ESPN’s Joe Lunardi revealed his updated bracketology projection on Thursday afternoon following mid-week action in the SEC on Wednesday night.
The most consequential update in Lunardi’s newest projection is that Auburn, which lost to Oklahoma in Norman on Tuesday night, is now firmly on the bubble as one of Lunardi’s “Last Four In.” If the regular season ended today, Lunardi would be projecting Auburn to head to Dayton for a play-in game.
As it stands, Auburn is still projected to make the NCAA Tournament — giving the SEC 11 teams in Lunardi’s Field of 68. However, Auburn is far from the only SEC team perilously close to Lunardi’s bubble entering weekend.
Georgia moved to the “Last Four Byes” section after its mid-week loss to Vanderbilt. Missouri, Texas A&M and Texas are also each in that section, with the Aggies and Longhorns having lost on Wednesday evening.
Prediction markets like Kalshi have already posted markets for whether or not some of these SEC programs will end up making it to the Round of 64:
Elsewhere in Lunardi’s projection, Florida and Alabama are currently on pace to land top-4 seeds while Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee are on the cusp of getting into that group.
Here’s a look at Lunardi’s full March Madness projection as of Feb. 26:
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
