The Friday Appraisal: Mid Majors and the #1 Seed

Welcome to the Friday Appraisal, where the Bracket Briefer covers several important college basketball questions. We'll also preview Saturday's most important games. First up, who do you got? Wichita State or San Diego State?

Lots of Extra Basketball in Portland, and Bad Losses for Pac-12 Bubble Teams

Despite a huge number of games on Thursday night, not many of them did much to change the landscape. For the vast majority of the games, heavily favored teams won as expected. A couple games were worth noting, however.

Bracket Brief for January 23, 2014

Seed	West (1) Anaheim (Th/Sa)	South (4) Memphis (Th/Sa)	East (2) NYC (Fr/Su)	Midwest (3) Indy (Fr/Su)
Site 1 16 8 9	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona N. Colorado Texas Gonzaga	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Wichita State Elon/UNC Ashe. Providence Colorado	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse NC Central George Washington SMU	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State R. Morris/Southern Oklahoma UCLA
Site 5 12 4 13	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Florida State Green Bay Wisconsin North Dakota State	San Diego (Fr/Su) Oklahoma State Harvard Pittsburgh Delaware	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Minnesota Louisiana Tech Iowa State Manhattan	Orlando (Th/Sa) Virginia Richmond/Arkansas Xavier Toledo
Site 3 14 6 11	Spokane (Th/Sa) Creighton New Mexico State Louisville New Mexico	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Iowa Mercer Kentucky Clemson/Oregon	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Michigan Stephen F. Austin Memphis Tennessee	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Cincinnati UC Irvine Massachusetts Baylor
Site 7 10 2 15	Spokane (Th/Sa) Ohio State California San Diego State American	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Connecticut VCU Kansas Georgia State	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Saint Louis Kansas State Villanova Vermont	Orlando (Th/Sa) Duke Stanford Florida Belmont

Note: Through games of January 22, 2014. Teams in italics below represent automatic bids. The rankings at the top of each column are based on the overall seeds of the top four teams, so the winner of the regional with the team seeded #1 overall would meet the winner of the regional with the team seeded #4 overall.

The Big Ten Is Becoming Easier to Figure Out

The Big Ten found itself sorted out a bit more after Wednesday night's game as Michigan began flexing its muscles and Wisconsin worked on its Ohio State impression. That and more in Tuesday night's recap.

Harvard Drops Shockingly; Home Teams Rule

I would lead with the ending to Texas/Kansas State if I were a highlight show, but this is a bracketology blog, where we're looking for the most drastic changes to the bracket each night. And tonight, you have to look towards Boston.

How to Destroy a #1 Seed, Creighton's Destruction of Villanova in Philly

Two major upsets occurred on Monday night, but the upsets couldn't have been more different. In the first game, we were shocked not by the upset but by the way it happened. In the second, we were shocked by the sheer downfall of a once solid team. That and more in Monday night's recap.

Conference USA's Marquee In-Season Game, and the Oregon Ducks Slide

Tonight, we got a little bit of clarity into the Conference USA race, and we found out that the Oregon Ducks are simply not the same team that started out winning its first 15 games this season. We'll look at those games and preview Monday's games.

Bracket Brief for January 19, 2014

Seed	West (1) Anaheim (Th/Sa)	South (4) Memphis (Th/Sa)	East (2) NYC (Fr/Su)	Midwest (3) Indianapolis (Fr/Su)
Site 1 16 8 9	San Diego (Fr/Su) Arizona Northern Colorado Kansas State SMU	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Michigan State Rob. Mor./Southern California Baylor	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Syracuse NC Central UCLA Harvard	Buffalo (Th/Sa) Villanova Elon/UNC Asheville Louisville George Washington
Site 5 12 4 13	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Creighton Clemson/VCU Iowa UC Santa Barbara	Spokane (Th/Sa) Cincinnati Providence Pittsburgh North Dakota State	San Diego (Fr/Su) Memphis New Mexico Oklahoma State Manhattan	San Antonio (Fr/Su) Virginia Tennessee/Stanford Minnesota Toledo
Site 3 14 6 11	Orlando (Th/Sa) Massachusetts New Mexico State Duke Colorado	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Iowa State Mercer Michigan North Carolina	Orlando (Th/Sa) Florida Stephen F. Austin Florida State Louisiana Tech	Raleigh (Fr/Su) Wisconsin Delaware Xavier Arkansas
Site 7 10 2 15	Spokane (Th/Sa) Texas Gonzaga San Diego State Vermont	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Kentucky Oregon Wichita State Georgia State	Milwaukee (Th/Sa) Oklahoma Connecticut Ohio State Boston U	St. Louis (Fr/Su) Saint Louis Green Bay Kansas Belmont

Note: Through games of January 18, 2014. Teams in italics below represent automatic bids. The rankings at the top of each column are based on the overall seeds of the top four teams, so the winner of the regional with the team seeded #1 overall would meet the winner of the regional with the team seeded #4 overall.