PiRate Ratings College Basketball — Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Charlotte	Radford	3.7
Oklahoma St.	North Texas	5.3
Oregon	Wisconsin	5.0
Southern Utah	Eastern Kentucky	4.1

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	3/8/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	UCLA	Texas	Baylor	Arizona
3	Marquette	Kansas St.	Tennessee	Gonzaga
4	Connecticut	Xavier	Indiana	Virginia
5	San Diego St.	Miami (Fla)	TCU	Saint Mary’s
6	Iowa St.	Duke	Creighton	Texas A&M
7	Kentucky	Michigan St.	Northwestern	Maryland
8	Illinois	Iowa	Missouri	Arkansas
9	Florida Atlantic	Boise St.	Auburn	Providence
10	Memphis	West Virginia	North Carolina St.	USC
11	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Mississippi St.	Nevada	Wisconsin	Penn St.
12	Oral Roberts	VCU	Drake	Charleston
13	Utah Valley	Toledo	Iona	Yale
14	Louisiana	Furman	UC Santa Barbara	Colgate
15	Kennesaw St.	Vermont	UNC Asheville	Montana St.
16	N. Kentucky	Texas A&M-CC	SE Missouri St.	Grambling	Howard	Fairleigh Dickinson

---

Last 4 Byes: North Carolina St., USC, Pittsburgh, Rutgers

Last 4 In: Mississippi St., Nevada, Wisconsin, Penn St.

First 4 Out: Utah St., Arizona St., Oklahoma St., North Carolina

Next 4 Out: Clemson, Michigan, Oregon, Vanderbilt

PiRate Ratings College Basketball — Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Alcorn St.	Texas Southern	2.9
Arizona St.	Oregon St.	11.3
Colgate	Lafayette	9.4
Colorado St.	Fresno St.	2.2
Davidson	St. Bonaventure	2.7
Duquesne	La Salle	6.6
Florida Intl.	Louisiana Tech	-3.7
George Mason	Richmond	1.6
George Washington	Saint Joseph’s	-0.8
Georgia	LSU	-0.7
Grambling	Bethune Cookman	11.2
Howard	South Carolina St.	8.2
Iona	Mount St. Mary’s	13.8
Montana St.	Northern Arizona	6.7
Nebraska	Minnesota	7.3
New Mexico	Wyoming	8.1
North Carolina	Boston College	10.9
North Carolina Central	Delaware St.	12.9
North Carolina St.	Virginia Tech	1.8
Oklahoma St.	Oklahoma	1.3
Pittsburgh	Georgia Tech	7.5
Rice	UTSA	5.6
Rider	Marist	6.5
Seton Hall	DePaul	7.5
South Carolina	Mississippi	-6.4
St. John’s	Butler	3.2
Syracuse	Wake Forest	-2.4
Texas A&M-CC	Northwestern St.	1.3
UNLV	Air Force	5.3
Utah	Stanford	1.8
Villanova	Georgetown	10.7
Washington	Colorado	-4.7
Washington St.	California	13.6
West Virginia	Texas Tech	2.9
Western Kentucky	UTEP	1.0
Wisconsin	Ohio St.	-1.4

---

Coming Later Today: Conference Tournament Schedules with TV & Updated Bracketology

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	3/6/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	UCLA	Texas	Baylor	Arizona
3	Marquette	Kansas St.	Tennessee	Gonzaga
4	Connecticut	Xavier	Indiana	Virginia
5	San Diego St.	Saint Mary’s	Miami (Fla)	TCU
6	Iowa St.	Duke	Creighton	Texas A&M
7	Kentucky	Michigan St.	Northwestern	Maryland
8	Illinois	Iowa	Missouri	Arkansas
9	Florida Atlantic	Boise St.	Auburn	Providence
10	Memphis	West Virginia	North Carolina St.	USC
11	Pittsburgh	Rutgers	Mississippi St.	Nevada	Wisconsin	Penn St.
12	Oral Roberts	VCU	Drake	Hofstra
13	Utah Valley	Toledo	Iona	Louisiana
14	Yale	Furman	UC Santa Barbara	Kennesaw St.
15	Colgate	Vermont	Montana St.	Youngstown St.
16	UNC Asheville	Texas A&M-CC	SE Missouri St.	Grambling	Howard	Fairleigh Dickinson

---

Last 4 Byes: North Carolina St., USC, Pittsburgh, Rutgers

Last 4 In: Mississippi St., Nevada, Wisconsin, Penn St.

