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Latest NCAA tournament projections kind to Colorado, unkind to ‘Bama

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Another Moving Day on Friday. Keep a close eye on conference tournaments in the Big Ten, SEC, and ACC.

With Colorado beating Kansas State for a third time on Thursday, the Buffaloes move into the bracket and bump Alabama, which is just a hair behind Virginia Tech. The Crimson Tide are the first team “out” today and have a critical re-match with Georgia in Atlanta. A late Michigan State rally over Iowa keeps MSU in the field. Some think the Spartans are a lock. Quick reminder ... a couple of MSU’s best wins came with Korie Lucious in the lineup. With him dismissed, how the Selection Committee views the Spartans’ body of work remains a question.

Quick hitters ... St. Mary’s may be in trouble if other bubble teams keep winning and/or we have an upset. The home loss to Utah State in the BracketBuster could be a significant miss. Harvard will warrant at-large consideration if they lose a close game to Princeton in the Ivy League playoff. Harvard won at BC, beat Colorado, and has strong-enough power numbers to make the at-large board. BYU was less than impressive in beating TCU on Thursday. If they lose to New Mexico (for a third time) today, and or barely escape, the Cougars’ seed will likely tumble a couple of lines. Here’s the latest ...

UPDATED: Friday, March 11 | Records reflect Division I games only - through March 10.

NEW: Teams in CAPS represent the AUTOMATIC bid champion for this bracket. Exceptions are made for those teams that traditionally use an abbreviation (UTEP, BYU, etc).

NOTE: In the new 68-team format you will notice two pairing games that represent the First Four pairings. In this bracket the First Four games in Dayton would be ... Michigan State vs. Clemson | St. Mary’s vs. Virginia Tech | Texas Southern vs. McNeese State | UA-LITTLE ROCK vs. Bethune-Cookman. The final four at-large teams are paired along with the teams seeded 65-68 on the S-curve. The matchups are indicated in the bracket below.

Next Update: Saturday, March 12.

BRACKET PROJECTION ...

EAST - Newark SOUTHEAST - New Orleans
Cleveland Chicago
1) Ohio State (29-2) 1) Notre Dame (26-5)
16) Beth-Cookman / UA-LITTLE ROCK 16) UNC-ASHEVILLE (16-13)
8 Missouri (22-10) 8 George Mason (26-6)
9) Tennessee (19-13) 9) Florida State (21-9)
Tampa Tampa
5) Xavier (24-6) 5) St. John’s (21-11)
12) Boston College (20-11) 12) Harvard (21-5)
4) Louisville (24-8) 4) Florida (24-6)
13) OAKLAND (23-9) 13) BELMONT (30-4)
Washington, DC Denver
6) UNLV (24-7) 6) Arizona (26-6)
11) Michigan (18-12) 11) BUTLER (22-9)
3) Syracuse (26-6) 3) Wisconsin (23-7)
14) WOFFORD (21-12) 14) Kent State (20-10)
Charlotte Tulsa
7) OLD DOMINION (26-6) 7) Cincinnati (25-8)
10) Georgia (21-10) 10) GONZAGA (24-9)
2) Duke (27-4) 2) Texas (26-6)
15) LONG ISLAND (27-5) 15) MOREHEAD STATE (23-9)
SOUTHWEST - San Antonio WEST - Anaheim
Tulsa Cleveland
1) Kansas (29-2) 1) Pittsburgh (27-5)
16) Boston University (19-13) 16) McNeese State / Tx-Southern
8 Utah State (27-3) 8 UCLA (22-10)
9) Villanova (21-10) 9) Illinois (19-12)
Washington, DC Tucson
5) Vanderbilt (22-9) 5) Texas AM (23-7)
12) Clemson / Michigan State 12) Virginia Tech / St. Mary’s
4) Connecticut (24-9) 4) Kentucky (22-8)
13) ST. PETERS (20-13) 13) UTEP (23-8)
Chicago Charlotte
6) Temple (24-6) 6) West Virginia (20-11)
11) Colorado (20-12) 11) Richmond (24-7)
3) Purdue (25-6) 3) North Carolina (23-6)
14) INDIANA STATE (19-13) 14) Bucknell (24-8)
Tucson Denver
7) Georgetown (21-10) 7) Kansas State (20-10)
10) Washington (21-10) 10) Marquette (21-14)
2) San Diego State (28-2) 2) BYU (28-3)
15) NORTHERN COLORADO (20-10) 15) Long Beach State (19-10)

NOTES on the BRACKET: Ohio State remains the No. 1 overall seed followed by Kansas, Notre Dame, and Pittsburgh. The two seeds in order are Texas, Duke, BYU, San Diego State

Last Five teams in (at large): Boston College, Michigan State, St. Mary’s, Clemson, Virginia Tech

First Five teams out (at large): Alabama, Penn State, UAB, Missouri State, Memphis

Next in Line: New Mexico, USC, Washington State

Bracket adjustments: None in this update.

Here is the team breakdown by Conference ...

Big East (11): Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Villanova, West Virginia, Louisville, St. John’s, Cincinnati, Marquette

Big Ten (6): Ohio State, Purdue, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan

ACC (6): Duke, North Carolina, Florida State, Boston College, Clemson, Virginia Tech

SEC (5): Florida, Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Georgia

Big 12 (5): Kansas, Texas, Texas AM, Missouri, Kansas State, Colorado

Pac 10 (3): Arizona, UCLA, Washington

Mountain West (3): San Diego State, BYU, UNLV

Atlantic 10 (3): Xavier, Temple, Richmond

Colonial (2): OLD DOMINION, George Mason

West Coast (2): GONZAGA, St. Mary’s

Horizon (1): BUTLER

Conference USA (1): UTEP

Missouri Valley (1): INDIANA STATE

Conference leaders/champions ... Utah State (WAC), MOREHEAD STATE (OVC), ST. PETERS (MAAC), Kent State (MAC), Northern Colorado (Big Sky), WOFFORD (Southern), OAKLAND (Summit), Long Beach State (Big West), Long Island (NEC), BELMONT (Atlantic Sun), ARK-LITTLE ROCK (Sun Belt), Harvard (Ivy), UNC-ASHEVILLE (Big South), Bethune-cookman (MEAC), Bucknell (Patriot), Boston University (America East), McNeese State(Southland), Texas Southern (SWAC)