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Women’s basketball bracketology: Yes, Northwestern is a 2 seed

By Russell Steinberg

COLLEGE PARK, MD - JANUARY 26: Lindsey Pulliam #10 of the Northwestern Wildcats dribbles the ball by Blair Watson #22 of the Maryland Terrapins during a women's college basketball game at the Xfinity Center on January 26, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - JANUARY 26: Lindsey Pulliam #10 of the Northwestern Wildcats dribbles the ball by Blair Watson #22 of the Maryland Terrapins during a women's college basketball game at the Xfinity Center on January 26, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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2 straight road wins put the Wildcats on the 2 line

Just five days ago, I said that I wasn’t convinced Northwestern could get better than a 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Five days later, I retract that statement.

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UCLA lost a bad one at Washington on Sunday, then the Wildcats beat Ohio State on the road on Tuesday, and, well, guess who the last 2 seed is in this week’s bracket?

I’ve made the argument for Northwestern before, specifically when I thought the Wildcats were undervalued by the selection committee in the initial seed reveal. Of course when I did it, in the back of my mind, I was thinking “now they’re about to plummet and make me look ridiculous.”

Quite the opposite has happened.

Northwestern has won eight in a row with four of those games on the road. Four have come against RPI top 30 teams. It still doesn’t have a loss outside the top 20 of the RPI.

The best news for Northwestern fans: The Wildcats wrap up the regular season Saturday against a woeful Illinois team and seem primed to hang on to that 2 seed headed into the Big Ten Tournament. UCLA can still get it back, though. With a top-heavy Pac-12, the Ducks could get a shot at two of Oregon State, Oregon, and Stanford in its conference tournament. If that happens and Northwestern bows out before getting a chance to beat an Iowa or a Maryland, they can flip right back.

That’s one of my parts to this bracket that will be solidified next week. Tennessee’s fate might be another. I’ve been lower on the Vols than many others and this week they are the second team out of the field. With two regular season games left against competition that won’t move the needle, their fate will probably be decided in the SEC Tournament. For now, there’s no substance to a resume that has just one real quality win (LSU). The Vols are also just 6-6 on the road and rank in the bottom 100 nationally in non-conference strength of schedule.

Here’s the full bracket:

Screenshot
Screenshot /

Bracket Math:

Bids by conference:

Big Ten: 8
Pac-12: 6
SEC: 6
ACC: 5
Big 12: 5
Big East: 3
MVC: 3
American: 2
CAA: 2
CUSA: 2

Procedural Bumps:

Purdue from a 10 to a 9
Central Michigan from a 9 to a 10

Last Four In:

James Madison
West Virginia
UCF
Iowa State

First Four Out:

Butler
Tennessee
Nebraska
St. John’s

Next Four Out:

Northern Iowa
Georgia Tech
Georgia
Oklahoma State

Next Update:

The first conference tournaments begin on March 3, which means regular seasons will start wrapping up this weekend. You’ll get another bracket before the first major conference tournament games tip off.

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