Spartans’ hosting spot away.
Columbia gives the Ivy League a second bid…for now
While Minnesota has risen from a No. 9 seed to a No. 5 seed over the past month, Princeton has done the opposite. After losing a second game of the season to Columbia, the two teams are now tied atop the Ivy League, and Columbia’s head-to-head tiebreaker gives it the projected auto bid.
With Princeton remaining in the current NCAA Tournament field, that means the Ivy League is a two-bid conference, taking away an at-large spot from the bubble (sorry, Stanford). However, it remains to be seen if that will hold, as Columbia almost certainly needs to win the Ivy League Tournament to reach March Madness.
But even if the Lions do win the Ivy League Tournament, Princeton might find itself on the outside looking in if it loses another game in the regular season. The Tigers have four games left on the schedule, with a Quad-2 contest at Harvard being the main challenge. In the first meeting between the teams this season, Princeton needed overtime in order to win at home.
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