Bracketologies: Maryland Moves Up to Six Seed Status

For the past several weeks, Maryland fans have considered the 6 seed to be the Holy Grail of the NCAA seeding, setting up Maryland perfectly for a Sweet 16 run. Guess what? Right now, it's yours.

Monday, which is apparently "Everyone Update Your Brackets" day, has brought good news. Joe Lunardi moved Maryland to a 6 against Marquette with Vanderbilt being the potential second round matchup. Rush the Court also has Maryland as a 6, against Old Dominion. SBN's own Chris Dobbertean, too, has Maryland as a 6. Heck, CHN has Maryland as a five seed, though that might be pushing it right now.

If you were wondering "why is six so important?", it quite simply avoids having to play a 1 or 2 seed in the second round, making that Sweet 16 appearance everyone is so hungry for all the more possible. As an added bonus, it avoids having to play a 1 seed if they do make it all the way to the Sweet 16.

With the six seed secured for the moment, one begins to wonder how high Maryland could realistically climb. The way this team is playing, it seems that a 5 is certainly within reach and even a 4 isn't improbable should they knock off Duke. And hey, if all breaks right, even a three wouldn't be out of the question. A Duke win in either the upcoming game or the ACC championship game, should Maryland end up there, would probably be necessary, but it doesn't seem impossible right now.

Of course, dropping several spots is also possible, though at this point they'd probably have to be blown out by Duke to drop; play well, and people will take into account the opponent. Losing to Virginia would also do the trick, but the Hoos are crashing hard, and no longer even have ACC tournament hopes. That hasn't stopped them in the past, but that just doesn't seem likely right now. So, barring a surprise, a 6 is a probability and a 4 or 5 a possibility.

Whether or not you want a 4 or 5, though, is up to you. As one commenter astutely pointed out, it might actually be better to have a 6 than a 5 and avoid a 1 seed altogether. It's unconventional, but its that type of thinking that goes places. That said, I don't think anyone would have a problem with moving up to a 3 seed, should they have such a strong a finish as we believe possible.

Oh, and Duke is now on the top line of almost every bracket. As if we needed more hype for Wednesday's throwdown.