St. John’s Takes Down Duke? Connor’s Bracketology 2/5/18

**Connor publishes updated bracket projections every Monday and Friday.  Click here to view the last update.  A bolded team name with an asterisk represents a conference leader which currently holds an automatic bid into the field.  Teams whose seeds are shaded in orange are current participants in First Four games to earn their way into the 64-team field.  Records, RPIs, and SOSs are for your convenience and are not the only metrics used in determining the rankings.

A good theme for this college basketball season has been to expect the unexpected.  However, when #4 Duke traveled to Madison Square Garden to face St. John’s, currently 0-11 in Big East play, I don’t think anyone could’ve expected the Red Storm to pull off possibly the biggest upset of the season.

Duke entered that game as my final #1 seed, and their loss opened the door for Kansas to climb to the top line.  However, almost simultaneously as Duke fell, Oklahoma State shocked the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse.  Normally unbeatable at home, Kansas has already lost four games this season on their home floor.  In fact, Florida is the only other team in my projected field with four home losses.

Throw in Texas, Washington, and Missouri’s victories over Oklahoma, Arizona, and Kentucky, and it was quite the weekend.  As the dust settles, Xavier looks to have grabbed the final #1 seed, with Auburn right on their tail.

Here’s a look at how things stand as we begin the first full week of February.

The Rankings (data includes games played through Feb. 4)

As always, feel free to ask any questions about my projections.