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Mitchell Northam | krikya18.com | December 4, 2019

NCAA men's basketball bracket, projected about 100 days from Selection Sunday

How Duke and Louisville's huge wins Tuesday affect NCAA tournament bracket predictions

Just about 100 days from Selection Sunday for men's college basketball, krikya18.com basketball expert Andy Katz filled out a March Madness bracket based on everything he has seen so far this season.

Last year, Katz filed almost a dozen bracket predictions throughout the season. In his final prediction before Selection Sunday, he got 67 of the 68 teams correct. He filled out a preseason bracket in September, 50 days before opening night.

Let's take a look at where Katz has teams standing about a month into the season, and about 100 days away from Selection Sunday. (Tap or click here to to open the bracket in a new window.)

krikya18.com Andy Katz's 2020 men's basketball bracket prediction, as of Dec. 3, 2019. Andy Katz's 2020 men's basketball bracket prediction, as of Dec. 3, 2019.

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And here's that same bracket in table form.

  MIDWEST WEST SOUTH EAST
1 Michigan Louisville Kansas Virginia
16 Lafayette Grambling/Bethune-Cookman Wright State Sacred Heart/Campbell
         
2 North Carolina Gonzaga Ohio State Maryland
15 Sacramento State South Dakota UMKC Rider
         
3 Kentucky Michigan State Duke Auburn
14 Hawaii Hofstra Harvard Texas State
         
4 Baylor Arizona Florida State Oregon
13 Belmont UTEP Bowling Green UNCG
         
5 Seton Hall West Virginia Colorado Dayton
12 Richmond/BYU Liberty Vermont Northern Iowa
         
6 Washington Oklahoma State Tennessee Memphis
11 Iowa State Mississippi State Stephen F. Austin Texas Tech/USC
         
7 Saint Mary's San Diego State Florida Texas
10 Purdue Penn State VCU Butler
         
8 Temple Xavier Utah State Villanova
9 DePaul Arkansas Marquette Oklahoma

Let's take a closer look at Katz's bracket.

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Michigan, Louisville, Kansas, Virginia take No. 1 seeds

From Katz's preseason predictions, things have changed for the top seeds. Louisville and Kansas remain among the four top seeds, but Michigan and Louisville enter the pack, replacing Michigan State and Kentucky.

First-year head coach Juwan Howard has his Wolverines riding high. They're off to a 7-0 start and won the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship, topping North Carolina and Gonzaga along the way. Michigan's Zavier Simpson leads the nation in assists, dishing out 9.7 dimes per-game.

We could get a Final Four preview on Tuesday night, with the Wolverines and current AP Top 25 No. 1 Louisville facing off in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. The Cardinals are off to a 7-0 start too and have been led by preseason ACC Player of the Year Jordan Nwora, who is averaging 21.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per-game while shooting more than 50 percent from the field and three-point range.

After losing its season opener to Duke, Kansas has won six straight. Devon Dotson leads the Jayhawks with 19.7 points per-game.

Meanwhile, Virginia -- the defending national champions -- is off to a 7-0 start after surviving tight games against Vermont and Arizona State. The Cavaliers might have lost a trio of starters from last year's squad to the NBA, but Tony Bennett's side still has the top defense in the nation, allowing 40.3 points per-game.

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Katz is high on the ACC at this point in the season. In his overall seed list, he has Virginia at third, Louisville fourth, North Carolina eighth and Duke ninth. Katz has just one SEC team in his top 10 -- putting Kentucky 10th -- and didn't rank a Pac-12 team until 13th, where Arizona checks in.

Gonzaga is Katz's highest-ranked team which doesn't come from a Power 5 conference, the Big East or the American, with the Bulldogs checking in at seventh, making them the No. 2 seed in the West. Dayton, of the Atlantic 10, checks in at 18th, giving the Flyers the No. 5 seed in the East.

Katz's last four in for at-large bids were BYU, Richmond, USC and 2019 runner-up Texas Tech.

KATZ'S CRYSTAL BALL: 20 predictions for the 2020 NCAA tournament

Here's Katz's full field of 68...

Rank | Seed | Team | Conference
1. 1 -- Michigan (AQ) Big Ten
2. 1 -- Kansas (AQ) Big 12
3. 1 -- Virginia (AQ) ACC
4. 1 -- Louisville ACC
5. 2 -- Maryland Big Ten
6. 2 -- Ohio State Big Ten
7. 2 -- Gonzaga (AQ) WCC
8. 2 -- North Carolina ACC
9. 3 -- Duke ACC
10. 3 -- Kentucky SEC
11. 3 -- Michigan State Big Ten
12. 3 -- Auburn (AQ) SEC
13. 4 -- Arizona (AQ) Pac-12
14. 4 -- Baylor Big 12
15. 4 -- Florida State ACC
16. 4 -- Oregon Pac-12
17. 5 -- Seton Hall (AQ) Big East
18. 5 --- Dayton (AQ) Atlantic 10
19. 5 -- West Virginia Big 12
20. 5 -- Colorado Pac-12
21. 6 -- Tennessee SEC
22. 6 -- Washington Pac-12
23. 6 -- Memphis (AQ) American
24. 6 -- Oklahoma State Big 12
25. 7 -- Florida SEC
26. 7 -- San Diego State (AQ) MWC
27. 7 -- Saint Mary's WCC
28. 7 -- Texas Big 12
29. 8 -- Temple American
30. 8 -- Utah State MWC
31. 8 -- Xavier Big East
32. 8 -- Villanova Big East
33. 9 -- Arkansas SEC
34. 9 -- Marquette Big East
35. 9 -- DePaul Big East
36. 9 -- Oklahoma Big 12
37. 10 -- Butler Big East
38. 10 -- Purdue Big Ten
39. 10 -- VCU Atlantic 10
40. 10 -- Penn State Big Ten
41. 11 -- Mississippi State SEC
42. 11 -- Iowa State Big 12
43. 11 -- Texas Tech Big 12
44. 11 -- USC Pac-12
45. 11 -- Stephen F. Austin (AQ) Southland
46. 11 -- Richmond Atlantic 10
47. 12 -- BYU WCC
48. 12 -- Liberty (AQ) ASUN
49. 12 -- Vermont (AQ) America East
50. 12 -- Northern Iowa (AQ) MVC
51. 13 -- Belmont (AQ) OVC
52. 13 -- UNC Greensboro (AQ) SoCon
53. 13 -- UTEP (AQ) CUSA
54. 13 -- Bowling Green (AQ) MAC
55. 14 -- Hawaii (AQ) Big West
56. 14 -- Hofstra (AQ) CAA
57. 14 -- Harvard (AQ) Ivy
58. 14 -- Texas State (AQ) Sun Belt
59. 15 -- UMKC (AQ) WAC
60. 15 -- Rider (AQ) MAAC
61. 15 -- South Dakota (AQ) Summit
62. 15 -- Sacramento State (AQ) Big Sky
63. 16 -- Lafayette (AQ) Patriot
64. 16 -- Wright State (AQ) Horizon
65. 16 -- Grambling (AQ) SWAC
66. 16 -- Bethune-Cookman (AQ) MEAC
67. 16 -- Sacred Heart (AQ) NEC
68. 16 -- Campbell (AQ) Big South
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