NBK Update: Bracket Week Friday

Well, well well. Look who decided to join us in the NBK. None other than the Saint Louis University Billikens! The Bills were the original inspiration for these fake conference standings, though they have been absent from them all year. SLU started the season at #142 and were more DNK than NBK. With Wednesday’s win at George Mason they extend their winning steak to four and move up to #70, squarely on our NBK radar. SLU plays St. Bonaventure today in a battle for the #4 seed and double-bye in the A-10 tournament.

Welcome also to Siena! The MAAC champions started the year at #244 and got off to a 3-4 start in conference play. The Saints turned it around and are riding a nine-game winning streak into the conference tournament.

Utah St. came back to beat Wyoming on Friday night for a spot in the Mountain West final against prohibitive favorite San Diego St., a likely #1 seed in the upcoming NCAAs no matter Saturday’s result. KenPom’s puts the Aggies chances of beating the Aztecs at 27%. Joey Brackets views this game as an all-or-nothing for the Aggies. Dig deep, Aggies.

Liberty struggled in both of their wins in the Atlantic Sun tourney, and will look to advance to the big dance when they take on Lipscomb on Sunday. It’s a home game for the Flames and they are an overwhelming favorite at 90%.

Belmont also reached the finals of their conference tournament, and will take on Murray St. on Saturday for Ohio Valley supremacy and the auto-bid. This one shapes up to be a dog fight, as the Bruins are only a 58% favorite over the Racers.

That lovable redhead Winthrop takes the prize this week for having the highest odds of advancing automatically. The Eagles take to their home floor on Sunday against surprising Hampton with a Big South title and big dance ticket on the line. KenPom puts their odds of winning at 91%.

Colgate won their opener in the Patriot League tourney, and are looking minty fresh going into the semifinal on Sunday. Wright St. also advanced to their semifinal, Monday night vs UIC.

North Texas stumbled this week, losing at Charlotte. They already had the CUSA title wrapped up and had little to gain.

NBK Standings through games of Friday 3/6/2020. Data courtesy of KenPom.com and Basketball Reference. Bracketology available on ESPN.com. Ken Pomeroy is publishing his Log5 results this year via Twitter. If a team has reached the championship of their conference tournament, we use KenPom’s game odds for their Tourney Odds.