Top seed Duke, second-seeded Alabama, third-seeded Wisconsin and fourth-seeded Arizona are rated significantly higher in the three major metric sites the ESPN Basketball Power Index, KenPom and the NCAA Net Ratings than the other 12 teams in the East Region.
Duke is the top team across the board nationally in the BPI, Evan Miya, Ken Pom and the NCAA Net Ratings. Houston is the top-rated team in Bart Torvik with Duke second. Alabama is the sixth overall seed by the NCAA and via the top three metric sites, but in the same region with Duke who is the second overall seed in the tournament.
Alabama is fifth in both Bart Torvik and Evan Miya. Arizona is the third highest-rated team in the metrics among the East Regional teams. The Wildcats are ninth in Bart Torvik and Evan Miya. The overall seedings have Arizona 16th for the lowest fourth seed. The non-conference struggles likely hurt Arizona.
Wisconsin who beat Arizona in Madison in November is 12th in Bart Torvik, 14th in Evan Miya and the 12th overall seed by the NCAA which makes them the lowest three seed. There is a significant dropoff from Wisconsin as the fourth highest-rated team in the East Region to Oregon.
Seed | Team | BPI | Ken Pom | Net Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Duke | 1 | 1 | 1 |
2 | Alabama | 6 | 6 | 6 |
3 | Wisconsin | 18 | 13 | 15 |
4 | Arizona | 9 | 14 | 12 |
5 | Oregon | 36 | 33 | 29 |
6 | BYU | 25 | 24 | 25 |
7 | Saint Mary's | 30 | 52 | 21 |
8 | Mississippi St. | 35 | 26 | 34 |
9 | Baylor | 19 | 29 | 30 |
10 | Vanderbilt | 55 | 48 | 48 |
11 | VCU | 34 | 34 | 31 |
12 | Liberty | 83 | 60 | 60 |
13 | Akron | 110 | 97 | 91 |
14 | Montana | 171 | 161 | 143 |
15 | Robert Morris | 168 | 138 | 139 |
16 | Mt. St. Mary's | 239 | 249 | 246 |
Going by the metric sites, BYU should be seeded ahead of Oregon, but strength of schedule and resume also matters. The numbers from St. Mary's vary widely between BPI, KenPom and the Net Ratings. Saint Mary's is 24th in Bart Torvik and 17th in Evan Miya.
Baylor is also higher than Mississippi State, but the Bears and Bulldogs flipping at eight and nine does not matter much as they play each other. VCU could arguably be ahead o Vanderbilt with significantly higher metric ratings. Vanderbilt has the 58th toughest schedule and VCU is 104th per the BPI.
Akron and Liberty's seeds match where their metric ratings are in the East Region. Robert Morris is significantly ahead of Montana in KenPom and the Net Ratings and has a slight edge in BPI. Mt. St. Mary's who earned a game versus Duke after beating American in the first round is clearly the 16th best team in East Region.