As we enter 2023, the race to March Madness is heating up around college basketball.
It’s been a year of surprises so far. Some preseason Top 25 teams are still trying to live up to expectations, while three schools remain unbeaten – UConn, Purdue and New Mexico.
Arizona (12-1) and Kansas (11-1) join the Huskies (14-0) and Boilermakers (12-0) as the No. 1 seeds in this year’s first edition of the projections FOX Sports Forecaster’s Men’s NCAA Tournament Mike DeCourcy.
North Carolina, which was No. 1 in the AP’s preseason Top 25 poll, is an eighth seed in DeCourcy’s projections following stumbling to a 9-4 record and No. 25. Opposite the play, preseason No. 20 Alabama is two-seeded following an 11-2 start. Gonzaga (11-3), Tennessee (11-2) and Houston (13-1) round out the other two seeds, along with Arkansas (11-2), Texas (11-1), UCLA (11-2) and Baylor (10-2) at three and West Virginia (10-2), Miami (12-1), Virginia (9-2) and New Mexico (13-0) at four. Mississippi State is a five-seeded surprise following an 11-2 start.
The Big Ten leads the way with nine teams projected to go dancing, followed by the Big 12 (eight), SEC (seven), ACC (six) and Pac-12 (four).
As for the teams on the bubble, DeCourcy has Wake Forest (9-4), San Diego State (10-3), Utah (9-4) and Utah State (11-2) as the bottom four teams, with Creighton (8-6), Iowa (8-4), Texas Tech (10-2) and LSU (12-1) barely outside, which is one hell of a fall for preseason No. 9 Creighton . The next four eliminated are USC (10-3), Pitt (9-4), Oklahoma State (8-4) and Michigan (7-4).
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