Bracketology trends as regular season winds down
We've reached the final weekend of the regular season in men's college basketball, and conference tournaments are nearly finished on the women's side. It's only March 6, but the madness is already here.
Few things this time of year are as important as momentum, and while some teams are improving their NCAA Tournament stock each time they step onto the court, others are slipping down seed lines and putting themselves in danger of missing the dance altogether. We took the temperature of 19 teams in our bracketology stock watch.
Trending up: Florida, Michigan State, Saint Mary's, Ohio State, Georgia, Cincinnati, TCU, South Florida, Akron
Trending down: SMU, BYU, NC State, Clemson, Iowa State, Kansas, Louisville, Iowa, Purdue, San Diego State
You'll be hearing a lot of bubble talk over the next week. Anxiety levels are high for at-large teams teetering on the edge of the bracket. In addition to taking care of business, they also need to root against potential bid stealers. Our model projects the MAC as the likeliest conference to produce one of those thieves. David Cobb explains.
Cobb: "It's Akron -- not Miami (Ohio) -- that our model views as the favorite to win the MAC Tournament. The Zips have won 15 straight league games since taking a loss to the RedHawks early in league play. Akron also rates better in predictive metrics than Miami, but Miami will have a strong at-large case if it fails to win the league tournament."