5 days ago
CBS Sports projects Florida as No. 1 seed in way-too-early March Madness projections
Is it too early to start projecting the 2026 March Madness field?
Bracketology experts never sleep, and CBS Sports Writer David Cobb is taking a stab at predicting which teams will make the NCAA Tournament eight months ahead of time. The Florida Gators are one of Cobb's four No. 1 seeds, landing in the East region against the winner of the Montana-Quinnipiac play-in projection for the No. 16 seed.
Connecticut, Louisville and Texas Tech are behind UF in the East, in that order. The other No. 1 seeds are Houston (Midwest), Purdue (South) and St. John's (West). Cobb has 11 SEC teams making the field, with Georgia and Mississippi State in the first four out. The only three SEC teams not expected to compete for a March Madness spot are LSU, Oklahoma and South Carolina.
While it may seem like a fool's errand to make these kinds of picks so far out from the actual tournament, there's a method to the madness here. With the transfer portal settling down and the NBA draft now complete, most Power Five rosters are in place. The occasional depth addition happens, but all the big transfer names are settled.
Poor play, unexpected player development and injuries will impact these kinds of projections as the season goes on, but most preseason predictions aren't changing, at least in a drastic manner. Cobb leaned on Bart Torvik's preseason analytic projections for this exercise. Torvik is a tool the NCAA committee has begun using over the past few seasons, so this should be in line with what the decision-makers think coming into the fall.
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