BRACKET BREAKDOWN: MARCH 8TH

Who’s ready for a new daily column during Championship Week?

Between now and Selection Sunday, each day I’ll give a “BRACKET BREAKDOWN” with my 68 projected teams for the 2023 NCAA Tournament along with my Top 16 seeds.

The team who has currently clinched an automatic bid will be listed in BOLD as that conference’s “automatic qualifier” and if an automatic qualifier has yet to be decided, a conference’s regular season champion will be listed as an automatic qualifier. 

The Current Field

Atlantic Sun (1)
Kennesaw State (AQ)

America East (1)
Vermont (AQ)

American Athletic Conference (2)
Houston (AQ), Memphis

Atlantic 10 (1)
VCU (AQ)

ACC (5)
Pitt (AQ), Miami, Virginia, Duke, NC State

Big 12 (7)
Kansas (AQ), Texas, Baylor, Kansas State, Iowa State, TCU, West Virginia

Big East (5)
Marquette (AQ), Providence, Xavier, Creighton, UConn

Big Sky (1)
Montana State (AQ)

Big South (1)
UNC Asheville (AQ)

Big Ten (9)
Purdue (AQ), Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Rutgers, Iowa, Maryland, Northwestern, Penn State

Big West (1)
UC Santa Barbara (AQ)

CAA (1)
Charleston (AQ)

Conference-USA (1)
Florida Atlantic (AQ)

Horizon League (1)
Northern Kentucky (AQ)

Ivy League (1)
Yale (AQ)

MAAC (1)
Iona (AQ)

MAC (1)
Toledo (AQ)

MEAC (1)
Howard (AQ)

Missouri Valley (1)
Drake (AQ)

Mountain West (4)
San Diego State (AQ), Boise State, Nevada, Utah State

NEC (1)
Fairleigh Dickinson  (AQ)

OVC (1)
SEMO (AQ)

Pac-12 (3)
UCLA (AQ), Arizona, USC

Patriot League (1)
Colgate (AQ)

SEC (8)
Alabama (AQ), Missouri, Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Mississippi State

Southern (1)
Furman (AQ)

Southland (1)
Texas A&M Corpus Christi (AQ)

SWAC (1)
Alcorn State (AQ)

Summit (1)
Oral Roberts (AQ)

Sun Belt (1)
Louisiana (AQ)

WCC (2)
Gonzaga (AQ), Saint Mary’s 

WAC (1)
Utah Valley (AQ)

First Four Out

Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Arizona State, North Carolina

Top 16 Seeds

1: Kansas, Alabama, Houston, UCLA
2: Purdue, Texas, Baylor, Kansas State
3: Marquette, Gonzaga, Arizona, Tennessee
4: Virginia, UConn, Indiana, Xavier

Jon Rothstein has been a college basketball insider for CBS Sports since 2010 and a contributor to the CBS Broadcast Network since 2016. He joined FanDuel in 2022 as a Content Creator. Rothstein is also the host of the College Hoops Today Podcast via Compass Media Networks.