NCAA Bracket Prediction - 8 Mar

Duke has taken over as the #1 overall seed with only 1 week to go until Selection Sunday, a spot that has been held down all season by either Michigan or Arizona, who are also locks for #1 seeds. Florida moved up to the final #1 spot, dislodging UConn, whose loss to Marquette cost them that spot. Indiana edged back into the field, not based on anything they did right, but based on New Mexico playing themselves out of the field with a pair of losses. Here is my full current bracket:

	SOUTH			MIDWEST
1	Duke		1	Michigan
16	Long Island/UMBC		16	Howard/Bethune-Cookman
8	UCLA		8	Kentucky
9	Texas A&M		9	Saint Louis
5	St. John’s		5	Kansas
12	High Point		12	Stephen F Austin
4	Vanderbilt		4	Alabama
13	Liberty		13	Northern Iowa
6	Wisconsin		6	Louisville
11	Santa Clara		11	Missouri/Texas
3	Iowa State		3	Purdue
14	Troy		14	Navy
7	Saint Mary’s		7	Villanova
10	UCF		10	VCU
2	Illinois		2	Houston
15	Portland State		15	Wright State
	EAST			WEST
1	Florida		1	Arizona
16	Tennessee State		16	Queens
8	Utah State		8	Clemson
9	Ohio State		9	Iowa
5	North Carolina		5	Arkansas
12	Miami (OH)		12	Yale
4	Texas Tech		4	Virginia
13	Utah Valley		13	UNC Wilmington
6	Tennessee		6	BYU
11	South Florida		11	SMU/Indiana
3	Nebraska		3	Gonzaga
14	UC Irvine		14	North Dakota State
7	Miami		7	Georgia
10	TCU		10	NC State
2	UConn		2	Michigan State
15	Merrimack		15	East Tennessee State

Last Four Byes

NC State

UCF

VCU

Santa Clara

Last Four In

Missouri

Texas

SMU

Indiana

First Four Out

New Mexico

Auburn

Stanford

San Diego State

Next Four Out

Virginia Tech

Boise State

Cincinnati

Seton Hall

Teams by Conference

SEC - 10

Big 10 - 10

ACC - 8

Big 12 - 8

Big East - 3

WCC - 3

Atl 10 - 2

NBA MVP Rankings - 7 Mar

The top 4 contenders in the MVP rankings remained in the same spots since my last update in January, but the healthy return of Victor Wembanyama caused him to surge from outside the top 10 into the top 5, as the big man has the Spurs just 2.5 games behind Oklahoma City for the league's best record with just over a month to go in the regular season. Here are my full current MVP rankings:

