Bracket Forecast: Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Arizona earn top seeds
With conference play in full swing, the contenders and pretenders in men's college basketball are becoming clearer.
With the cream rising to the top, it's once again time to take a look at who might be making an appearance in the NCAA Tournament this spring.
For the second time this season, here are our NCAA bracket projections, courtesy of FOX Sports Bracket Forecaster Mike DeCourcy.
Three of the four 1-seeds remain the same: Baylor (14-0), Duke (11-1) and Arizona (12-1).
The new addition to the 1-seeds is Gonzaga (11-2), which replaced Purdue (12-2). Purdue's recent loss to No. 23 Wisconsin caused the slip, opening the door for Gonzaga to move up to a No. 1 seed, despite early losses to Duke and Alabama.
Purdue didn't slide too far, dropping to a 2-seed, where it's joined by Michigan State (12-2), Kansas (11-1) and Ohio State (9-2).
The Big 12 once again reigns supreme as the most represented conference, placing eight teams in the projected field for the second time. In the previous bracket projection by DeCourcy, the Big Ten was tied with the Big 12 with eight teams, but the B1G has since slipped to seven projected teams in the tournament.
The Big East and SEC are not far behind the Big 12 or Big Ten when it comes to representation, with each conference having six projected teams in the field.
The Pac-12 is once again the least represented Power 5 conference, with Arizona, UCLA and USC the only teams currently in the tournament.
When it comes to the bubble, DeCourcy has Wyoming, Memphis, Florida and Louisville as his last four teams in, with Indiana, Mississippi State, Saint Louis and UCF right on the outside looking in.
Here are the full brackets from DeCourcy.
