Arizona remains the top seed in the West in ESPN Bracketology posted by Joe Lunardi on Tuesday morning. Lunardi continues to have Michigan as the top overall seed. Arizona and Michigan have separated themselves as the clear top two teams nationally.
In the current update, Lunardi projects Arizona as the top seed in the West region against Vermont, who Lunardi predicts to be the America East Automatic qualifier. Arizona beat Vermont 80-51 in the 2003 NCAA Tournament in the only game between the programs.
Lunardi projects St. Mary's as the eighth seed and SMU as the ninth seed in the West Region. The winner of St. Mary's and SMU would play Arizona or Vermont in the second round. St. Mary's and SMU are projected to earn at-large berths based on where they are currently.
Nebraska is the projected fourth seed in the West and Florida fifth. On the bottom half of the projected West Regional bracket, Lunardi has Gonzaga as the second seed and Michigan State as the third seed as the other top teams.
Weekly Composite Rankings!
— Trilly Donovan (@trillydonovan) December 22, 2025
- Michigan continues to hold the top spot at the metrics sites
- The humans don't love Illinois as much as the computers do
- Iowa has the widest range of rankings pic.twitter.com/riWH1nsQGg
Baylor is the only other Big XII team that Lunardi projects in the West Regional. The Bears are projected to play Ohio State in the First Four in Dayton, with the winner advancing to play sixth seed St. John's in Buffalo.
Lunardi projects Michigan as the top overall team in his Bracketology, with Connecticut as the top seed in the East and Iowa State in the South. Arizona won 71-67 at Connecticut on November 19 and hosts Iowa State in their only regular season meeting on March 2.
Other Arizona opponents Lunardi projects in Bracketology are third seed Houston and fifth-seeded Texas Tech in the Midwest Region, third-seed Kansas and seventh-seeded Auburn in the East and third seed BYU and eighth-seeded UCLA in the South.