Gonzaga was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA basketball selection committee’s mock bracket reveal Saturday afternoon, knocking out undefeated Baylor.
The Bulldogs and Bears have topped the rankings since the first week of the season and are the last two undefeated teams left in college basketball. They are also the top two teams in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), as well as nearly every metric. Gonzaga has one more Quadrant 1 win than Baylor, giving the Zags a lead at the moment.
“It should come as no surprise that these two teams are considered the best of the best,” said Mitch Barnhart, athletics director at the University of Kentucky and chair of the committee. “Gonzaga and Baylor have been dominant teams so far, and while there is no reason to think this will not happen, the great thing about college basketball is that anything can happen on any given night.”
Barnhart also said the margin at the top was “paper thin.”
With Gonzaga and Baylor on the 1st seed line came Big Ten powers of Michigan and Ohio State. Another Big Ten team, Illinois, was the top team on the 2 seed line, followed by Villanova, Alabama and Houston.
The three-seed line was led through Virginia, with West Virginia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma just behind the Cavaliers.
The top 16 reveal was rounded off with the 4 seeds: Iowa, Texas Tech, Texas and Missouri.
There were few surprises, with Wisconsin being the only team missing from the top 16 teams on ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest seed list. Oklahoma had been revealed in place of the badgers in the official bracket.
NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said on CBS that Florida State and USC were also highly regarded as being included in the top 16.
Gavitt added a few comments about NCAA tournament protocols, saying the NCAA hoped it could have “limited capacity” for fans.
He was asked about the consequences of a positive test, but said a positive test “shouldn’t eliminate teams from the entire tournament as long as they keep physical distance and wear masks. The team must be able to proceed safely.”
NCAA Director of Media Coordination David Worlock said in a Twitter post that several tournament details have yet to be decided.
Among things yet to be determined / announced are the names of the four regions, details of potential attendance and contingency plans in case a team has COVID-related issues both prior to the start of the tournament and after March Madness begins , ” Worlock wrote
Selection Day is scheduled for March 14, with the first four of the NCAA tournament on March 18.