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Hello friends, and welcome to the first February edition of Bracketology at ClutchPoints! To kick things off today — pun intended — I'd like to talk about the Kansas City Chiefs, who are one game away from their third consecutive Super Bowl championship, and the UConn Huskies, who are ranked 19th in the country and were one game away from being out of the AP Top 25 poll altogether heading into the weekend.
The Huskies, like the Chiefs, came into the season playing for a third straight title, but I'll be honest, when I initially planned on using this space to talk about these two teams, I was fully expecting that UConn would be fresh off of a loss to Marquette on Saturday night. Although I couldn't be more pleased that my Huskies scored an impressive W over a top ten opponent on the road, this actually highlights the point I was planning on making here.
There is no air of invisibility with the 2024-25 UConn Huskies. They've notably had their struggles in close games, and as Marquette chipped away at a big lead on Saturday night, it felt like I was bound to be disappointed once again at game's end. The Chiefs, on the other hand, continue to feel inevitable. Time and time again, Kansas City has out-executed their opponents down the stretch of games, to the point where it's not even a surprise when they win on a play that feels fluky, like a blocked field goal. It's just proof that no team in sports is built to win like the Chiefs are.
“They’ve got a culture that screams at you. Because of the combination of the head coach (Andy Reid), quarterback (Patrick Mahomes) — it’s never enough for them,” said UConn head coach Dan Hurley, per Shreyas Laddha of the Kansas City Star. “Everything with the Chiefs right now, everything is automatic — the execution, the players understanding their roles, levels of accountability, the culture, the type of player they want and the type of player they bring in.”
Now the Chiefs do have a built-in advantage on their quest for the three-peat that UConn didn't. The Chiefs returned their head coach, quarterback, and the vast majority of their contributors from a team that won the Super Bowl last year. UConn on the other hand returned one starter (Alex Karaban) and are banking on big contributions from guys who played minor roles on last year's team, or guys who weren't there at all. There is an acclimation process in Storrs that was unnecessary in Kansas City.
Does that mean that UConn isn't going to make a deep tournament run this year? Not necessarily. A road win over a really solid Marquette squad, plus wins over Baylor, Texas and Gonzaga paint a picture of a team that could absolutely make a run to the Final Four. Does that mean the Chiefs are going to defeat the Eagles on Super Bowl Sunday? Well, I'll save that prediction for a little later in this column. For now, let's get to our latest Bracketology update.
Bracketology Bracket
Bracketology Breakdown
Top Seeds: Auburn Tigers (South Region), Duke Blue Devils (East Region), Alabama Crimson Tide (Midwest Region), Houston Cougars (West Region)
Multi-Bid Leagues: ACC (4), Big 12 (8), Big East (5), Big Ten (9), Mountain West (3), SEC (13), WCC (2)
Bracketology Bubble Watch
Last Four Byes: Georgia, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio State
Last Four In: San Diego State, Xavier, BYU, SMU
First Four Out: Nebraska, UCF, Pittsburgh, North Carolina
Next Four Out: Indiana, VCU, Wake Forest, Arkansas
Seven Most Intriguing Games of the Week
This may be the most stacked week of conference play thus far this season, so for that reason, we're expanding the slate from five games to seven games. Why just two more when I could've easily added eight additional matchups, including Arizona at BYU, Kentucky at Ole Miss, Oregon at Michigan, or Duke at Clemson? Well, my Super Bowl pick is Chiefs 29, Eagles 27, so in honor of that two-point victory, I've added two additional games.
Tuesday February 4th (FS1, 6:30 PM ET) – Marquette at St. John's
Wednesday February 5th (SEC Network, 7 PM ET) – Missouri at Tennessee
Friday February 7th (FOX, 8 PM ET) – St. John's at UConn
Saturday February 8th (FOX, Noon ET) – Oregon at Michigan State
Saturday February 8th (FOX, 2 PM ET) – Marquette at Creighton
Saturday February 8th (ESPN, 4 PM ET) – Florida at Auburn
Saturday February 8th (ESPN, 10 PM ET) – Texas Tech at Arizona
And One!
Unofficially, I've made a prediction in this piece already — Chiefs 29, Eagles 27 — so instead of making another prediction here in the And One! section of Bracketology, I'll instead take a victory lap on a prediction I made back on January 6th. A month ago, I predicted that the Arizona Wildcats, who were out of the field at the time, would be a 9-seed by mid-February. Sure, February 4th may not be mid-February, but this one's already in the bag.
Since I made that prediction, the Wildcats have won seven of eight games, with victories over the likes of West Virginia, UCF, Baylor, and Iowa State, and now suddenly, Arizona is a 6th-seed in my Bracketology projections, a 5th-seed in Bracket Matrix, and they're tied atop the Big 12 standings with new 1-seed Houston. So yeah, like I said, it's in the bag.
Past And One! Predictions
11/24/24 – I'll eat way too much food on Thanksgiving (CORRECT)
12/2/24 – The Big 12 will win the Big East-Big 12 Battle (CORRECT) and the SEC will win the ACC-SEC Challenge (CORRECT)
12/12/24 – At least nine of those 12 SEC teams in the December 12th Bracketology field will be victorious over the weekend (CORRECT)
12/16/24 – Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State will win in the opening round of the College Football Playoff (CORRECT)
12/23/24 – Penn State, Texas, Oregon and Notre Dame will win in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff (INCORRECT)
1/2/25 – Florida and Tennessee will both secure SEC wins over the weekend over Kentucky and Arkansas respectively (INCORRECT)
1/6/25 – By mid-February, Arizona will be considered at least a 9-seed by not only myself, but by my fellow Bracketologists as well (CORRECT)
1/13/25 – Tom Izzo and the Michigan State Spartans will win their first Big Ten regular season title since 2020 (TBD)
1/20/25 – The Notre Dame Basketball Team will have a better week than the Ohio State Basketball Team (INCORRECT)
1/27/25 – Saint Mary's will defeat Gonzaga (CORRECT)
