Bracketology: UCLA moves up; North Carolina, Kentucky barely hang on

Everyone plans their lives around major sporting events on the calendar, right? Oh, just us?

Well, if there are any more of you like that out there, your interest in NCAA men’s basketball tournament bracketology will likely increase after Sunday once a certain contest involving a different shaped ball is concluded. But we like to be ahead of the curve here, so we have updated our own bracket projection ahead of another full weekend of conference action on the hardwood.

The first thing you’re likely to notice if you looked at our initial projection earlier this week is that the No. 1 seeds have changed. Tennessee’s loss at Vanderbilt Wednesday knocks the Volunteers down to a No. 2 seed. Pac-12 leader UCLA now joins Purdue, Houston and Alabama on the top line.

Regular hoops followers will also notice that a couple of the sport’s name-brand programs are barely holding on to spots in the 68-team field. With just a month to go in the regular season, both Kentucky and North Carolina face the prospect of being sent to Dayton for the play-in round or worse yet missing the field altogether.

Both are in for the moment, but they need to return to winning ways to help their devoted followers feel less anxious.

Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men’s College Basketball Scores and Schedules

No. 1 seeds

Purdue, Alabama, Houston, UCLA.

Last four in

Nevada, Kentucky, North Carolina, New Mexico.

First four out

Missouri, Wisconsin, Utah State, Florida.

Next four out

Seton Hall, Penn State, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech. 

Multi-bid conferences: Big 12 (8), Big Ten (8), ACC (7), SEC (6), Big East (5), Mountain West (4), Pac-12 (3), American Athletic (2), West Coast (2).

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