BRACKET BREAKDOWN: Feb. 17th

Who’s ready for a new weekly column?

Between now and Selection Sunday, each Friday I’ll give a “BRACKET BREAKDOWN” with my 68 projected teams for the 2023 NCAA Tournament along with my Top 16 seeds as well as emerging trends.

The team who is currently in first place in their respective conference will be listed as that league’s “automatic qualifier”.

The Current Field

Atlantic Sun (1)
Kennesaw State (AQ)

America East (1)
Vermont (AQ)

American Athletic Conference (2)
Houston (AQ), Memphis

Atlantic 10 (1)
VCU (AQ)

ACC (6)
Pitt (AQ), Miami,, Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, NC State

Big 12 (8)
Kansas (AQ), Texas, Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma State

Big East (5)
Marquette (AQ), Providence, Xavier, Creighton, UConn

Big Sky (1)
Eastern Washington (AQ)

Big South (1)
UNC Asheville (AQ)

Big Ten (9)
Purdue (AQ), Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Rutgers, Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Wisconsin

Big West (1)
UC Santa Barbara (AQ)

CAA (1)
Hofstra (AQ)

Conference-USA (1)
Florida Atlantic (AQ)

Horizon League (1)
Youngstown State (AQ)

Ivy League (1)
Yale (AQ)

MAAC (1)
Rider (AQ)

MAC (1)
Kent State (AQ)

MEAC (1)
Howard (AQ)

Missouri Valley (1)
Drake (AQ)

Mountain West (3)
San Diego State (AQ), Boise State, Nevada

NEC (1)
Fairleigh Dickinson  (AQ)

OVC (1)
Morehead State (AQ)

Pac-12 (2)
UCLA (AQ), Arizona

Patriot League (1)
Colgate (AQ)

SEC (8)
Alabama (AQ), Missouri, Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Mississippi State

Southern (1)
Samford (AQ)

Southland (1)
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (AQ)

SWAC (1)
Alcorn State (AQ)

Summit (1)
Oral Roberts (AQ)

Sun Belt (1)
Southern Miss (AQ)

WCC (2)
Saint Mary’s (AQ), Gonzaga

WAC (1)
Utah Valley (AQ)

First Four Out

USC, Clemson, New Mexico, Oregon

Top 16 Seeds

1: Purdue, Alabama, Houston, Kansas
2: Texas, UCLA, Baylor, Tennessee
3: Arizona,, Virginia, Marquette, Iowa State
4: Gonzaga, Kansas State, Indiana, Xavier

Five Things To Know

• Kansas currently owns the most Quad 1 wins in college basketball with 12.
• All five of Baylor’s remaining regular season games are Quad 1 opportunities. Don’t be shocked if the Bears wind up as a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday.
• The Mountain West has three teams — San Diego State, Nevada, and Boise State — projected to make the NCAA Tournament in the bracket above. The Pac-12 has two — Arizona and UCLA.
• Northwestern picked up its seventh Quad 1 win of the season on Wednesday night against Indiana. The only teams in college basketball that have more are Kansas, Purdue, Texas, Baylor, and Iowa State. 
• The Atlantic 10 doesn’t have a single team ranked in the Top 77 of the NET. 

Jon Rothstein has been a college basketball insider for CBS Sports since 2010 and a contributor to the CBS Broadcast Network since 2016. He joined FanDuel in 2022 as a Content Creator. Rothstein is also the host of the College Hoops Today Podcast via Compass Media Networks.