USA TODAY Sports' bracketology: Duke a solid No. 5 seed after two huge road wins
Selection Sunday is less than six weeks away. But the madness of who gets in and who gets out, as well as endless seeding debates, will be at the forefront of the sports world for the next month and a half.
Duke picked up another solid road victory at Notre Dame on Monday, and stayed at a No. 5 seed while the Irish remained at No. 6. In spite of an ugly stretch in January that saw the Blue Devils lose three of four, it's important to note their overall résumé still looks pretty solid; they have no bad losses, several good wins — one of the best being the Irish, and a decent strength of schedule that will only shoot up in ACC action.
The biggest movement saw Oklahoma State, a winner at rival Oklahoma, move up — which dropped the bubbling Indiana Hoosiers to one of the last four teams in.
► No. 1 seeds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Villanova, Kansas
► Last four in: Indiana, Georgetown, TCU, California
► First four out: Seton Hall, North Carolina State, Illinois, Wake Forest
► Others considered for at-large bids (in no particular order): Penn State, Pittsburgh, Kansas State, Providence, Nebraska, Stanford, Wichita State, Texas A&M, Houston, Memphis, Ohio State, Iowa, Ole Miss, Auburn, Alabama, Vanderbilt, Rhode Island, Texas Tech, Miami, Charleston, Temple, UTA, Georgia, Utah, Syracuse.
Moving in: Arkansas State
Moving out: Georgia Southern
► Multi-bid conferences: ACC (9), Big Ten (8), Big East (6), Big 12 (6), Pac-12 (5), SEC (5), A-10 (2), AAC - (2), WCC (2).
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Conference Leaders
► Or highest RPI from projected one-bid conferences - (23 total): America East - Vermont, Atlantic Sun - FGCU, Big Sky - Weber State, Big South - Winthrop, Big West - UC Irvine, CAA - UNC-Wilmington, C-USA - Mid Tennessee State, Horizon - Valparaiso, Ivy - Yale, MAAC - Monmouth, MAC - Akron, MEAC - NC Central, MVC - Illinois State, MWC - Nevada, Northeast - Mount Saint Mary's, Ohio Valley - Belmont, Patriot - Bucknell, Southern - East Tennessee State, Southland - Sam Houston, SWAC - Texas Southern, Summit - North Dakota State, Sun Belt - Georgia Southern, WAC - New Mexico State
- Banned from participating: Hawaii, Southern Mississippi, Alcorn State, Savannah State, Northern Colorado
- Transition Schools, ineligible for the tourney: Abilene Christian (Southland), Grand Canyon (WAC), Incarnate Word (Southland), Massachusetts-Lowell (American East)
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Note: All RPI and statistical data is used from WarrenNolan.com.
About our bracketologist: Shelby Mast has been projecting the field since 2005 and has finished as one of the top 5 national bracketologists for his website, Bracket W.A.G. He’s predicted for The Indianapolis Star, collegeinsider.com and is an inaugural member of the Super 10 Selection Committee. Follow him on Twitter @BracketWag.
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