2016 Barnes Bracketology - Feb. 15

27 days until Selection Sunday. That's right. We are inside of a month until the most intense 15 minutes of TV as teams find out their path to a potential NCAA Championship. And what a season it's been already. If the regular season is any indication, the conference tournaments and NCAA tournaments are going to be something special. Hope you are enjoying it as much as I am.

MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 68
(changes in italics)

LOCKS: Time for some new blood. After holding off, I've added 5 new teams that were right on the cusp of making it anyways. All of them had wins during the week that were enough for me to make the call. So welcome them all.

LOCKS (22): Kansas, Villanova, Oklahoma, Iowa, Maryland, Virginia, Xavier, North Carolina, Oregon, Michigan State, West Virginia, Miami (FL), Notre Dame, Iowa State, Kentucky, Dayton, Duke, Utah, Purdue, Arizona, Providence, Texas A+M



AUTOS: Only one change as most of the leaders in the conference stayed on top.

Teams that have clinched their berth will appear in bold

AUTOS (25): America East - Stony Brook, American - Temple, Atlantic Sun - North Florida, Big Sky - Montana, Big South - Winthrop, Big West - Hawaii, Colonial - UNC-Wilmington, Conference-USA - UAB, Horizon - Valparaiso, Ivy - Yale, MAAC - Monmouth, MAC - Akron, MEAC - Hampton, Missouri Valley - Wichita State, Mountain West - San Diego State, Northeast - Wagner, Ohio Valley - Belmont, Patriot - Bucknell, Southern - Chattanooga, Southland - Stephen F. Austin, SWAC - Texas Southern, Summit - South Dakota State, Sun Belt - AR-Little Rock, WCC - Gonzaga, WAC - New Mexico State

AT-LARGE: Teams made some subtle moves but nothing too gigantic. Biggest win went to Wisconsin for beating Maryland on the road. They did move up a bit to get out of the final 4 spots in. Butler and Washington are back on the brink thanks to losses over the weekend. Florida State drops out for now after another loss.

These are in order, so the last four teams will be playing in the "First Four" in Dayton.

AT-LARGE (21): Texas, California, Florida, Baylor, USC, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Oregon State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Indiana, UConn, VCU, Michigan, Saint Joseph's, LSU, Vanderbilt, Washington, Seton Hall, Butler

BUBBLE WATCH

BUBBLE: There are some teams looking to knock the door over, which is great. Both Texas Tech and Alabama went on the road and beat teams that are very likely to make the tournament. Look out for both as the weeks go on. Beyond that, we say goodbye for now to Valpo, Kansas State, Arizona State and Georgetown, who all suffered losses during the weekend that was. Maybe they get back here. Maybe they don't.

These are in order, so to figure out the first teams out, head to the final team from the AT-LARGE category and look for all the teams behind them.

BUBBLE (36): Texas, California, Florida, Baylor, USC, Colorado, Pittsburgh, Oregon State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Indiana, UConn, VCU, Michigan, Wichita State, Saint Joseph's, Gonzaga, LSU, Vanderbilt, Washington, Seton Hall, Temple, Butler, Florida State, Texas Tech, St. Bonaventure, Alabama, Monmouth, Cincinnati, Clemson, George Washington, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Tulsa, BYU

SEEDING

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
Pac-12 (8), ACC (7), Big Ten (7), SEC (7), Big 12 (6), Big East (5), A-10 (3), American (2)

COMING IN: LSU

GOING OUT: Florida State

Teams highlighted in green moved up in seeding since last bracket.

Teams highlighted in red moved down in seeding since last bracket.

(Click on bracket to enlarge)
MIDWEST vs. WEST
EAST vs. SOUTH

**Kansas is the overall top seed

Next update will come after Thursday or Friday's games. Questions? Comments? Sound off on my Twitter or Facebook and I'll answer any questions.

MB