Nebraska Men’s Basketball Remains a 3-Seed in Latest ESPN’s Bracketology, and That’s Where the Huskers Might Stay

Nebraska is a 3-seed in ESPN’s Bracketology for the third consecutive time in the latest projections published Tuesday morning.

Nebraska has been no worse than a projected 4-seed since Dec. 16, when the Cornhuskers were a 5-seed in ESPN’s Bracketology. That’s 19 times Bracketology has been published and the Huskers have been either a 2-seed (seven times), a 3-seed (eight times) or a 4-seed (four times).

Those are your Nebraska Cornhuskers and that is where you can expect them to be seeded — probably a 3-seed or a 4-seed — when the NCAA Tournament tips off in two weeks. The Huskers were ranked ninth in the latest AP Top 25 Poll.

Nebraska is a slight underdog (1.5 points at most sportsbooks) tonight at UCLA (10 p.m. CT, FS1), which is 16-1 at home this season and a projected 10-seed by ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi. Nebraska’s West Coast swing started Saturday with an 82-67 win at USC.

The Huskers (25-4, 14-4) will close out their amazing regular season Sunday at home against Iowa (4 p.m. CT, Fox). The Big Ten Tournament begins next week at Chicago’s United Center.

In CBS Sports’ Bracketology, dated Tuesday morning, Nebraska improved to a 3-seed from a 4-seed. In CBS Sports’ projections, Nebraska would play 13-seed North Dakota State, in the Midwest Region. The Nebraska-North Dakota State winner would play the winner of 6-seed North Carolina vs. the winner of a First Four game between two 11-seeds.

Huskers projected in Big Dance

Here are Nebraska’s last 24 Bracketology projections, where you can see the Huskers’ projections through the season. Since Christmas, Nebraska has been no worse than a 4-seed.

* Nov. 18: 11 (Last four in)
* Nov. 25: 10 (Last four byes)
* Dec. 2: 8
* Dec. 9: 7
* Dec. 16: 5
* Dec. 23: 4
* Dec. 30: 4
* Jan. 6: 3
* Jan. 9: 3
* Jan. 13: 3
* Jan. 16: 2
* Jan. 20: 2
* Jan. 23: 2
* Jan. 27: 2
* Jan. 30: 2
* Feb. 3: 3
* Feb. 6: 2
* Feb. 10: 2
* Feb. 13: 3
* Feb. 17: 4
* Feb. 20: 4
* Feb. 24: 3
* Feb. 27: 3
* March 3: 3

For now, Lunardi has the third-seeded Huskers playing 14-seed UC Irvine in a first-round Midwest Region game at Oklahoma City.

ESPN recently had three writers each predict the winners of each conference tournament. UC Irvine (20-10, 13-5 Big West) was picked to win the Big West Tournament by one of the writers, Myron Medcalf.

Medcalf wrote: “If defense wins championships, UCI is on its way to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019 — and just its third overall as a Division I program. The 6-foot-10 Kyle Evans leads the nation in blocks (3.4 per game) and defends the paint for a squad ranked first nationally in defense inside the 3-point line.”

UC Irvine's Kyle Evans defends against Chattanooga forward Latif Diouf (23). | Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Nebraska-UC Irvine winner would play the winner of 6-seed North Carolina vs. the First Four winner between 11-seeds Indiana and New Mexico.

Midwest Region Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be played at Chicago’s United Center.

Big Ten teams in the Big Dance

Lunardi’s “Last Four Byes” are SMU, TCU, UCLA and Texas A&M.

Lunardi’s “Last Four In” are Santa Clara, Ohio State, New Mexico and Indiana, which is the last team in the field. These teams would play a First Four game.

The “First Four Out” are Auburn, San Diego State, VCU and Virginia Tech. These teams are ranked 69-to-72 and missed the cut for the 68-team field.

The “Next Four Out” are USC, California, West Virginia and Cincinnati.

Lunardi has 10 Big Ten teams — tied for the most of any conference with SEC with 10 — in his latest Bracketology (with seeding and projected first-round opponents in parentheses):

* Michigan (1 vs. winner of 16 Howard vs. 16 Bethune-Cookman)
* Illinois (2 vs. 15 East Tennessee State)
* Michigan State (2 vs. 15 Wright State)
* Purdue (3 vs. 14 Troy)
* Nebraska (3 vs. 14 UC Irvine)
* Wisconsin (7 vs. 10 Texas)
* Iowa (9 vs. 8 Saint Louis)
* UCLA (10 vs. 7 Utah State)
* Indiana (11 vs. 11 New Mexico in First Four; winner to play 6 North Carolina)
* Ohio State (11 vs. 11 Santa Clara in First Four; winner to play 6 Louisville)

Selection Sunday is March 15. The Final Four is April 4-6 in Indianapolis.

ESPN’s power rankings

Nebraska improved two spots to 15 in the latest ESPN College Basketball Power Index.

The projection for the Huskers’ wins and losses improved since Friday: 26.2 wins and 4.7 losses, from 25.9 wins and 5.1 losses. In the Big Ten, Nebraska’s projections improved to 15.3 wins and 4.7 losses from 14.9 wins and 5.1 losses.

Nebraska’s projection to win the Big Ten championship is now less than 0.1 percent. Last week it was 0.4 percent.

Four Big Ten teams are ranked ahead of Nebraska in ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index. Nebraska has defeated two of the teams ranked ahead of it, Illinois and Michigan State, and lost to Michigan, Illinois and Purdue.

* Michigan: 2
* Illinois: 6
* Purdue: 9
* Michigan State: 12
* Nebraska: 15

Duke (28-2) is the top-ranked team with Michigan (27-2) second, Arizona (28-2) third, Houston (24-5) fourth, and defending champion Florida (22-7) fifth.

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