First 4 Out: Utah St., Arizona St., Oklahoma St., North Carolina

Next 4 Out: Clemson, Michigan, Oregon, Vanderbilt

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	3/5/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	UCLA
2	Purdue	Texas	Baylor	Arizona
3	Marquette	Kansas St.	Tennessee	Gonzaga
4	Connecticut	Xavier	Indiana	Virginia
5	San Diego St.	Saint Mary’s	Iowa St.	Miami (Fla)
6	TCU	Creighton	Kentucky	Duke
7	Texas A&M	Michigan St.	Iowa	Northwestern
8	Maryland	Missouri	Illinois	Arkansas
9	Florida Atlantic	Boise St.	Auburn	Providence
10	West Virginia	Memphis	USC	Rutgers
11	North Carolina St.	Pittsburgh	Mississippi St.	Nevada	Utah St.	Arizona St.
12	Oral Roberts	Hofstra	VCU	Bradley
13	Kennesaw St.	Utah Valley	Toledo	Iona
14	Louisiana	Yale	UC Santa Barbara	Furman
15	Colgate	E. Washington	Vermont	Youngstown St.
16	UNC Asheville	Grambling	Howard	Texas A&M-CC	SE Missouri St.	Fairleigh-Dickinson

---

Last 4 Byes: USC, Rutgers, North Carolina St., Pittsburgh

Last 4 In: Mississippi St., Nevada, Utah St., Arizona St.

First 4 Out: Wisconsin, Oklahoma St., Penn St., North Carolina

Next 4 Out: Clemson, Michigan, Oregon, Vanderbilt

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	3/3/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	UCLA	Texas	Baylor	Arizona
3	Kansas St.	Tennessee	Marquette	Gonzaga
4	Connecticut	Xavier	Indiana	Virginia
5	TCU	San Diego St.	Saint Mary’s	Miami (Fla)
6	Creighton	Kentucky	Iowa St.	Duke
7	Michigan St.	Texas A&M	Maryland	Iowa
8	Northwestern	Missouri	Illinois	Boise St.
9	Providence	Arkansas	Florida Atlantic	Memphis
10	North Carolina St.	Nevada	USC	West Virginia
11	Auburn	Pittsburgh	Mississippi St.	Rutgers	Arizona St.	Wisconsin
12	Oral Roberts	Bradley	VCU	Iona
13	Southern Miss.	Hofstra	Toledo	Utah Valley
14	Furman	UC-Irvine	Colgate	Youngstown St.
15	Kennesaw St.	Vermont	E. Washington	Penn
16	UNC Asheville	Grambling	Texas A&M-CC	Morehead St.	Howard	Fairleigh-Dickinson

---

Last 4 Byes: USC, West Virginia, Auburn, Pittsburgh

Last 4 In: Mississippi St., Rutgers, Arizona St., Wisconsin

First 4 Out: North Carolina, Utah St., Penn State, Michigan

Next 4 Out: Oklahoma St., Oregon, Clemson, New Mexico

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	2/27/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	UCLA	Texas	Baylor	Arizona
3	Kansas St.	Tennessee	Marquette	Gonzaga
4	Indiana	Connecticut	Xavier	Iowa St.
5	Virginia	Miami (Fla)	TCU	San Diego St.
6	Saint Mary’s	Creighton	Northwestern	Maryland
7	Kentucky	Illinois	Michigan St.	Duke
8	Providence	Texas A&M	Arkansas	Iowa
9	Rutgers	Missouri	Nevada	North Carolina St.
10	Florida Atlantic	Auburn	Boise St.	USC
11	Mississippi St.	West Virginia	Pittsburgh	Memphis	Wisconsin	Oklahoma St.
12	Oral Roberts	VCU	Bradley	Hofstra
13	Southern Miss.	Utah Valley	Toledo	Iona
14	Kennesaw St.	UC-Irvine	Colgate	Furman
15	E. Washington	Vermont	Penn	Youngstown St.
16	UNC Asheville	Texas A&M-CC	Morehead St.	Grambling	Howard	Fairleigh Dickinson

---

Last 4 Byes: Boise St., USC, Mississippi St., West Virginia

Last 4 In: Pittsburgh, Memphis, Wisconsin, Oklahoma St.

