NBK 2023: Selection Sunday Morning

Before we get into the NBK update, congratulations to lemasteb for Outwitting, Outplaying, Outlasting all others in Rush the Court’s College Basketball Survivor pool. Best CBB pool on the internet. Pick two teams from the top six conferences to win all their games that week, then you can’t use them again the rest of the season. Be sure to sign up next November.

SATURDAY
Utah St took San Diego St to the final minutes but fell in the end to the Aztecs 62-57. San Diego St continues its hegemony in the most NBK-friendly conference of late: the Mountain West. Computers still like the Aggies and they seem to be reasonably well-positioned in that First Four Byes range.


Florida Atlantic beat UAB soundly 78-56 to take the Conference USA tournament title and automatic bid. They did not need it to get in. FAU and fellow NBKer Charleston are going to be lumped together in talking head circles in the days to come — with identical 31-3 records and coming from the ranks of the unknown — but FAU will be thrown into the 8/9 fray while Charleston lurks in the seed equivalent of the dunker spot as a 12-seed. Good spots for both, from where we sit.


Iona struggled to rid themselves of Marist, as still more blood drained from the head of soon-to-be-St-Johns-coach(?) Rick Pitino in the process. The Gaels needed this one to get in, and they got the job done 76-55. They will be an underdog but will not sneak up on anyone, as Pitino will be in the news all week.


Toledo fell to Kent St, in one that hurts real bad at the NBK central office. The Rockets were riding a 19-game win streak, having run the table since a loss to — you guessed it — Kent St back in January. And not only have they Never Been Kissed, Toledo has never even gotten to hold hands. Their last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 1980, the days of Pee Wee Lenard and Prince Bridges. Shake it off and come back strong next year, Rockets. We’ll save you a spot.


Vermont handled UMass Lowell and will renew their pursuit of a Sweet Sixteen berth once again next week. They got a little projected-seed bump as well with some upsets from above.

SELECTION SUNDAY
Yale (58%) at Princeton – 11 AM CDT

Only one NBKer game – here’s the full slate for Sunday:

Selection Sunday slate of games per KenPom.com FanMatch(TM) ($)

Behold! Our final Never Been Kissed rankings on the morning of Selection Sunday. In years past we’ve tweaked the formula for the pre-Selection-Show edition, shuffling the teams around based on Most Favorable Projected Seed versus KenPom Rank. This year we don’t have time for that, so we’ll stick with KenPom Rank and Bracketology status as our key metrics.

NBK standings as of the morning of Selection Sunday. KenPom rankings through Saturday 3/11/2023. KenPom Conf Tourney odds via Ken’s Twitter, until the conference championship game, where they are the KenPom odds ($) of winning that showdown (Princeton) . ESPN Bracketology as of 3/12/2023 at 2:45 AM EDT.

Data courtesy Kenpom.com and ESPN Bracketology and ESPN Bubble Watch ($) and NCAA.com