Regional Sports

Aidan Joly’s bracketology: February 14

Another week gone in college hoops, and today’s is the Valentine’s Day edition, and that means we now sit less than a month from Selection Sunday (gasp!). Here is this week’s bracketology.

Biggest winner: SMU has done very well as of late. This is a team that has quietly done well all season in the AAC, and potentially picked up their biggest win of the season on Sunday against Cincinnati. With the help of that win, they jumped from number 25 to number 19 in the land, and are currently in the midst of an eight-game win streak. They will play on Wednesday against Tulane and then at Houston on Saturday.
Biggest loser: Can I do a whole conference? Because I will. The Big Ten in general has not looked good as of late. First off, Maryland fell to Penn State last Tuesday after Melo Trimble struggled. They have a tough week coming up with games against Northwestern and Wisconsin. With Northwestern, they picked up a huge win over Wisconsin on Sunday but that was only after they fell to Illinois on Tuesday. Finally, Wisconsin had a chance to go to as high as number five in the nation, but fell to Northwestern after struggling against Nebraska. They took a surprising hit Saturday when the Selection Committee had no Big Ten teams in their top 16 teams. I may be going out on a limb, but in my opinion there’s a chance that no team from this conference reaches the second weekend of the tournament.

West Region:
1: Gonzaga vs 16: UNC Central/Alcorn State*
8: Dayton vs 9: Iowa State
5: Florida State vs 12: Boise State
4: Purdue vs 13: Belmont
6: Creighton vs 11: Syracuse
3: UCLA vs 14: Chattanooga
7: Maryland vs 10: TCU
2: Louisville vs 15: Winthrop

South Region:
1: Arizona vs 16: UC-Davis
8: USC vs 9: Oklahoma State
5: SMU vs 12: Akron
4: Duke vs 13: UNC Wilmington
6: St. Mary’s vs 11: Michigan/Providence
3: Kentucky vs 14: Florida Gulf Coast
7: Xavier vs 10: California
2: West Virginia vs 15: North Dakota State

East Region:
1: Villanova vs 16: Weber State/Mt. St. Mary’s
8: Northwestern vs 9: Miami
5: South Carolina vs 12: Michigan State
4: Virginia vs 13: Valparaiso
6: Notre Dame vs 11: Vermont
3: Wisconsin vs 14: Princeton
7: Wichita State vs 10: Virginia Tech
2: Baylor vs 15: Bucknell

Midwest Region:
1: Kansas vs 16: New Orleans
8: Minnesota vs 9: Illinois State
5: Cincinnati vs 12: Marquette/Texas Tech
4: Florida vs 13: New Mexico State
6: Butler vs 11: Arkansas
3: North Carolina vs 14: UT-Arlington
7: VCU vs 10: Monmouth
2: Oregon vs 15: Middle Tennessee State

Aidan Joly

Aidan Joly is Senior Managing Editor of The Upstate Courier. In the past, he has been a beat reporter covering Section II Athletics, Siena College men's basketball, the Tri-City ValleyCats, and the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League. In Aidan's current role, he oversees game coverage and content. Aidan is a native of Saratoga Springs and a graduate of Saratoga Springs High School.

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