First 4 Out: Arizona St., Michigan, North Carolina, Penn St.

Next 4 Out: Clemson, Utah St., New Mexico, Texas Tech

PiRate Ratings College Basketball–Sunday, February 26, 2023

Home	Visitor	Spread
Bradley	Drake	1.7
Canisius	Fairfield	0.9
Colorado	UCLA	-6.6
Duquesne	Davidson	5.1
Georgetown	Providence	-9.4
Illinois Chicago	Southern Illinois	-7.2
Illinois St.	Evansville	9.1
Indiana St.	Missouri St.	7.3
Iona	Siena	10.3
Maryland	Northwestern	5.5
Memphis	Cincinnati	5.6
Michigan	Wisconsin	5.2
Murray St.	Valparaiso	5.5
Niagara	Saint Peter’s	5.5
Northern Iowa	Belmont	-2.2
Ohio St.	Illinois	-0.8
Penn St.	Rutgers	0.6
Quinnipiac	Manhattan	9.5
Rider	Mount St. Mary’s	8.1
St. Bonaventure	Saint Joseph’s	3.8
Stanford	Washington	4.0
Stephen F. Austin	Cal Baptist	4.0
Tulane	Wichita St.	6.0
Tulsa	Central Florida	-12.5

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	2/24/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	Texas	UCLA	Arizona	Baylor
3	Marquette	Virginia	Kansas St.	Tennessee
4	Iowa St.	Indiana	Gonzaga	Connecticut
5	Miami (Fla)	Xavier	Saint Mary’s	Creighton
6	San Diego St.	Illinois	TCU	Northwestern
7	Duke	Maryland	Providence	Texas A&M
8	Michigan St.	Arkansas	Iowa	North Carolina St.
9	Auburn	Kentucky	Rutgers	Missouri
10	Florida Atlantic	Pittsburgh	Nevada	Boise St.
11	Memphis	Oklahoma St.	West Virginia	USC	Mississippi St.	Wisconsin
12	Oral Roberts	Drake	Toledo	Marshall
13	Hofstra	Kennesaw St.	VCU	Iona
14	Colgate	Utah Valley	UC-Irvine	Eastern Washington
15	Penn	Cleveland St.	Vermont	Samford
16	UNC Asheville	Northwestern St.	Morehead St.	Howard	Alcorn St.	St. Francis (PA)

Last 4 Byes: Nevada, Boise St., Memphis, Oklahoma St.

Last 4 In: West Virginia, USC, Mississippi St., Wisconsin

First 4 Out: Utah St., North Carolina, Texas Tech, Michigan

Next 4 Out: Clemson, New Mexico, Penn St., Arizona St.

What Is My Process?

I have been asked by multiple people how I make my bracketology. It is a multi-step process. I use the same data that the NCAA Selection Committee uses–Net Ratings, Strength of Schedule, Strength of Wins, Eye Test, etc. that the Committee uses.

I begin by choosing the one-bid conference representatives. Each time, I use the team that is in first place at the time. If two or more teams are tied for first, I choose the team with the most current success. Most of these teams automatically move to the 12-16 seed lines. They will be compared to each other and seeded 12 through 16. A couple (like Florida Atlantic this year) may move up. If enough move up, then the at-large field may feature two or even four 12-seeds, but in most years, the last 4 teams in the field will be the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th best 11-seeds.

The next step in the process is to pick the teams that are obviously getting bids from the multiple bid conferences. These include teams like Virginia, Marquette, Alabama, Purdue, Kansas, and UCLA among others at the present time. After that, I then choose about 20 other teams that represent the Bubble. From these 20 Bubble teams, I will closely examine the resumes of each, ranking them from 1 to 20. The big question with the Bubble is, “how many are needed to get to 68 total teams?” This week, it was seven. Seven teams made the field. Eight teams fell into first 4 out or next 4 out, while the other five would be placed in an under consideration list and needing a lot of help. Michigan had been in the under consideration group for weeks until recent victories allowed the Wolverines to jump up to first 4 out status. A couple more wins, and the Maize and Blue might find themselves in the Field.

