Cincinnati Bumped to ‘Next Four Out’ in Latest Bracketology Update
Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update dropped on Friday morning, just ahead of another massive weekend of Big 12 basketball.
The Houston Cougars have taken a fairly commanding lead in the conference after picking up a big win over No. 6 Iowa State on Monday and remain the league’s top seed in the tournament, checking in as the No. 1 seed in the South.
However, the biggest takeaway for the conference in this update is the bump that Cincinnati got, and not going up, but down.
The Bearcats suffered a brutal home loss at the hands of Oklahoma State on Wednesday night, dropping them 16-10 overall and 5-8 in Big 12 play. Consequently, the Bearcats also dropped from the “First Four Out” to the “Next Four Out,” where they join Villanova, Drake, and Colorado. The latest “First Four” is Wake Forest, Ole Miss, Utah, and Butler.
The nine Big 12 teams that are projected to make the tournament are Houston (1), Kansas (2), Iowa State (3), Baylor (4), Texas Tech (5), BYU (6), Texas (8), Oklahoma (8), and TCU (9).
Here’s what each Big 12 team’s opening-round matchup in the NCAA Tournament looks like in Lunardi’s latest update.
(1) Houston vs. (16) Sam Houston
(2) Kansas vs. (15) E. Washington
(3) Iowa State vs. (14) Oakland
(4) Baylor vs. (13) UC Irvine
(5) Texas Tech vs. (12) Samford
(6) BYU vs. (11) Seton Hall/Gonzaga
(8) Oklahoma vs. (9) New Mexico
(8) Texas vs. (9) Boise State
(9) TCU vs. (8) FAU
The upcoming weekend of Big 12 basketball will surely shake things up once again as we have several matchups on deck, including No. 2 Houston vs. No. 11 Baylor, Texas at No. 9 Kansas, No. 23 Texas Tech at UCF, No. 25 BYU at Kansas State, and Cincinnati at TCU.
