Starkville;
1. Mississippi State (SEC)
16. Bethune-Cookman (MEAC)
8. DePaul
9. Virginia
Hey, so how about Mississippi State? The undefeated Bulldogs rose to No. 2 in the country this week with a win at Tennessee — and that was enough to put them at No. 2 overall in this field. They’d get DePaul or Virginia in the second round. The Blue Demons are off to a 7-2 start in the Big East, but missed opportunities against Marquette and Villanova. The Cavaliers are 6-1 in the ACC.
College Park:
4. Maryland
13. Mercer (Southern)
5. Duke
12. TCU
Yes please. I promise this wasn’t intentional; it’s just how the bracketing worked out. A Duke-Maryland second-round game, rekindling an old ACC rivalry, would be a dream scenario. One important note: I tried to avoid potentially pitting two ACC schools against each other before the Elite Eight (Virginia and Duke would be on track for a Sweet 16 matchup), but could not work it without moving someone up or down a seed line. I chose the lesser of two evils here, and it still follows bracket rules because the Cavaliers and Blue Devils only face each other once in the regular season.