Bracketology: Tennessee faces Texas A&M in battle of No. 2 seeds who could move up if a top-line team falls

A new projected bracket is up on the Bracketology hub and there is no change on the top two lines. That may not be the case when the bracket is updated Monday.

Alabama is still No. 2 overall seed despite the loss at Missouri, but the Crimson Tide host Kentucky on Saturday. A loss to the Wildcats would certainly drop Alabama down to a No. 2 seed.  

The most likely team to replace the Crimson Tide would be the winner of a battle of No. 2 seeds, also on Saturday. No. 5 overall seed Tennessee is at No. 6 overall seed Texas A&M and the loser of that game will definitely stay on the No. 2 line.  

Also in that part of the bracket, No. 3 seed Iowa State travels to No. 2 seed Houston.  A win for the Cyclones would move them up a spot, although the Cougars may not necessarily move down.  It could depend on what other teams do. The other No. 2 seed Wisconsin will play host to Oregon on Saturday.

No. 1 seed Duke and Illinois will play a nonconference game on Saturday at Madison Square Garden. The Blue Devils, the No. 3 overall seed, play a game there most years if they can, but it couldn’t be worked out in the typical nonconference part of the calendar. So, they tried for a late one and found a willing partner in the Illini.

Duke may be catching Illinois at a good time. The Fighting Illini have lost two in a row to drop to seventh place in the Big Ten. Still, this is a Quad 1 game for Duke, which is welcome since the Blue Devils have only played three in their previous fifteen games, all of which were ACC contests.

Bracketology top seeds

Check out Palm’s bracket and full field of 68 at the Bracketology hub. 

Kansas drops one seed-line

Kansas, despite getting blown out at BYU on Tuesday to complete a lost trip to the state of Utah, only fell one line to a No. 6 seed.  The Jayhawks were a No. 4 seed less than a week ago when the NCAA released its top 16 seeds.

This is the second straight season where things seem to be going sideways for Kansas late in the year. Last season, the Jayhawks lost three of their last four games in the regular season, including one to unranked BYU.  Two weeks before that, they took a 29-point loss at unranked Texas Tech. Then, they lost by 20 to No. 11 seed Cincinnati in the Big 12 Tournament.  That was followed by a four-point win over No. 13 seed Samford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before a 21-point loss to Gonzaga.

Others on the move

• The only team to move more than one-seed line in Friday’s bracket was Texas Tech. The Red Raiders dropped five spots on the S-curve after the loss at TCU this week, but it was from 12 to 17, which is the difference between a low No. 3 seed to the high No. 5 seed.
• Ohio State fell out of the bracket entirely after a 70-49 pasting at home from Northwestern. The Buckeyes dropped to 15-12 overall on the season, 9-12 vs. the top three quadrants and neither of those marks are good enough for consideration.  They play three of their last four regular season games on the road, starting with the Los Angeles swing Sunday and Wednesday.
• The weekend gets started Friday with Michigan State traveling to Michigan with first place in the Big Ten on the line.  The Wolverines have a half-game lead over the Spartans with Wisconsin another game back. Michigan State still has a home game left with the Badgers and will host the Wolverines in the regular-season finale.