South Bend:
1. Notre Dame
16. Maryland-Eastern Shore (MEAC)
8. Minnesota
9. South Carolina
Berkeley:
5. Tennessee
12. Northeastern (Colonial)
4. California
13. Quinnipiac (MAAC)
One thing the committee likes to avoid is putting teams in the same conference on track to face each other before the regional final. If, however, that guideline has to be broken, those teams may face each other in the Sweet 16 if they only played twice during the regular season and conference tournament, or in the second round if they only met once all season. Oddly, all four 9 seeds this week are in the SEC, so this problem naturally presented itself. It left me with two options: stray from the guidelines and let two SEC schools potentially meet in the Sweet 16 (like Tennessee and South Carolina here) or bump a 9 seed to a 10 seed somewhere. A same-conference matchup one round early is far less controversial than giving a team a seed it might not deserve.
Tallahassee:
6. Maryland
11. New Mexico (Mountain West)
3. Florida State
14. Lamar (Southland)
Waco:
7. UCF
10. Arizona State
2. Baylor (Big 12)
15. Northern Colorado (Big Sky)
Hey, Maryland is moving up! The Terps as an 8 seed last week caused an understandable buzz, but the reasoning was that they simply had not yet built a resume. Well, since then, they picked up two Big Ten wins, including one at Nebraska. They were the top 8 seed last week and are now the second 6 seed, so it’s not a huge leap, but it’s a start. If Maryland is as good as we all think, they’ll probably be higher next week, with games against Michigan and Michigan State on the horizon.
One note on Baylor: Yes, the Bears could be a 1 seed. We are REALLY splitting hairs between UConn, Oregon, Stanford, and Baylor. Baylor’s head-to-head win over the Huskies matters. But so does UConn’s win at Notre Dame and a 5-1 road record. If you give any of those four teams a 1 seed in your bracket, I won’t fight you over it.