NCAA Tournament Bracket Watch: Who joins Purdue and Alabama in first place?

Subsequent time you feel unfortunate, cease by and pour one for Motoyuki Mabuchi.

Within the 2008 World Collection of Poker Major Occasion, Mabuchi began the hand with pocket votes. He hit one other shot on the flop. Then one other one on the river. With quads and aces, one of the unbeatable fingers in poker, Mabuchi bets his complete stack.

There was only one drawback: Justin Phillips had a royal flush. The remainder of the desk, which oddly included actor Ray Romano, gasped loudly when proven the playing cards, and for good motive — the chances of those two fingers taking place on the identical time have been 1 in 2.7 billion.

So we won’t actually complain about our reasonably dangerous run this week, the duty of deciding the highest 4 seeds within the NCAA Event at this time, 45 days earlier than this Sunday. Just like the Mapuche, we have already got pocket rockets in Purdue and Alabama. However in season the place there’s A number of kings and queens However just a few true Aces, who’re the opposite two in first place?

This appeared really easy per week in the past, when Kansas and Houston have been on the high of the standings. However then the Jayhawks have been attacked at residence by TCU and fell once more Monday evening at Baylor for his or her third straight loss. Houston suffered an much more damaging defeat on Sunday, dropping a four-way Sport 3 at residence to Temple. Our high seed final week, UCLA, misplaced in Arizona on Saturday and at USC on Thursday evening, whereas then. 6 – Kansas State beat total seed Iowa.

So, um… examine?

Let’s check out the contenders to hitch Boilermakers and the Crimson Tide within the high row, together with causes to wager and causes to fold (figures as of Thursday afternoon):

Houston

the wager: Like the pc geeks who dominate on-line poker, cougars are algorithmic darlings. Even after dropping Temple, Houston nonetheless ranks first in NET, KenPom, Sagarin, and BPI.

fold ’em: Houston beat Virginia and beat St. Mary’s in Fort Price, however the resume is little mild outdoors of that (Wednesday’s win at UCF gave the Cougars a fourth chip within the first quarter). AAC won’t current many challenges the remainder of the way in which. Coogs ranks sixth and fourth on KPI and SOR, the 2 most outcome-oriented measures.

Kansas

the wager: It was a troublesome stretch for Invoice Self’s crew, however the three losses have been in opposition to the highest 4 seeds and two have been misplaced on the street (together with one in extra time). The 11 mixed victories in Quad 1 and a pair of are tied with Alabama within the nation, and there is not a nasty loss to be discovered right here in opposition to the No. 1 gridiron schedule.

fold ’em: The Jayhawks do not appear to be an ace within the effectivity measures: 10 on NET and KenPom, 11 on Sagarin and 16 on BPI.

Tennessee

the wager: Volunteers are ranked second in NET, KenPom, BPI, and Sagarin. And so they defeated Kansas, convincingly, within the Bahamas.

fold ’em: Solely three wins in Quad 1 are offset by two curious losses in Quad 2 (Colorado at Nashville, Kentucky at residence).

Arizona

the wager: The Wildcats are 9-3 within the first two quads and are pleased with wins over UCLA and Tennessee. They’d have lots of geographical which means because the primary seed within the Western Area.

fold ’em: Arizona has misplaced to a few non-tournament groups, together with at residence in Washington State, and the vary of its metrics (11 in NET, 16 in KenPom, 20 in BPI) does not appear to be a high seed.

Large 12 Wild Playing cards: Kansas State/Iowa State/Texas

the wager: The Large 12 has a tremendous six groups on their best-of-four streaks this week, and this league’s champion definitely deserves a high seed. These three are tied on the high of the standings and boast a complete of 17 quadruple victories.

fold ’em: Ok-State has some measures within the twenties and one within the thirties. Iowa’s image appears extra like a #2 seed proper now. Texas? Maintain them, at the least till Saturday’s SEC/Large 12 showdown in Tennessee.

Nicely, it is time to wait. No inconsequential selections right here, however we have positioned our bets on Houston and Tennessee this week, figuring in a bunch this shut that Scales will win the day for the committee (and provides the Fols a head-to-head tiebreaker in opposition to Kansas). However we’re removed from the whole lot in these photographs.

Another fast notes on the bow:

• USC’s win over UCLA will get the Trojans on the sphere, whereas Memphis — ranked fortieth in each main metric — re-enters the class. Do you need to speak extra in regards to the distinction within the reducing line? Nicely, no, nice information: Eamonn Brennan’s must-have Bubble Watch is making its 2023 debut subsequent week!

• The ultimate 4 pairs for this week are South vs. East and Midwest vs. West primarily based on our basis record, which you’ll find under. An asterisk signifies the autobid qualifier for the convention.

• When you’ve got questions or complaints, carry them to the feedback and also you may be fortunate sufficient to get a response. Deal?

(Photograph by Kevin McCullar from Kansas and Santiago Vescovi from Tennessee: Kevin Jairagh/USA In the present day)