Bracketology If We Simply Seeded The Best 64 Teams

What if there were no automatic bids into the NCAA Basketball Tournament?  What if we simply ranked the best 64 teams in the country and put them in a fantasy bracket? 

 

Here is what the first round matchups would look like as of today followed by some very interesting considerations.

 

1 Villanova

16 North Carolina State

 

1 Virginia

16 LSU

 

1 Purdue

16 Vermont

 

1 Duke

16 Murray State

 

2 Michigan State

15 San Diego State

 

2 Cincinnati

15 Providence

 

2 Gonzaga

15 UCLA

 

2 Kansas

15 Nebraska

 

3 Auburn

14 Alabama

 

3 Tennessee

14 Loyola Chicago

 

3 Texas Tech

14 Penn State

 

3 Xavier

14 Louisiana Lafayette

 

4 North Carolina

13 BYU

 

4 Ohio State

13 Baylor

 

4 West Virginia

13 Boise State

 

4 Saint Mary’s

13 Missouri

 

5 Clemson

12 USC

 

5 Nevada

12 Arkansas

 

5 Wichita State

12 Western Kentucky

 

5 Florida State

12 Middle Tennessee

 

6 Florida

11 SMU

 

6 Oklahoma

11 Syracuse

 

6 Creighton

11 Kansas State

 

6 Michigan

11 Maryland

 

7 Kentucky

10 Texas

 

7 TCU

10 Marquette

 

7 Arizona

10 Virginia Tech

 

7 Arizona State

10 New Mexico State

 

8 Miami

9 Houston

 

8 Butler

9 Notre Dame

 

8 Louisville

9 Texas A&M

 

8 Rhode Island

9 Seton Hall

 

How would the current Bracketology compare to this proposed Fantasy Bracketology?

 

Current:  There has never been a 1/16 upset.

Fantasy: On average, we would likely see a 1/16 upset every other year.

 

Current: Gonzaga is a 7 seed with almost no chance of winning the tournament due to the collective caliber of teams they would face along the way.

Fantasy: Gonzaga is a 2 seed as the 7^th best team overall with an exponentially better chance of winning the tournament due to the collective caliber of teams they would face along the way.

 

Current: Many lower seeds are favored to win over higher seeds.

Fantasy: No lower seeds would be favored to win over higher seeds.  Any upset would be a true upset.

 

Current: A much less competitive set of games overall - A current 3/14 matchup in Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology would have 3 Cincinnati as a 15.5 point favorite over 14 Northeastern.

Fantasy: A much more competitive set of games overall - 3 Xavier vs. 14 Louisiana Lafayette would have Xavier favored by 6 points.