Daniel Evans (@bracketexpert) is Rush the Court’s resident bracketologist. He will update his brackets at least twice a week through the rest of the regular season here at RTC, but his updated brackets can be viewed daily at Bracketology Expert. As we approach March Madness, he’ll also provide occasional blind resumes. Evans has been ranked by the Bracket Matrix as the nation’s 11th-best bracketologist out of hundreds of entries.

It’s Selection Sunday! My final bracket will be posted at some point this afternoon, so stay tuned. It should look a lot like the one below, but I expect to make a few tweaks to the bottom of the bracket as I debate the final few bubble teams.

The NCAA Tournament Picture (full bracket after the jump)

• NCAA Tournament Locks (38): Arizona, Florida, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Kansas, Duke, Villanova, Virginia, Creighton, Michigan, San Diego State, Iowa State, Michigan State, Louisville, North Carolina, Saint Louis, Cincinnati, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Kansas State, VCU, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Iowa, Ohio State, George Washington, Memphis, Arizona State, New Mexico, Oregon, Baylor, Oklahoma State, Colorado, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Saint Joseph’s
• Clinched NCAA Tournament Auto-Bids (27): Harvard (Ivy), Eastern Kentucky (OVC), Wichita State (MVC), Mercer (ASun), Coastal Carolina (Big South), Manhattan (MAAC), Wofford (SOCON), Milwaukee (Horizon), Mount St. Mary’s (NEC), North Dakota State (Summit), Gonzaga (WCC), Delaware (CAA), American (Patriot), Albany (America East), Tulsa (Conference USA), Louisville (American), Weber State (Big Sky), Providence (Big East), Cal Poly (Big West), Western Michigan (MAC), NC Central (MEAC), New Mexico (Mountain West), UCLA (Pac-12), Stephen F. Austin (Southland), Texas Southern (SWAC), New Mexico State (WAC)

Since 68 teams make the NCAA Tournament, that leaves us with 7 spots remaining for bubble teams. Now, let’s take a look at the bubble:

Projected Bubble Spots Left: 6

• Probably In (3): Nebraska, Dayton, Xavier
• Bubble In (3):  SMU, Tennessee, BYU
• Bubble Out: Green Bay, Florida State, Southern Miss, N. C. State, Minnesota, Arkansas, California, Belmont, Missouri, Toledo, Louisiana Tech, Georgia, St. John’s

The Projected NCAA Tournament Field (Selection Sunday at 2:59 A.M. CT)

The NIT Picture

• Automatic NIT Bids (12): Belmont (OVC), Florida Gulf Coast (ASun), Davidson (SoCon), Vermont (America East), Green Bay (Horizon), Iona (MAAC), Robert Morris (NEC). High Point (Big South), Boston University (Patriot), UC Irvine (Big West), Utah Valley (WAC), Louisiana Tech (Conference USA)
• Current At-Large Projections (20): California, Arkansas, Georgetown, Florida State, St. John’s,  Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia, Clemson, N. C. State, Richmond, Marquette, Illinois,  Middle Tennessee, Southern Miss, UNLV, Utah, Georgia, Maryland, San Francisco
• Others potential auto bids/NIT bid stealers (1):  Georgia State (Sun Belt)

The CBI/CIT Picture

• Projected CBI Field (16): Penn State, Georgia Tech, Boise State, Siena, Illinois State, Ole Miss, Buffalo, Western Kentucky, Cleveland State,  Saint Mary’s, Houston,  UTEP, Charlotte, Northern Iowa, Sam Houston State
• Projected CIT Field (6):  UCSB, Towson, William & Mary,South Dakota State,  Montana, Bucknell
• Accepted CIT Bids (26): San Diego, Valparaiso, Nebraska-Omaha, Brown, Murray State, IPFW, Murray State, Valparaiso, Missouri State, Holy Cross, Brown, East Tennessee State, VMI, Pacific, Grand Canyon, Columbia, USC Upstate, Kent State, Wright State, East Carolina, Idaho, Fairfield, Quinnipiac, Yale, Canisius, Chattanooga

Daniel Evans (60 Posts)

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2014 at 9:45 am by Daniel Evans (@bracketexpert) and is filed under bracketology, Regular Features. Tagged: #1 seeds, bracketology, feature, ncaa tournament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.