March Madness 2023: Reranking the remaining teams 1-32 after First Round
By Drew Koch
March Madness: Reranking the remaining teams 24-17
24. Creighton (No. 6 – South): NC State over Creighton was a popular pick in several March Madness brackets, but the Blue Jays advanced and will play the Baylor Bears this weekend. Creighton made only three triples against NC State, but the Wolfpack only his three from behind the arc as well.
23. Tennessee (No. 4 – East): Let’s be clear, without Zakai Ziegler, it seems very unlikely that the Volunteers are going to go deep into March. Rick Barnes’ club had Louisiana on lockdown by forcing nine steals, but the Vols turned the ball over 18 times themselves and almost took the L against the Ragin’ Cajuns.
22. TCU (No. 6 – West): The Horned Frogs narrowly escaped with a two-point win over Arizona State thanks in large part to only five miscues. The Sun Devils had been hot of late, but TCU was able to knock off ASU despite shooting 35.5-percentage and allowing Bobby Hurley’s team to knock down 47 percent from downtown.
21. Auburn (No. 9 – Midwest): Bruce Pearl’s group will be looking to take down No. 1 seed Houston after dispatching of No. 8 seed Iowa on Thursday. The Tigers looked very good in Round 1, and if Marcus Sasser isn’t healthy, another 1-seed could be headed home this weekend.
20. Kentucky (No. 6 – East): The Wildcats put the embarrassment of losing to No. 15 seed Saint Mary’s behind them and emerged victorious on Friday evening. Oscar Tshiebwe pulled down 25 boards in UK’s win over Providence.
19. Pittsburgh (No. 11 – Midwest): Jeff Capel has his team playing very well at the moment, and the Panthers held the Iowa State Cyclones to just 23 percent from the field and less than 10 percent from three. If Pitt keeps Xavier in check on Sunday, the Panthers will advance to the Sweet 16.
18. Florida Atlantic (No. 9 – East): The Owls outperformed the Tigers and will be moving on to play the story of the tournament so far in Fairleigh-Dickinson. Seeing as how FAU is a bit of a Cinderella team themselves, it’s doubtful that the Owls will look past the No. 16 on Sunday night.
17. Saint Mary’s (No. 5 – West): Another popular pick in a majority of NCAA Tournament brackets was VCU over Saint Mary’s. The Gaels overcame poor outside shooting to take down the Rams and will march on to play UConn.