Once I have the 68 teams chosen, and I have the 12-16 seeds filled in (22 teams), the remaining 46 teams are ranked as I believe the Committee will rank them. When you see my seed lines, they are in the order of my rankings, so that looking at today’s #3 seeds, Marquette is my top 3-seed team. Tennessee has fallen to the last 3-seed team. I do not alter my seed lines to prevent teams from the same conference from playing in the first round. If two Big 12 teams are shown playing in the Round of 64, the Committee will change the S-Curve. I’ll leave the teams where they finish in my rankings.

If I could change one thing in how the Selection Committee chooses the at-large teams, it would be to add conference record into the equation. If the third place team in the ACC beats the sixth place team both times in the regular season and finishes three games ahead in the standings, that should at least mean as much as out of conference results. In my mind, a 13-7 ACC team that sweeps a 10-10 ACC team has proven itself to be the better of the two teams. Yet, every year, the Committee takes one of these teams that finished behind another and that lose to the other team that did not receive a bid. The Committee tends to give more weight to out of conference games in November and December than conference games in January and February.

Championship Fortnight Begins Monday

The greatest five weeks of college basketball action start Monday night when the first conference tournament action begins. The Atlantic Sun Tournament begins with the top 10 finishers in the regular season qualifying. Team #9 will host Team #10 and Team #7 will host Team #8.

The #9 vs. #10 winner will then play the #1 seed, and the #7 vs. #8 winner will then play the #2 seed in the quarterfinals. The #3 seed will play the #6 seed, and the #4 seed will play the #5 seed. Unlike most leagues, this conference will then re-seed the teams, like the NFL Playoffs, in the semifinal round. All A-Sun Tournament games will be played at the home gym of the better seed.

Three more tournaments begin on Tuesday. The Horizon League’s first round will find the #6 through 11 seeds playing to make the quarterfinals, while the top 5 seeds receive first round byes. First Round and Quarterfinal Round games will be played on the better seeds’ home floors, with the semifinals and finals moving to Indianapolis.

The Patriot League will take place exclusively on the better seeds’ home floors. Tuesday’s first round games will see #10 playing at #7 and #9 playing at #8, or a normal first round bracket in a 10-team field.

The Sun Belt Conference features all 14 teams playing in beautiful Pensacola, Florida. The first round begins Tuesday with the #11 seed playing #14 and the #12 seed playing #13. This will be a hotly contested tournament for the one bid, as there are four teams in this league (Marshall, Southern Miss, Louisiana, and James Madison) talented enough to beat a single digit seed in the Round of 64. If Marshall wins the automatic bid, the Thundering Herd’s R+T Rating is going to be high enough to be considered a dark horse for the Sweet 16.

Check back daily once conference tournament action begins. The PiRate Ratings will have daily updates.

PiRate Ratings Bracketology

Date	2/20/2023
Seed	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team	Team
1	Alabama	Houston	Kansas	Purdue
2	Texas	Baylor	UCLA	Arizona
3	Tennessee	Kansas St.	Iowa St.	Virginia
4	Gonzaga	Marquette	Xavier	Indiana
5	Connecticut	Saint Mary’s	Iowa	Creighton
6	TCU	San Diego St.	Northwestern	Illinois
7	Providence	Duke	Maryland	Iowa
8	Rutgers	Michigan St.	North Carolina St.	Texas A&M
9	Auburn	Missouri	Arkansas	Boise St.
10	Kentucky	Nevada	Oklahoma St.	Pittsburgh
11	Florida Atlantic	Memphis	Mississippi St.	USC	West Virginia	Wisconsin
12	Oral Roberts	Drake	Southern Miss.	Toledo
13	VCU	Hofstra	Utah Valley	UC-Irvine
14	Kennesaw St.	Iona	Samford	Colgate
15	E. Washington	Penn	Vermont	Youngstown St.
16	UNCA	Texas A&M-CC	Morehead St.	Alcorn St.	Howard	Fairleigh Dickinson

Last 4 Byes: Nevada, Oklahoma St., Pittsburgh, Memphis

Last 4 In: Mississippi St., USC, West Virginia, Wisconsin

First 4 Out: Utah St., New Mexico, North Carolina, North Texas

Next 4 Out: Penn St., Texas Tech, Arizona St., Oregon