2017 Barnes Bracketology - Feb. 11

First off, apologies for the one-day delay in posting. Two of my best friends had a baby and time that would have been spent posting instead were spent being around my "niece". It was time well spent.

As for the basketball, this is an exciting day for bracketologists everywhere because for the first time, the selection committee will release their top 16 seeds as of right now, 27 days before Selection Sunday. This will give us a rare look at how they rank the teams and give me a chance to compare and contrast. Now, a lot can change between now and Selection Sunday so in all honesty, this glimpse doesn't really matter in the long run but it does give fans and bracketologists like myself something to talk and think about for the next 4 weeks.

MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 68
(changes in italics)

LOCKS: Did not add one name to this group but did some minor shuffling. Nothing too crazy though.

These are in order so you know how I rank these teams right now.

LOCKS (23): Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas, Baylor, North Carolina, Louisville, Oregon, Florida State, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, Cincinnati, UCLA, Wisconsin, Purdue, Duke, West Virginia, Butler, Notre Dame, Xavier, Maryland, South Carolina


AUTOS: No changes here. Will re-visit this group after the weekend to make any changes

Teams that have clinched their berth will appear in bold

AUTOS (24): America East - Vermont, Atlantic-10 - VCU, Atlantic Sun - Florida Gulf Coast, Big Sky - Weber State, Big South - UNC-Asheville, Big West - UC Davis, Colonial - UNC-Wilmington, Conference-USA - Middle Tennessee, Horizon - Valparaiso, Ivy - Princeton, MAAC - Monmouth, MAC - Akron, MEAC - NC Central, Missouri Valley - Wichita State, Mountain West - Nevada, Northeast - Mount St. Mary's, Ohio Valley - Belmont, Patriot - Bucknell, Southern - East Tennesse State, Southland - Sam Houston State, SWAC - Texas Southern, Summit - North Dakota State, Sun Belt - Georgia Southern, WAC - New Mexico State

AT-LARGE: Plenty of shuffling here, and a few additions/subtractions. TCU, Seton Hall and Miami (FL) all enter the group after good wins that helped their resumes. The top 3 teams in this group are incredibly close to moving into the LOCKS category. Dayton's win at Rhode Island on Friday may actually be enough but I want to see how the rest of the weekend's games wrap up.

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

AT-LARGE (21): Creighton, Saint Mary's, Dayton, SMU, USC, Syracuse, Oklahoma State, California, Iowa State, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Northwestern, Tennessee, Wake Forest, TCU, Kansas State, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Miami (FL), Indiana

BUBBLE WATCH

BUBBLE: The addition of 3 teams in the group above means 3 teams have fallen out of the field. Those teams would be Michigan State, Marquette and Clemson. Plenty of time to get back in the mix but for now, back to just on the BUBBLE. Added Ohio State to this mix, though without a win at Maryland, may find themselves right back off of it. Georgetown and Texas Tech have been taken off this list as well for now.

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 (35): Creighton, Saint Mary's, Dayton, SMU, USC, Syracuse, Oklahoma State, California, VCU, Iowa State, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Arkansas, Northwestern, Tennessee, Wake Forest, TCU, Kansas State, Wichita State, Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, Miami (FL), Indiana, Michigan State, Alabama, Michigan, Illinois State, Marquette, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Ohio State, Houston, Auburn, Memphis, Georgia

SEEDING

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
ACC (10), Big 12 (7), Big Ten (5), Big East (5), Pac-12 (5), SEC (5), Atlantic 10 (3), American (2), West Coast (2)

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

**Villanova is the overall top seed

Questions? Comments? Sound off on my Twitter or Facebook and I'll answer any questions. Next update comes on Monday around noon.

MB