Nebraska Men’s Basketball Stays a 3-Seed in Latest ESPN’s Bracketology, But Huskers’ Region Changes

Nebraska remained a 3-seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology projections, which were released Friday morning. But Bracketologist Joe Lunardi now has the Huskers playing in the Midwest Region. Throughout the season, Nebraska has been almost exclusively projected to the South Region.

Nebraska has three regular-season games remaining, and none will be easy. The Huskers are at USC on Saturday, at UCLA on Tuesday and finish the regular season at home against Iowa on Sunday, March 8. In the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the Huskers are ranked 12th.

Lunardi has UCLA and Iowa in the NCAA Tournament, and USC will be desperate as it is one of the “First Four Out” teams.

It is advantageous for the Huskers to avoid the 4-seed, which would put them in a possible Sweet 16 game against the No. 1 seed. Right now, Michigan is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest. The other projected No. 1 seeds: Duke, the overall top seed (East), UConn (South) and Arizona (West).

In the race for the four valuable triple byes in the Big Ten Tournament, Nebraska (24-4, 13-4 Big Ten) holds down one of the spots along with Michigan State and Illinois, each with four conference losses. Michigan, which has clinched a tie for the regular-season conference title, will have one of the triple byes.

Purdue has five conference losses and Wisconsin has six conference losses — meaning Nebraska needs to keep winning to secure its standing in the conference.

The Big Ten Tournament begins Tuesday, March 10 at Chicago’s United Center.

Nebraska’s remaining regular-season schedule:

* Saturday: at USC (18-9, 7-9), 3 p.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
* Tuesday: at UCLA (18-9, 10-6), 10 p.m. (FS1)
* Sunday, March 8: vs. Iowa (19-8, 9-7), 4 p.m. (Fox)

In CBS Sports’ Bracketology, dated Friday morning, Nebraska dropped from a 3-seed to a 4-seed. In CBS Sports’ projections, Nebraska would play 13-seed Liberty, also in the Midwest Region. The Nebraska-Liberty winner would play the winner of 5-seed Tennessee vs. 12-seed South Florida.

Huskers projected in Big Dance

Here are Nebraska’s last 23 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

For now, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the third-seeded Huskers playing 14-seed Navy, of the Patriot League, in a first-round Midwest Region game at Tampa. This is the second consecutive Bracketology where Nebraska plays Navy in the first round.

The Nebraska-Navy winner would play the winner of 6-seed North Carolina vs. the First Four winner between Auburn and TCU.

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

Big Ten teams in the Big Dance

The “Last Four Byes” are Georgia, Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas.

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

The “First Four Out” has a Big Ten flavor: Ohio State and USC, along with California and New Mexico.

The “Next Four Out” are VCU, Virginia Tech, Seton Hall and Cincinnati.

Lunardi has nine Big Ten teams — the second-most of any conference behind the SEC with 11 — in his latest Bracketology (with seeding and projected first-round opponents in parentheses):

* Michigan (1 vs. winner of 16 Morgan State vs. 16 Bethune-Cookman)
* Purdue (2 vs. 15 Wright State)
* Illinois (2 vs. 15 Merrimack)
* Nebraska (3 vs. 14 Navy)
* Michigan State (4 vs. 13 Stephen F. Austin)
* Wisconsin (7 vs. 10 Missouri)
* Iowa (8 vs. 9 UCF)
* UCLA (9 vs. 8 NC State)
* Indiana (11 vs. 11 Santa Clara in First Four; winner to play 6 Villanova)

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

ESPN’s power rankings

Nebraska improved two spots to 17 in the latest ESPN College Basketball Power Index.

The projection for the Huskers’ wins and losses remained the same since Tuesday: 25.9 wins and 5.1 losses. In the Big Ten, Nebraska’s projections remained the same: 14.9 wins and 5.1 losses.

Nebraska’s projection to win the Big Ten championship decreased slightly to 0.4 percent from 0.8 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: 13
* Nebraska: 17

Duke (26-2) is the top-ranked team with Michigan (26-2) second, Arizona (26-2) third, Houston (23-5) fourth, and defending champion Florida (22-6) fifth.

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