Most Valuable Player

1 (1) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - PG - OKC

31.7 Pts (#2), 4.4 Reb, 6.5 Ast (#15), 1.4 Stl, 0.8 Blk, .551 FG% (#15), .384 3P%, .893 FT% (#10)

2 (2) Nikola Jokic - C - DEN

28.8 Pts (#5), 12.5 Reb (#1), 10.3 Ast (#1), 1.4 Stl, 0.8 Blk, .574 FG% (#11), .391 3P%, .832 FT%

3 (3) Cade Cunningham - PG - DET

25.2 Pts (#12), 5.8 Reb, 9.8 Ast (#2), 1.5 Stl (#14), 0.9 Blk, .455 FG%, .334 3P%, .812 FT%

4 (4) Luka Doncic - PG - LAL

32.5 Pts (#1), 7.8 Reb, 8.5 Ast (#3), 1.5 Stl (#15), 0.5 Blk, .475 FG%, .362 3P%, .773 FT%

5 (NR) Victor Wembanyama - C - SAS

23.8 Pts (#19), 11.2 Reb (#5), 2.9 Ast, 1.0 Stl, 3.0 Blk (#1), .502 FG%, .349 3P%, .815 FT%

6 (7) Donovan Mitchell - SG - CLE

28.5 Pts (#7), 4.5 Reb, 5.8 Ast, 1.6 Stl (#7), 0.3 Blk, .483 FG%, .369 3P%, .852 FT%

7 (10) Jaylen Brown - SF - BOS

28.8 Pts (#6), 7.2 Reb, 5.1 Ast, 1.0 Stl, 0.4 Blk, .481 FG%, .348 3P%, .777 FT%

8 (6) Tyrese Maxey - PG - PHI

28.9 Pts (#4), 4.2 Reb, 6.7 Ast (#12), 2.0 Stl (#2), 0.8 Blk, .460 FG%, .372 3P%, .892 FT% (#11)

9 (5) Jamal Murray - PG - DEN

25.5 Pts (#11), 4.3 Reb, 7.2 Ast (#9), 0.9 Stl, 0.4 Blk, .484 FG%, .431 3P% (#10), .876 FT% (#19)

10 (9) Jalen Brunson - PG - NYK

26.2 Pts (#9), 3.4 Reb, 6.5 Ast (#14), 0.7 Stl, 0.1 Blk, .464 FG%, .378 3P%, .842 FT%

Honorable Mention: James Harden - PG - CLE; Jalen Johnson - SF - ATL; Jalen Duren - C - DET; Anthony Edwards - SG - MIN; Chet Holmgren - PF - OKC; Alperen Sengun - C - HOU; Karl-Anthony Towns - C - NYK; Kevin Durant - SF - HOU

All-Time Player Rank Changes

Nikola Jokic has passed Larry Bird to move up to #21

Luka Doncic has passed George Gervin to move up to #58

Jrue Holiday has passed Rod Strickland, Cliff Hagan, Walt Frazier, and Ray Allen to move up to #87

DeMar DeRozan has passed Amare Stoudemire to move up to #99

NCAA Basketball Rankings - 2 Mar

Saint Mary's joined the top 25 this week for the first time all season, fresh off an upset of perennial conference titan Gonzaga. North Carolina once again jumped into the top 25, swapping spots with NC State, just like the two in-state rivals have done each week for the past month. Here are my full current rankings:

