What the bracket would look like using the top NET teams

On Monday, the NCAA released their new NET rankings for the first time. There was quite a bit of uproar about the rankings, but we must keep in mind the season is very young. There is not a lot of information available to get an accurate picture. That’s why you have three West Coast teams in the top 25 and Belmont just outside the top ten.

The nice thing is these rankings will update daily, allowing us to constantly get a feel for how teams are moving up and down the board.

But because we like to have some fun, why not take a look at what the bracket would like if we took the highest-ranked team from each conference and then the best 36 after that to fill the field of 68? Note: this comes from the NET rankings through games played November 26.

The latest NET rankings have Texas Tech up to No. 1 after Ohio State was the initial No. 1 team. Virginia and Gonzaga join the Red Raiders and Buckeyes on the top line.

Tennessee is up to No. 25 in the NET rankings, good for a No. 7 seed in this bracket, a seed that will obviously likely be better once we get to March.

Using this format leaves some notable teams out, including Kentucky. The first four out in this exercise would be Florida Atlantic, Liberty, Kentucky and Mississippi State. The next four out would be Clemson, LSU, Dayton and Connecticut.

This exercise is mostly meant for fun and for some of you, it may familiarize yourself with the sites for this year’s tournament. We’ll get a better sense of teams and rankings by the time conference play rolls around. For now, enjoy the festivities.