Surprise!
Yep, I was almost certain that I wasn’t going to be able to put together a second Bauertology bracket this week with how busy my work schedule is, but I somehow found time to squeeze in another projection.
And there’s a lot of fun to be had in this one.
For the first time in long time, a new team appears on the 1-seed line. North Carolina’s shocking home loss to Clemson opened the door for Tennessee and Arizona, who, going into Thursday evening, had extremely similar résumés in which only the nittiest of nitpicks could delineate between the two. Thankfully, Arizona pulled out a massive triple-overtime victory at Utah later in the night, making the choice for the final 1-seed much easier.
This is also the first time I’ve had UConn ahead of Houston on the 1-line. I’d been holding on to the Cougars’ superior metrics and higher Q1A output, but now that the Huskies have actually eclipsed Houston in both results metrics and possess five more victories across Q1 and Q2, all with one fewer loss, I’ve finally handed the #2 overall spot to the defending champs.
Elsewhere, welcome South Florida! Their stay may be temporary, but as of Thursday night, when Florida Atlantic fell in overtime at UAB, the Bulls are your projected American Conference auto-bid, sitting all alone atop the league standings. They’ve got a loooooong way to go to become an actual at-large contender (playing a Q1 opponent at some point might help), but they’re here for the time being.
With South Florida entering the field and stealing a bid from the at-large pool, that unfortunately pushes Seton Hall from last team in to first team out, though the Pirates will have a chance to rectify that when they head to drooping Villanova on Sunday.
And that’s the skinny of this Friday morning Bauertology projection! Feel free to ask your questions as always; I’ll do my best to respond in between filming and editing about a thousand state championship wrestling matches today. (God help me.)
