THE BRACKET
Bracket 020816
PROJECTED SEEDING
The 1 Seeds
Villanova, Oklahoma, Xavier, Kansas
The 2 Seeds
Iowa, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia
The 3 Seeds
Maryland, Michigan State, West Virginia, Miami (FL)
The 4 Seeds
Dayton, Iowa State, Texas A&M, Purdue
The 5 Seeds
USC, Arizona, Kentucky, Baylor
The 6 Seeds
Texas, Providence, Pittsburgh, Duke
The 7 Seeds
Indiana, Utah, Notre Dame, South Carolina
The 8 Seeds
Florida, Wichita State, Colorado, St. Mary’s (CA)
The 9 Seeds
VCU, Syracuse, California, Connecticut
The 10 Seeds
St. Joseph’s, Seton Hall, Florida State, Michigan
The 11 Seeds
George Washington, Gonzaga, Valparaiso, Monmouth
The 12 Seeds
Butler, Cincinnati, Washington, Oregon State, San Diego State, Chattanooga
The 13 Seeds
Arkansas-Little Rock, South Dakota State, Akron, Stony Brook
The 14 Seeds
UC Irvine, Yale, NC-Wilmington, UAB
The 15 Seeds
Belmont, Stephen F. Austin, New Mexico State, North Florida
The 16 Seeds
NC-Asheville, Montana, Bucknell, Hampton, Wagner, Texas Southern
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BUBBLE ACTION
Last Four In
Butler, Cincinnati, Washington, Oregon State
First Four Out
Wisconsin, Clemson, LSU, Vanderbilt
Next Four Out
Texas Tech, St. Bonaventure, Georgia, Kansas State
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CONFERENCE BREAKDOWN
ACC (8), Pac-12 (8), Big 12 (6), Big Ten (6), Big East (5), SEC (4), Atlantic 10 (4), American (2), West Coast (2)
ACC – North Carolina, Virginia, Miami (FL), Pittsburgh, Duke, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Florida State
America East – Stony Brook
American – Connecticut, Cincinnati
Atlantic 10 – Dayton, VCU, St. Joseph’s, George Washington
Atlantic Sun – North Florida
Big 12 – Oklahoma, Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa State, Baylor, Texas
Big East – Villanova, Xavier, Providence, Seton Hall, Butler
Big Sky – Montana
Big South – NC-Asheville
Big Ten – Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan
Big West – UC Irvine
Colonial – NC-Wilmington
Conference USA – UAB
Horizon – Valparaiso
Ivy – Yale
MAAC – Monmouth
MAC – Akron
MEAC – Hampton
Missouri Valley – Wichita State
Mountain West – San Diego State
Northeast – Wagner
Ohio Valley – Belmont
Pac-12 – Oregon, USC, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, California, Washington, Oregon State
Patriot – Bucknell
SEC – Texas A&M, Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida
Southern – Chattanooga
Southland – Stephen F. Austin
Summit – South Dakota State
Sun Belt – Arkansas-Little Rock
SWAC – Texas Southern
WAC – New Mexico State
WCC – St. Mary’s (CA), Gonzaga
1-3-1 Sports 
Maryland as a 3 makes no sense. For starters, Oregon has a few sub 100 losses that should immediately set them below Maryland given the rest of their resumes.
I’m interested to see what you deemed as “a few sub 100 losses” in your above comment. Oregon has one sub-100 loss based on RPI, at the hands of UNLV at the beginning of December. The Ducks have the #1 overall Strength of Schedule, and are ahead of Maryland in RPI. They’re 8-2 record against RPI top-50 also stands out on their resume.
All of this being said, I do think Maryland is the better team. However, my goal with my Bracketology is not to set the field based on my own personal judgment of a team’s merit. Rather, it is to project what the tournament committee will do on Selection Sunday. I think that if Selection Sunday were today, Oregon would get the nod over Maryland for the reasons stated above, among others.
I was looking at Kenpom, which had UNLV and Boise State as sub 100 losses yesterday (although now UNLV is 99). Still, both losses are significantly worse than any of Maryland’s. If the RPI itself is your metric of choice though, Maryland checking in at #4 seems to argue for more than a 3 seed.
Alas, Ken Pom is definitely a reasonable source for information, and I personally agree that Maryland deserves more than a three seed. However, the committee’s reliance on RPI (outmoded as it is in determining a team’s quality), strength of schedule, and top-50 wins in recent years leads me to believe they’d currently seed them on the 3 line, if only barely. Their lack of games against RPI top-50 (3-2 record) does not bode well.