NCAA Bracketology Update: Teams Rising in Latest March Madness Forecast

Connecticut is in and Houston is out on the No. 1 line of the USA TODAY. The Cougars lost 70-67 against Iowa State on Monday night, according to the most recent bracketology.

The Huskies recovered their No. 1 seed after rebounding from a road loss to St. John’s with Big East victories over Butler and Georgetown. UConn has joined Michigan, Arizona, and Duke. This quartet has emerged from the pack with a combined 35-6 record in Quad 1 games.

Michigan has a big week coming up, as it travels to Purdue on Tuesday night and then plays Duke in Washington, D.C., this weekend.

Iowa State takes over as the top-rated No. 2 seed after winning its second high-profile Big 12 game in a straight, 74-56 over Kansas on Saturday.

Houston’s drop is one of several in the new bracket, which includes some of the Power Five’s biggest names.

The Jayhawks drop to a No. 3 seed after losing to Iowa State, wiping out some of the momentum from a scorching eight-game run that includes victories over the Cyclones, Brigham Young, Texas Tech, and Arizona.

Michigan State dropped to fourth place after losing three of four games. While two of those failures came against the Wolverines and Wisconsin, the Spartans’ résumé is dinged by an unsightly road loss versus Minnesota. The Gophers are 4-10 in Big Ten games and 86th in the NET standings.