2016 Barnes Bracketology - Feb. 6

So the big development since the first post on Monday was the news that Louisville will self-sanction themselves with a postseason ban in basketball. That is a huge development considering their standing this season. So right when I was ready to post my latest projections, I stopped and decided to wait an extra day. Their loss though is someone's else gain. But it is a shame that both Louisville and SMU will be ineligible from this year's tournament because both of those teams are very worthy and who know, could have made deep runs in the Big Dance.

MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 68
(changes in italics)

LOCKS: Louisville was going to join this group with their win vs. North Carolina but alas, not happening. Oregon however is joining. They are number 2 in the RPI and with a solid win vs. Colorado, they deserve the graduation.

LOCKS (15): Oklahoma, Villanova, Kansas, Iowa, Xavier, North Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Michigan State, Texas A+M, Iowa State, Oregon, Miami (FL), Providence



AUTOS: Normally do not make changes to this group in the mid-week posts but I am forced to as I projected Grand Canyon to win the WAC. They are ineligible though because this is their first year in Div. I competition. So scratch that. They have been replaced by New Mexico State.

Teams that have clinched their berth will appear in bold

AUTOS (26): America East - Stony Brook, American - Cincinnati, Atlantic-10 - VCU,  Atlantic Sun - North Florida, Big Sky - Montana, Big South - Winthrop, Big West - UC-Irvine, 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 - Saint Mary's, WAC - New Mexico State

AT-LARGE: I said Louisville's loss would be someone else's gain. Well, that team is LSU, who sneaks into this group but will find themselves in Dayton for now. Some shuffling here but no other major changes.

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

AT-LARGE (27): Dayton, Baylor, Kentucky, Purdue, Duke, Utah, Notre Dame, Indiana, Texas, Arizona, USC, Florida, Pittsburgh, Colorado, California, Michigan, Washington, UConn, FSU, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Butler, South Carolina, Clemson, St. Joseph's, LSU

BUBBLE WATCH

BUBBLE: Added a few teams to the end of this list. Don't worry too much about the order near the end. It's more about getting them on this list to keep track of them. It's still very early so there will always be a lot of movement in this group, up and down.

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 (47): Dayton, Baylor, Kentucky, Purdue, Duke, Utah, Notre Dame, Indiana, Texas, Arizona, USC, Florida, Pittsburgh, Colorado, California, Michigan, Washington, UConn, FSU, Vanderbilt, Syracuse, Butler, South Carolina, Clemson, St. Joseph's, LSU,, Wisconsin, Oregon State, Cincinnati, San Diego State, Monmouth, Stanford, Saint Mary's, BYU, UCLA, Texas Tech, Seton Hall, Arizona State, Georgetown, Valparaiso, George Washington, Temple, Georgia

SEEDING

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
ACC (9), Pac-12 (7), Big Ten (6), Big 12 (6), SEC (65), Big East (4), A-10 (3), American (2), West Coast (2)

COMING IN: LSU

GOING OUT: Louisville

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)
SOUTH vs. WEST
EAST vs. MIDWEST

**Oklahoma is the overall top seed

Next update will come after Sunday OR Monday's games. There's this thing called the Super Bowl which may delay getting it done. Questions? Comments? Sound off on my Twitter or Facebook and I'll answer any questions.

MB