Rank	LW	Team	Rating	W	L
1	1	Michigan	-24.97	27	2
2	3	Duke	-23.39	27	2
3	2	Arizona	-23.02	27	2
4	4	Florida	-21.9	23	6
5	5	Illinois	-19.62	22	7
6	7	Houston	-19.21	24	5
7	6	Purdue	-18.81	22	7
8	8	Iowa State	-18.58	24	5
9	11	Michigan State	-18.54	24	5
10	10	UConn	-18.36	27	3
11	9	Gonzaga	-18.01	28	3
12	14	Texas Tech	-17.64	22	7
13	13	Nebraska	-17.51	25	4
14	12	Vanderbilt	-17.14	22	7
15	16	Alabama	-16.99	22	7
16	19	Virginia	-16.6	25	4
17	17	St. John's	-16.55	23	6
18	20	Kansas	-16.54	21	8
19	15	Arkansas	-16.41	21	8
20	18	Louisville	-16.18	20	9
21	21	Tennessee	-15.93	20	9
22	23	Saint Louis	-14.91	26	3
23	22	BYU	-14.73	20	9
24	26	North Carolina	-14.07	23	6
25	31	Saint Mary's	-14.02	27	4
26	32	Kentucky	-13.75	19	10
27	28	Iowa	-13.51	20	9
28	24	Utah State	-13.5	24	5
29	30	Wisconsin	-13.45	20	9
30	33	Georgia	-13.35	20	9
31	25	NC State	-13.25	19	10
32	27	Villanova	-12.89	22	7
33	39	Miami	-12.68	23	6
34	37	Ohio State	-12.43	18	11
35	29	SMU	-12.42	19	10
36	38	Texas	-12.32	18	11
37	41	Clemson	-12.11	21	8
38	35	Santa Clara	-11.97	24	7
39	34	Auburn	-11.73	15	14
40	40	Texas A&M	-11.63	19	10
41	36	Indiana	-11.47	17	12
42	42	VCU	-11.25	22	7
43	43	UCLA	-11.24	19	10
44	45	Cincinnati	-11	16	13
45	46	San Diego State	-10.62	19	9
46	44	New Mexico	-10.45	22	7
47	49	Akron	-10.39	24	5
48	53	Missouri	-10.26	20	9
49	51	South Florida	-10.2	21	8
50	47	Belmont	-10.15	26	5
51	52	UCF	-10.06	20	8
52	50	Seton Hall	-9.957	19	10
53	57	TCU	-9.468	19	10
54	48	Washington	-9.353	14	15
55	60	Tulsa	-9.267	23	6
56	56	Virginia Tech	-9.229	18	11
57	58	Baylor	-9.059	15	14
58	65	Oklahoma	-9.044	15	14
59	54	McNeese	-8.858	25	5
60	55	LSU	-8.678	15	14
61	63	West Virginia	-8.676	17	12
62	59	Miami (OH)	-8.577	29	0
63	61	Yale	-8.42	22	5
64	64	Grand Canyon	-8.166	18	11
65	66	Providence	-8.034	14	15
66	68	George Washington	-7.902	16	13
67	81	Stanford	-7.686	18	11
68	62	USC	-7.537	18	11
69	82	Minnesota	-7.516	14	15
70	74	Northwestern	-7.453	13	16
71	70	High Point	-7.382	27	4
72	80	Northern Iowa	-7.334	19	12
73	73	Arizona State	-7.261	15	14
74	69	Stephen F Austin	-7.204	26	4
75	87	Dayton	-7.195	20	9
76	72	Oklahoma St	-7.154	17	12
77	67	Utah Valley	-7.146	22	7
78	71	Colorado	-7.109	16	13
79	75	Wake Forest	-7.081	15	14
80	78	Florida State	-7.067	15	14
81	76	Nevada	-7.049	19	10
82	86	Boise State	-6.927	18	11
83	79	Hofstra	-6.89	20	10
84	84	Butler	-6.712	15	14
85	85	Syracuse	-6.547	15	14
86	77	California	-6.463	20	9
87	90	Illinois State	-6.295	20	11
88	83	Creighton	-6.247	14	16
89	92	Wichita State	-6.227	20	10
90	88	Notre Dame	-6.11	13	16
91	91	Colorado State	-5.904	19	10
92	93	Ole Miss	-5.791	12	17
93	89	Georgetown	-5.403	13	16
94	94	Xavier	-5.339	14	15
95	103	DePaul	-5.261	16	13
96	95	UNC Wilmington	-4.986	25	5
97	106	St. Thomas	-4.842	23	8
98	96	South Carolina	-4.769	12	17
99	104	Sam Houston St	-4.621	21	8
100	99	George Mason	-4.56	22	7
101	101	Murray State	-4.447	20	11
