If you are a bracket geek -- guilty, your honor -- it is pretty cool to construct a projected field that isn't all about Duke, Kentucky, Kansas or the other usual suspects. The elevation of San Diego State, then, to the top line of our latest bracket certainly qualifies as pretty cool.
The Aztecs are more than deserving. As the nation's last remaining unbeaten, they have steamrollered a good schedule, sitting at 19-0 overall (8-0 in the Mountain West) and, perhaps most impressively, 9-0 in road games and neutral-court contests.
What do BYU, Iowa and Creighton have in common? All will play in the NCAA tournament in March and all are nonconference victims of San Diego State. The Aztecs won in Provo, a rare occurrence for any road team, beat Iowa by double digits in Las Vegas and absolutely blasted Creighton 83-52 in the same Nevada event.
This is a very good team that has come upon an incredible opportunity. Analytically, no one in the country is close to the same level as recent national champions Villanova (2018) or Virginia (2019), much less Kentucky's 38-1 juggernaut of 2014-15. The door is open for a "surprise" national champion and virtually nonexistent for party crashers to the Final Four.
Why not San Diego State?
The Aztecs are lockdown defenders (10th in adjusted defensive efficiency) and better than you might think offensively (32nd), and they boast the kind of lead guard in 6-foot-1 Washington State transfer Malachi Flynn who can turn a tight, tourney-time game. They also are strong favorites to win all of their remaining regular-season games, which could mean a tidy 29-0 mark heading to the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas.
But the really cool thing about all this is another bracket-geek occurrence. Yes, the Aztecs are a No. 1 seed in the new projection. But they are not the No. 1 seed in the West, as top-ranked Gonzaga has -- for now -- claimed that spot. With Baylor at the top of the South bracket and Kansas atop the Midwest, San Diego State is on the first line of the East Region. As in E-A-S-T.
This is Bracketology history, people. The East's top seed might not be an ACC team or a Big East team or even a spillover Big Ten entry, but an interloper from the Mountain W-E-S-T. Never seen it before and might never see it again, but you'd have to agree it is really cool.
Other bracket bullets for Tuesday:
• Almost as impressive as the Aztecs are the Dayton Flyers (16-2, 5-0 Atlantic 10). Led by Wooden Award candidate Obi Toppin, the Flyers rise to a No. 2 seed this week. This is heady territory for one of the nation's most passionate and knowledgeable fan bases, who last tasted the Final Four in 1967 -- as the first of seven straight runners-up to champion UCLA!
• Butler's fall from a No. 1 seed was less than graceful. The Bulldogs lost at home to Seton Hall, which wasn't bad, and then by 13 at DePaul, which was. Currently a 3-seed, Butler is now closer to being a No. 4 than a No. 2. There will be no return trip to the top line, it appears.
• Can't really explain how Oregon, with the nation's second-best Quadrant 1 win total and a neutral-court victory over Seton Hall, sits on the four line. You would think Washington State is the Ducks' only bad defeat, but then you realize falling to North Carolina in the Bahamas was a loss to the last-place team in the ACC. Yuck.
• OVERRATED (by the polls): Louisville, Villanova, Memphis, Texas Tech, Illinois.
• UNDERRATED (by the polls): Arkansas, Creighton, Marquette, Florida, Southern California.
• BRACKET SPECIALS: Florida at LSU (Tuesday), Penn State at Michigan (Wednesday), Southern California at Oregon (Thursday), Belmont at Murray State (Thursday), Northern Kentucky at Wright State (Friday).