A unique NCAA Tournament is ready to get underway, and the bracket is complete following Sunday’s Selection Show on CBS. The entire tournament will take place over 19 days in the state of Indiana, and instead of starting with the First Four on Tuesday, the tournament will get underway on Thursday.
Gonzaga, the first team to enter the tournament unbeaten in six years, is the overall No. 1 seed. The Bulldogs are joined on the top seed line by Baylor, Illinois and Michigan, with Alabama, Houston, Ohio State and Iowa as the No. 2 seeds.
Left Out
Every year on Selection Sunday, one of the main storylines is about the teams who didn’t make the tournament. The difference this year is that the four teams who just missed out have been put on standby.
Louisville, Colorado State, Saint Louis and Ole Miss could still make the bracket if any of the 68 teams in the field are unable to compete due to COVID-19.
All 68 teams have until Tuesday night to tell the NCAA if they need to withdraw from the tournament. If that happens, the four teams on standby will take their place. Any team that withdraws after Wednesday will hand their opponent a forfeit.
Getting Healthy
Two teams the NCAA is worried about are Kansas and Virginia. The Jayhawks are the No. 3 seed in the West region, while the Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed in the same region. Both teams had to withdraw from their respective conference tournaments because of positive COVID-19 tests over the weekend.
Kansas coach Bill Self told media that the team is traveling to Indiana without three players, while Virginia is waiting to travel, as most of the roster is in quarantine. Kansas is scheduled to play Eastern Washington in the first round, while Virginia will go against Ohio. Both games are scheduled for Saturday.
Last Four Teams In
The last four teams selected for the tournament will play in the First Four games on Thursday. This year’s matchups feature Drake and Wichita State in one matchup and Michigan State against UCLA in the other.
The Drake-Wichita State winner will face No. 6 seed USC in the first round, while the Michigan State-UCLA winner will face No. 6 seed BYU.
Syracuse and Utah State were the other No. 11 seeds as the last two at-large selections. Oregon State and Georgetown both stole bids over the weekend when they surprisingly won the Pac-12 and Big East tournaments, respectively.
Blue Bloods Not Selected
This will be the first NCAA Tournament without either Duke or Kentucky since 1976. Duke also opted out of the NIT after withdrawing from the ACC tournament on Friday with COVID-19 concerns.
The Blue Devils ended the season at 13-11, missing the tournament for the first time since 1995.
Kentucky crashed out of the SEC tournament in the first round with a 74-73 loss to Mississippi State. The Wildcats finished the season 9-16 and missed the tournament for the first time since 2013.
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