Bracketology: Predicting the 2024 NCAA Tournament Bracket, Week 4
Welcome, friends, to the fourth edition of Bracketology here at ClutchPoints, and please, allow me to potentially be the first to say Happy Holidays! It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Not only is Christmas right around the corner, but my goodness, what a time it is to be a sports fan! Think about this... within the next two weeks, we've got crucial NFL games, Conference Championship games in college football, the NBA In-Season Tournament, and of course, college hoops now firing on all cylinders after an exciting Feast Week.
So as you settle in to watch NFL games with postseason implications, College Football games with bowl implications, and the first ever In-Season Tournament in the NBA unfold, sit back and peruse my latest Bracketology update at your leisure.
Bracketology Bracket
Bracketology Breakdown
Top Seeds: Purdue (Midwest Region), Arizona (West Region), Marquette (East Region), Kansas (South Region)
Multi-Bid Leagues: AAC (2), ACC (5), Big 12 (8), Big East (6), Big Ten (7), MWC (2), Pac-12 (5), SEC (8), WCC (2)
Bracketology Bubble Watch
Last Four Byes: Xavier, Indiana, Saint Mary’s, Ohio State
Last Four In: Northwestern, Florida, Providence, New Mexico
First Four Out: Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, NC State, Texas Tech
Next Four Out: Maryland, St. John’s, Colorado State, Nevada
Five Most Intriguing Games of the Week
Tennessee at North Carolina – Wed. Nov. 29, 7:15 p.m. ET, ESPN
Liberty at Florida Atlantic – Thu. Nov. 30, 6 p.m. ET, ESPNU
Houston at Xavier – Fri. Dec. 1, 6:30 p.m. ET, FS1
Connecticut at Kansas – Fri. Dec. 1, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2
USC vs. Gonzaga – Sat. Dec. 2, 10 p.m. ET, ESPN
And One!
Did I set myself up for a win last week with my And One prediction? Of course I did. I knew I would be walking into a home on Thanksgiving where there would be two dozen different dishes that I wanted to partake in, and naturally, I would eat way too much. But as I justified last week, it was Feast Week in college basketball, so a prediction regarding my individual performance in a feast seemed noteworthy.
Well, Feast Week was delicious but now in the past, and I'll be turning my attention to the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. I've watched a lot of college basketball over the last few weeks, and here's something I can tell you I feel pretty strongly about... the SEC is arguably the deepest conference in college basketball. As you can see in the multi-bid leagues section above, the SEC and Big 12 lead the way with eight bids into the 2024 NCAA Tournament Field apiece. Meanwhile, the ACC looks like it could be top heavy, but as was the case last year, I don't love the depth. So my prediction for Week 4: the SEC wins more games than the ACC in their head-to-head matchups this week in the first ever ACC/SEC Challenge.
Past And One! Predictions
