Gonzaga was No. 1 overall in the revealing mock-up of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee on Saturday afternoon, eliminating the undefeated Baylor.
The Bulldogs and Bears have been at the top of 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 Assessment Tool (NET), in addition to almost every metric. Gonzaga has one more win in Quadrant 1 than Baylor, which gives the Zags the lead right now.
“To no one’s surprise, these two teams are considered the best of the best,” said Mitch Barnhart, athletics director at the University of Kentucky and chairman of the committee. “Gonzaga and Baylor have been dominant teams up to this point, and while there’s no reason to think this won’t continue, the beauty of college basketball is that anything can happen on a given night.”
Barnhart also said the margin at the top was “up to the razor.”
Joining Gonzaga and Baylor on the 1st league line joined the powers of the Big Ten Michigan and the state of Ohio. Another team from the Big Ten, Illinois, was the first team in the two-series line, followed by Villanova, Alabama and Houston.
The 3-seed line was led by Virginia, with West Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma just behind the Cavaliers.
They complete the revelation of the top 16 finishers: the 4 seeds: Iowa, Texas Tech, Texas and Missouri.
There were few surprises, with Wisconsin the only team missing from the top 16 teams that were on Joe Lunardi’s last seed list, in parentheses of the ESPN. In place of the badgers, in official parenthesis, was Oklahoma.
NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt told CBS that the states of Florida and USC were also considered to be in the top 16.
Gavitt added some notes on NCAA tournament protocols, saying the NCAA expects it may have “limited capacity” for fans.
He was asked about the consequences of a positive test, but said that a positive test “should not eliminate teams from the entire tournament, as long as they maintain physical distance and wear masks. The team should be able to follow safely. “
NCAA Media Coordination Director David Worlock said in a Twitter post that several details of the tournament have not yet been decided.
“Among the things that have yet to be determined / announced are the names of the four regions, details on possible attendances and contingency plans in case a team has COVID-related issues both before and after the tournament to start Madness “. Worlock wrote.
Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 14, and the first four of the NCAA tournament will take place on March 18.