Bracketology - March 8, 2026

I have a little bit of a hybrid here due to timing and when I was able to get things out today (late!).  Resume comparison chart is updated with records through Sunday but the metrics through Saturday.

Let's talk a minute about Saturday.  That was not a quiet day in the Bracketology world.  We had a shift on the #1 line, some jockeying throughout the bracket and then pretty much every bubble team losing.  VCU was the clear winner of all that chaos as they now slide into the last 4 in because sometimes, solid and unspectacular is better than extremely volatile.  

I was thinking about how soft this bubble is, mainly from the perspective of whether this is going to be an adjusted norm in the NIL and transfer portal era.  The soft bubble is partially being caused by 2 conferences having down years.  The Big East is a 3-bid league, normally counted on for 5 or 6.  The Mountain West is a 1-bid league, lately it has been anywhere from 3 to 5.  If we had that normal distribution this year, the bubble would look much better.  The Big East should bounce back.  The Mountain West morphs partially into the PAC-12 and will likely be a multiple bid league going forward, potentially at the expense of the West Coast Conference becoming a 1-bid league.  

I will do my best to keep updating as things will be fluid this week.  The metrics are typically updated overnight, but the key set will likely be those on Saturday morning, as I believe much of the seeding is set Saturday and results Saturday and Sunday do not have great impact on the final bracket.