Thanks to back-to-back losses to Alabama and at Tennessee, Ben Simmons and LSU are no longer in the mix for an NCAA Tournament bid according to Joe Lunardi’s latest Mock NCAA Tournament Bracket released Monday.
In Lunardi’s previous bracket released last Thursday, the Tigers (16-11) were an 11 seed.
As MIke DeCourcy wrote in this column, it’s an open question at this point whether the 6-foot-10 Simmons deserves to be named a first-team All-American considering his team’s play this season. And, as DeCourcy pointed out, four of the last five No. 1 picks in the NBA Draft, weren’t first-team All-Americans.
Simmons and the Tigers have four more regular-season games (at Arkansas, Florida, Missouri, at Kentucky) — plus the SEC Tournament — to prove they are an NCAA Tournament team. Otherwise, he risks becoming the first No. 1 pick since Michael Olowokandi in 1998 whose team didn’t qualify for the Big Dance.
Villanova, Kansas, Virginia and Oklahoma remain the No. 1 seeds in Lunardi’s bracket and it looks increasingly likely that Villanova will play the first two rounds in Brooklyn.
Michigan State, North Carolina, Xavier and Iowa are the 2 seeds.
The 3 seeds feature Miami, Maryland, West Virginia and Oregon.
The 4s are Iowa State, Arizona, Kentucky and Duke.
The ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten all have 7 teams in the Dance. The Pac-12 has 6 and the SEC and Big East 5 apiece.
From the tri-state area, UConn, Seton Hall, Yale, Monmouth, Wagner and Stony Brook are all in the field.
UConn is projected as a 9 seed facing No. 8 Wisconsin.
Seton Hall, which edged St. John’s on Sunday, is a 10 and would face No. 7 Cal.
Monmouth is an 11 and would face No. 6 Utah.
Stony Brook is a 13 and would get No. 4 Kentucky.
Yale is also a 13 and would get No. 4 Iowa State.
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