2017 Barnes Bracketology - Feb. 25

Here at Barnes Bracketology HQ, the weather has turned from 78 and sunny to 40 and snow/hail. It's a cruel world we live in. But it's a great metaphor for how things can change so quickly, as many of the teams below know. Fortunes can change quickly, especially in these next couple of weeks. It should be fun to watch with March just around the corner.

MY PROJECTED FIELD OF 68
(changes in italics)

LOCKS: 2 more teams have come into this group. VCU has done enough as has Oklahoma State, which has really played well in February. We also have a new team in the first spot. Congrats to Gonzaga, but that spot is not secure as Kansas and Villanova both have more chances for quality wins.

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

LOCKS (30): Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas, North Carolina, Louisville, Baylor, Oregon, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida, Duke, Florida State, UCLA, Cincinnati, Purdue, Butler, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Notre Dame, SMU, Dayton, Virginia, Minnesota, Creighton, Saint Mary's, Maryland,South Carolina, VCU, Xavier, Oklahoma State


AUTOS: Made a couple of changes. Nothing earth-shattering. 

Teams that have clinched their berth will appear in bold

AUTOS (23): America East - Vermont, Atlantic Sun - Florida Gulf Coast, Big Sky - North Dakota, Big South - UNC-Asheville, Big West - UC Irvine, 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 - ETSU, Southland - New Orleans, SWAC - Texas Southern, Summit - North Dakota State, Sun Belt - UT Arlington, WAC - Cal St Bakersfield

AT-LARGE: Providence joins the fray after a good win vs. Creighton. Wake Forest also draws back in. Kansas State and Georgia Tech are out for now after losing this week. Some big wins for teams this weekend could see them graduate to a LOCK.

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

AT-LARGE (15): Iowa State, Arkansas, USC, Miami (FL), Virginia Tech, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Michigan State, Syracuse, California, Illinois State, Rhode Island, Providence, Michigan, Wake Forest

BUBBLE WATCH

BUBBLE: I've done some trimming to this group. Teams like Georgetown, Pittsburgh, Indiana and Clemson are just playing so awful right now that it doesn't make sense to even include them. In the case of the Hoosiers, they have a RPI of 100. Clemson and Pitt are both 3-9 in their last 12. They just aren't tourney teams despite some quality wins for all.

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 (28): Iowa State, Arkansas, USC, Miami (FL), Wichita State, Virginia Tech, Northwestern, Seton Hall, Michigan State, Syracuse, California, Illinois State, Rhode Island, Providence, Michigan, Wake Forest, Kansas State, Marquette, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Vanderbilt, TCU, Tennessee, Houston, Nevada, Alabama, Ole Miss, Ohio State

SEEDING

CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
ACC (10), Big East (6), Big Ten (6), Big 12 (5), Pac-12 (5), SEC (4), Atlantic 10 (3), American (2), Missouri Valley (2), West Coast (2)

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

**Gonzaga 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.

MB