Sunday: (11) Michigan at (3) Wisconsin, 1 p.m. (ESPN) | (10) Iowa at (5) Ohio State, 3 p.m.
Saturday: (4) Illinois at (6) Michigan State, 12 p.m. (You can call this the “UNC issue” for 2022, if you will.) As for Iowa, metrics still love the Hawkeyes, but the team is currently without a Quad 1 win. In IU’s case, it’s the losing streak that’s changed its state of affairs. Speaking of the Hoosiers, losers of four straight, and Hawkeyes, whose furious late rally against Michigan last night came up short, they both drop from near lock status. The Scarlet Knights still have four regular-season games left against teams in this projection, so they’ll have a chance to pass both Indiana and Iowa, though the status of Ron Harper, Jr. Most impressively, Rutgers has rocketed up the seed list to a 10 after four consecutive wins over ranked opponents. The Big Ten had a big week from a bubble perspective. Unusually, this is an increase of one over last week. That’s 30 of 45 spots gone, leaving 15 for the bubble.So, How Many of the 45 Spots Remain Open on February 18th? (Of course, if the power conference tournaments go haywire like they did in 2021, this number will decline as Selection Sunday gets closer.) Combine the 9 likely multi-bid auto bid holders with the 36 at-large teams, and you’re left with 45 spots that are up for grabs.Of the 32 auto bids, it’s looking like 23 of those will come out of conferences that are likely to earn one bid.The 2022 NCAA Tournament will feature 68 teams: 32 conference tournament winners who will claim automatic bids and 36 teams the Selection Committee will select at-large.Once again, a quick reminder of how this all works. (#) = Overall rank of the top 16 teams (top four seeds in each region)Īcknowledgements: NET rankings and records are accurate as of Friday, Februand reflect only games against Division I teams. ⬆️ and ⬇️ = bracket returnees’ seed movement relative to Tuesday’s bracket Note: This story is best viewed on desktop.