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Gerry Broome/Associated Press

Duke is No. 1 in the AP poll, No. 1 in the NET rankings and No. 1 in the KenPom rankings, but are the Blue Devils the projected No. 1 overall seed for the 2019 NCAA tournament?

You'll have to find out for yourself, but we can tell you that they are on the top seed line along with Kansas, Michigan and Virginia. At the opposite end of the spectrum, NCAA tournament regulars like Arizona, Maryland, Notre Dame and Providence are living perilously on the bubble as we dive headlong into conference play.

For the first time this season, we're really digging into the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings. The data is still a little funky, suggesting that Houston is the fourth-best team in the country while Kansas, Nevada and Virginia Tech are outside the top 10. However, it's a lot better than it used to be, and it's improving by the day.

In the interest of full disclosure, we will be viewing the NET rankings in the exact same light that we used to view the RPI, assuming the selection committee will do roughly the same. The only difference is we believe the metrics behind the new rating system are better. In other words, we'll still be talking about "Group" wins and comparing nitty-gritty sheets just like in previous years—as well as incorporating predictive analytics like KenPom.

For each of the four regions, we'll discuss one team that is in much better shape than it was in our Dec. 11 projections and one team that—though still in position to dance—isn't as good as we thought.

Before that, we'll start with the bubble, like we always do. And after the region-by-region breakdown, there will be an explanation of why the No. 1 seeds are ranked in the order that they are. At the end is a list of overall seeds by conference as a handy reference guide.