102	112	Marquette	-4.239	10	19
103	100	UIC	-4.205	17	14
104	111	Southern Illinois	-4.197	16	15
105	122	Oregon	-4.196	11	18
106	97	Wyoming	-4.174	16	13
107	124	Pittsburgh	-4.162	11	18
108	110	Cal Baptist	-4.105	21	8
109	102	William & Mary	-4.105	18	11
110	108	UC Irvine	-4.051	20	10
111	109	Liberty	-3.98	24	5
112	107	Kansas State	-3.976	11	18
113	98	Mississippi St	-3.951	13	16
114	105	Winthrop	-3.891	21	10
115	116	Bradley	-3.847	20	11
116	131	Navy	-3.79	25	6
117	128	Davidson	-3.564	18	11
118	115	UT Rio Grande	-3.558	17	13
119	117	North Dakota St	-3.438	24	7
120	127	Hawaii	-3.381	21	7
121	114	East Tennessee St	-3.266	21	10
122	118	Florida Atlantic	-3.099	17	13
123	120	UAB	-2.914	18	11
124	123	Utah	-2.892	10	19
125	129	UC San Diego	-2.885	21	9
126	140	Montana State	-2.885	17	13
127	137	Seattle	-2.838	19	12
128	113	Austin Peay	-2.832	21	8
129	132	Arkansas State	-2.816	20	11
130	126	Bowling Green	-2.771	17	13
131	141	Penn State	-2.743	12	17
132	138	Toledo	-2.723	16	13
133	133	Troy	-2.677	20	11
134	139	Central Arkansas	-2.651	20	11
135	143	Wright State	-2.556	20	11
136	136	Cornell	-2.496	14	12
137	135	Oakland	-2.467	16	15
138	121	Rhode Island	-2.441	15	14
139	119	Memphis	-2.441	12	17
140	130	Pacific	-2.404	17	14
141	134	Duquesne	-2.392	16	13
142	142	Harvard	-2.329	16	11
143	145	UNLV	-2.267	15	14
144	150	Robert Morris	-2.199	21	10
145	147	Maryland	-2.131	11	18
146	144	Richmond	-2.131	15	14
147	164	West Kentucky	-2.125	18	11
148	125	Kent State	-2.102	21	8
149	173	Saint Joseph's	-2.037	19	10
150	158	St. Bonaventure	-1.966	15	14
151	149	Mercer	-1.955	19	12
152	146	Lipscomb	-1.86	19	12
153	170	Charleston	-1.851	21	10
154	152	Columbia	-1.803	16	11
155	148	Merrimack	-1.795	21	10
156	157	San Francisco	-1.766	16	15
157	153	UC Santa Barbara	-1.751	18	12
158	161	North Colorado	-1.712	19	11
159	154	Penn	-1.618	15	11
160	166	North Texas	-1.537	17	13
161	160	Washington St	-1.329	12	19
162	162	Valparaiso	-1.313	17	14
163	169	Rutgers	-1.283	12	17
164	151	Portland State	-1.279	18	10
165	155	Fresno State	-1.255	12	17
166	165	North Kentucky	-1.25	18	13
167	163	UT Arlington	-1.221	15	13
168	159	Marist	-1.125	18	11
169	156	Siena	-1.12	20	11
170	198	Tennessee St	-1.023	21	9
171	168	Appalachian St	-0.932	19	12
172	177	Long Island	-0.785	21	10
173	171	Towson	-0.72	16	14
174	184	Kennesaw St	-0.711	18	11
175	175	Quinnipiac	-0.643	19	12
176	189	New Orleans	-0.609	14	16
177	186	Texas A&M-CC	-0.519	16	14
178	182	Boston College	-0.492	10	19
179	195	Monmouth	-0.443	16	14
180	172	Loyola Marymount	-0.42	15	16
181	176	Idaho	-0.409	16	14
182	179	Furman	-0.297	19	12
183	196	Eastern Wash	-0.277	13	17
184	185	Samford	-0.263	18	13
185	174	UT Martin	-0.256	21	10
186	199	Queens	-0.227	18	13
187	167	Marshall	-0.194	19	12
188	178	Utah Tech	-0.191	18	13
189	180	UMass	-0.168	15	15
190	193	Campbell	-0.109	13	17
191	205	Howard	-0.066	19	10
