It seems like every new bracket brings a new No. 1 seed. Wisconsin joins the top line of the bracket this week after Duke lost at Florida State on Wednesday night.
The Badgers have been one of the more pleasant surprises this season. They were picked for ninth in the Big Ten in our preseason predictions, but nobody expected newcomer Johnny Davis to play like an All-American in the first half of the season. Davis has helped propel Wisconsin to the top of the Big Ten and now, the top line of the bracket.
The Blue Devils have dropped down to the No. 2 line for now.
One of the patterns developing in my Friday brackets is that multiple No. 1 seeds lose before Monday. Perhaps the best candidate for a loss this weekend is overall No. 1 seed Auburn. The Tigers are hosting No. 5 seed Kentucky this weekend in a big game for both teams. Auburn may need to win to hang on to a spot at the top of the bracket, while the Wildcats are looking to pick up the kind of win that can propel them up the bracket quickly.
Wisconsin is also hosting Michigan State on Friday as the Spartans look to bounce back from a home loss to Northwestern. Baylor is on the road at Oklahoma, while Gonzaga has the weekend off.
Bracketology top seeds
Check out Palm’s latest bracket, full field of 68 and all the teams on the bubble on the Bracketology hub.
Indiana in field after beating busy Boilermakers
Something that may have never happened before, or certainly not in my memory: Purdue played twice between my regular bi-weekly brackets. The Boilers won at Illinois hours after the Monday bracket was released. That was arguably Purdue’s best win of the season. Naturally, the Boilermakers followed that up with a 68-65 loss at Indiana. That was the Hoosiers’ first win over Purdue, now a No. 3 seed, in ten games covering almost six years. It was also enough to get IU into the bracket as a No. 8 seed.
Teams playing multiple games between brackets will happen more often as we go on through this season because of tight schedules caused by makeup games due to COVID postponements. However, Purdue’s games this week were originally scheduled for Monday and Thursday.
Familiar foes in First Four
You may notice that one of the First Four matchups features TCU vs. Texas A&M, both No. 12 seeds. The Horned Frogs beat the Aggies on Dec. 11. Normally the NCAA selection committee tries to avoid regular-season rematches, but the NCAA’s bracketing rules do not seem to apply to First Four games. Regular-season rematches are allowed in those.
