It may have taken longer than expected, but we got the match we wanted.

On Dec. 5, the AP #1 Gonzaga Bulldogs and #2 Baylor Bears were scheduled to play at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the most anticipated game of the nonconference season. But just hours before tip-off, that game was canceled due to positive COVID-19 tests within the Bulldogs program.

Exactly four months later, the two teams will finally meet, just under different circumstances. Still in Indianapolis, this time the game is at Lucas Oil Stadium. And instead of determining the early-season title favorite, a national champion will be…

Here is my final bracket of the season! Bid thieves Georgetown and Oregon State take Utah State and Colorado State out of the field. Drake and Wichita State barely hold on. Or, at least, I think they do. We’ll see!

Connor Groel is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School. He is the editor of the Top Level Sports publication on Medium and host of the Slept On Sports podcast. His debut collection is available on Amazon.

Utah State’s run to the Mountain West Championship Game has them in the field, and I don’t think a loss to San Diego State would change that. There are no other true bubble teams still playing, meaning only bid thieves can change the state of the bubble.

Those thieves are…
AMERICAN: Memphis, Cincinnati
BIG EAST: Georgetown
PAC-12: Oregon State

As always, feel free to ask any questions about my projections. You can also follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates! (I post the bracketology there, too!)

Since Monday’s update, there have been seven more automatic bids handed out, including Gonzaga, who came back from a double-digit halftime deficit against BYU to enter March Madness undefeated.

Xavier’s loss to Butler drops them to the last team in the field, extremely vulnerable to other bubble teams and bid thieves.

As always, feel free to ask any questions about my projections. You can also follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates! (I post the bracketology there, too!)

Four teams have earned automatic bids over the past few days, and another 27 will add their names to that list before Selection Sunday. For teams on the bubble, conference tournaments are the last chance to build your resume and leave a good impression on the Selection Committee. Let’s see what happens.

IN: Syracuse
OUT: Colorado State

As always, feel free to ask any questions about my projections. You can also follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates! (I post the bracketology there, too!)

They’ve done it again. After back-to-back losses at Georgia Tech and Duke, it looked as if Syracuse was going to fade out of the bubble picture. Yet, they bounced back, getting two must-win home victories against North Carolina and Clemson to claw themselves back right on the cut line.

Still without any Q1 wins, Syracuse will want to pick up at least two wins in the ACC Tournament to feel something close to comfortable on Selection Sunday, but if there’s anyone who’s been in this exact position countless times before, it’s Jim Boeheim.

As always, feel free to ask any questions about my projections. You can also follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates! (I post the bracketology there, too!)

It’s the greatest month of the year! There are now 12 teams from the Big Ten and Big 12 among our top 21 teams overall, which is just wild.

Connecticut, Georgia Tech, and Michigan State enter the field as Indiana, Seton Hall, and Minnesota drop out. For all intents and purposes, the top nine seed lines are locks at this point.

As always, feel free to ask any questions, and follow me on Twitter for more college basketball updates! (I also post the bracketology there!)

This time a year ago, Penn State appeared well on its way to the program’s first March Madness appearance since the 2010–11 season. They reached as high as #9 in the AP Poll and entered the Big Ten Tournament 21–10 overall, the 6-seed in a conference destined to send 10 teams to the Big Dance.

We all know how this story ends. The coronavirus ended the season prematurely, leaving only questions of “what if?” According to the Bracket Matrix, the Nittany Lions were a projected 6-seed in March Madness. I agreed. Ultimately, though, we’ll never know what would have happened.

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