192	183	South Alabama	-0.046	21	10
193	181	CSU Northridge	-0.045	18	12
194	188	UC Davis	-0.008	17	12
195	200	Weber State	0.1342	16	14
196	190	Buffalo	0.1431	16	13
197	192	Fordham	0.1868	16	13
198	206	Green Bay	0.2062	17	14
199	197	Georgia Tech	0.2324	11	18
200	191	Mid Tennessee	0.2363	15	14
201	209	UMBC	0.295	20	8
202	187	Youngstown St	0.3615	15	16
203	194	Temple	0.3846	15	14
204	204	SE Missouri St	0.7322	19	12
205	203	CSU Fullerton	0.7773	15	15
206	202	New Mexico St	0.8803	13	15
207	215	Bethune-Cookman	0.9116	17	13
208	225	Indiana State	0.9152	11	20
209	208	Oregon State	0.9639	16	15
210	222	Charlotte	1.0652	15	14
211	201	Colgate	1.0816	17	14
212	224	Saint Peter's	1.0898	17	11
213	211	Montana	1.1608	16	14
214	210	Florida Intl	1.1773	14	15
215	227	Iona	1.2103	18	13
216	229	Coastal Carolina	1.2642	19	12
217	220	Tarleton	1.2739	14	16
218	221	Drexel	1.2918	16	14
219	217	James Madison	1.2928	17	14
220	207	Lamar	1.4539	12	18
221	213	Vermont	1.4608	19	11
222	216	Elon	1.4745	14	16
223	228	South Dakota St	1.5041	14	17
224	235	SIU-Edwardsville	1.5176	19	12
225	223	Eastern Michigan	1.5854	10	19
226	214	Drake	1.6468	12	19
227	226	Jacksonville St	1.6752	14	15
228	240	Southern Miss	1.6814	16	15
229	218	Ohio	1.7266	15	14
230	245	West Carolina	1.7707	14	15
231	230	Stony Brook	1.8451	17	13
232	212	American	1.8492	16	15
233	233	Lindenwood	2.0172	17	14
234	219	Denver	2.0544	15	16
235	241	Abilene Christian	2.0729	13	16
236	246	Detroit Mercy	2.1169	15	14
237	236	Wofford	2.2286	19	12
238	255	Charleston South	2.2766	15	16
239	247	Missouri State	2.3759	13	16
240	231	La Salle	2.4213	8	21
241	251	Boston U	2.471	15	16
242	234	Fairfield	2.4758	19	12
243	250	Old Dominion	2.6649	11	20
244	248	Nicholls	2.6794	13	17
245	257	Princeton	2.6953	9	19
246	249	Fort Wayne	2.699	17	14
247	239	Dartmouth	2.8511	11	15
248	244	Hampton	2.8627	13	17
249	242	Louisiana Tech	2.8799	16	13
250	232	Tulane	2.8933	17	12
251	238	UNC Asheville	2.92	14	16
252	253	Texas State	2.9271	19	12
253	256	Mercyhurst	2.9655	19	12
254	243	Florida Gulf Coast	3.0242	14	17
255	262	Longwood	3.0252	16	15
256	252	Radford	3.1274	16	15
257	237	Southern	3.1644	13	16
258	260	Incarnate Word	3.1951	12	18
259	261	Portland	3.2145	13	18
260	266	Milwaukee	3.2845	12	19
261	264	Rice	3.4015	12	17
262	258	Cal Poly	3.4185	13	17
263	267	Southern Utah	3.5069	10	19
264	254	Idaho State	3.6062	12	18
265	271	Bellarmine	3.6599	12	18
266	282	Mt. St. Mary's	3.6749	15	16
267	283	Central Michigan	3.8552	10	19
268	279	Georgia Southern	3.8643	16	15
269	274	Le Moyne	3.9162	15	16
270	268	Morehead State	3.9192	19	12
271	259	Eastern Kentucky	3.9474	11	20
272	265	Central Conn	4.0438	18	11
273	270	San Jose State	4.0519	8	21
274	269	Brown	4.0845	9	17
275	273	Sacred Heart	4.096	13	18
276	281	Presbyterian	4.2209	14	17
277	263	Grambling	4.4253	12	17
278	284	UC Riverside	4.4922	10	21
279	278	N Carolina A&T	4.5025	11	17
