Welcome back to Sports Illustrated’s Magic Eight! With 25 days until Selection Sunday, it’s time to lock in some picks for what will happen once the calendar flips to March. The annual goal of the Magic Eight is simple: Identify the eight teams that can win the national championship and separate the contenders from the pretenders in the process.
My colleague Molly Geary did an admirable job last season. Among her Magic Eight were three of the four Final Four teams (including champion Baylor and runner-up Gonzaga), while just one of her “notable omissions” even reached the Elite Eight.
And in case you’re new to the Magic Eight, there are some rules. At least one of the eight has to come from outside the top 15 of the current AP poll and two have to come from outside the top eight in the poll. That means some tough cuts! Here’s who made my cut and who came up just short.
