After 33 days of college basketball games, Jerry Palm has released his first updated bracketology since before the season began on November 13th. Palm was pretty bullish on Providence and had placed the Friars as a 9 seed in his preseason bracket. With the Friars off to a 10-1 start over those 33 days, Palm is even higher on Ed Cooley’s bunch than Joe Lunardi, who has Providence as a 5 seed in his latest release of Bracket Math. Palm also calls for 5 Big East teams to be in his field of 68.

Providence

The Friars are off to their best start in 27 years and Palm seems to like Providence almost halfway through the season. Palm has the Friars as a 3 seed in the South region facing off against 14th-seeded Cal State Bakersfield. That 6 line move from being a 9 seed is a massive jump for Providence and only Chattanooga moved up more seed lines (7) than the Friars. Michigan State also had a 6 line jump from 7 to 1 with their impressive start.

The Rest of the Big East

Palm had 5 Big East teams in the field of 68 in his preseason bracket and that number hasn’t changed. Xavier gets top billing for Palm. He likes the Musketeers as a 2 seed. Next up is Butler and Villanova on the 4 seed line with the Wildcats playing their opening round game in Providence. Seton Hall brings up the rear as a 12 seed playing a play-in game as part of the “Last Four In” group.

Providence’s Non-Con Opponents

Michigan State made a major jump up in Palm’s first in-season bracket release. The Spartans moved up 6 seed lines from 7 to 1, which makes sense as they are ranked #1 in the nation in both polls right now. Arizona slid down a line from 3 to 4 in Palm’s latest bracket.

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Mike Hopkins

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