280	299	West Michigan	4.5727	10	19
281	277	S Carolina Upstate	4.6066	13	18
282	275	Omaha	4.6388	15	16
283	276	San Diego	4.6437	11	20
284	272	Chattanooga	4.6593	13	18
285	280	Northwestern St	4.6874	10	20
286	285	Long Beach St	4.8921	9	21
287	287	Norfolk State	4.9354	15	14
288	301	Jacksonville	5.0157	12	19
289	291	Texas Southern	5.1429	12	16
290	305	East Carolina	5.2621	11	18
291	294	Alabama State	5.2703	10	19
292	290	Northeastern	5.2894	6	22
293	288	East Texas A&M	5.295	11	20
294	286	UMass Lowell	5.2993	13	17
295	289	Tennessee Tech	5.3925	13	18
296	298	Little Rock	5.4969	12	19
297	306	Lehigh	5.513	15	16
298	308	South Dakota	5.6875	16	15
299	295	SE Louisiana	5.7206	8	22
300	293	Sacramento St	5.7229	9	20
301	307	Prairie View A&M	5.7702	13	17
302	300	Alabama A&M	5.8225	16	13
303	310	West Georgia	5.8252	14	16
304	296	North Dakota	5.8976	16	16
305	292	UTEP	5.9162	10	19
306	311	Wagner	6.0379	13	16
307	323	Ball State	6.1047	10	19
308	297	Georgia State	6.1675	10	21
309	303	UAlbany	6.178	11	19
310	302	New Haven	6.2381	14	17
311	316	UNC Greensboro	6.2548	13	18
312	313	Pepperdine	6.3079	9	22
313	304	NJIT	6.5226	15	15
314	320	Delaware	6.6361	9	20
315	318	Loyola (MD)	6.6777	12	19
316	312	Houston Christian	6.7059	11	19
317	314	Evansville	6.7189	7	24
318	319	Eastern Illinois	6.7719	12	19
319	309	Ark-Pine Bluff	6.8952	12	17
320	329	Stetson	7.1831	11	20
321	321	IU Indianapolis	7.2195	7	24
322	322	Fairleigh Dickinson	7.3942	11	20
323	337	Florida A&M	7.4109	13	15
324	317	North Arizona	7.4365	10	20
325	327	Stonehill	7.4453	11	20
326	315	North Illinois	7.5549	9	19
327	326	Maryland-E Shore	7.6053	9	20
328	333	Lafayette	7.6986	11	20
329	325	Louisiana	7.7782	10	21
330	344	Oral Roberts	7.9092	9	22
331	330	Manhattan	7.9348	12	19
332	334	Loyola-Chicago	8.0102	7	22
333	324	Holy Cross	8.1019	10	21
334	328	North Florida	8.1912	7	24
335	331	Cleveland State	8.2684	10	21
336	338	Niagara	8.6873	8	22
337	339	Bucknell	8.7766	9	22
338	342	N Carolina Cent	8.8101	11	16
339	332	New Hampshire	8.8255	8	20
340	336	Army	8.8345	11	20
341	343	Maine	9.0095	8	22
342	335	Jackson State	9.1741	9	20
343	341	Alcorn State	9.4163	7	21
344	347	Canisius	9.4473	10	21
345	345	Southern Indiana	9.475	7	23
346	340	Chicago State	9.5915	7	24
347	350	Bryant	9.9368	9	20
348	346	Morgan State	10.167	12	15
349	349	CSU Bakersfield	10.206	8	22
350	348	North Alabama	10.223	9	20
351	351	The Citadel	10.7	10	21
352	353	St. Francis (PA)	10.86	7	24
353	352	UT San Antonio	11.396	5	24
354	354	Rider	11.966	4	25
355	355	UL Monroe	12.22	4	27
356	356	Air Force	12.307	3	26
357	357	VMI	12.767	6	25
358	359	Binghamton	13.016	8	23
359	358	South Carolina St	13.491	7	21
360	363	Coppin State	14.592	7	22
361	360	Kansas City	14.627	4	26
362	362	Delaware State	14.933	6	21
363	361	Western Illinois	14.956	5	26
364	364	Gardner-Webb	15.566	3	28
365	365	Miss Valley St	17.35	3	27