Final Bracketology Update: We know the bubble teams

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee revealed its eight teams on the bubble last night and, well, I had to eat some crow. Fine.

The eight teams, which will constitute the last four into the field and the first four out, are, in alphabetical order:

Buffalo
Creighton
Minnesota
Oklahoma
Purdue
Rutgers
USC
West Virginia

For what it’s worth, I had Minnesota and West Virginia in my Last Four In and USC and Creighton in my First Four Out. Purdue and Oklahoma both would have been in my Next Four Out. Here’s where I went wrong: At some point, I made the mistake of arranging this field based on how I would do it, rather than how I believe the committee would do it. For example, I valued Rutgers more because it had a string of really good wins early on in the season, and I valued Oklahoma less because it lost the vast majority of its games against quality competition. Same could be said for Virginia. What the committee has shown is that it does not care about losses quite as much as I do, and I needed to adjust accordingly. I still have Rutgers in and Oklahoma out, but at this point, the reverse would not shock me.

Here’s the bracket breakdown:

Conference breakdown:

SEC: 8
ACC: 7
Big Ten: 7
Pac-12: 6
Big 12: 4
Big East: 3
American: 2
Atlantic 10: 2
MAC: 2

Last Four In:

Buffalo
Rutgers
Minnesota
West Virginia

First Four Out:

Creighton
USC
Purdue
Oklahoma