Western Region
Gonzaga, seed number 1, is the first team to enter the undefeated NCAA men’s tournament since Kentucky in 2014-15, and the Zags have a legitimate chance to become the first undefeated national champion since Indiana ended 32-0 in the 1975-76 season.
Gonzaga is 26-0 after beating Brigham Young to win the West Coast Conference championship on Tuesday. The Zags have a free and fast attack and let the good shot pass by the great. But although Gonzaga has beaten Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa and Virginia, he has not faced an opponent outside the West Coast Conference since December.
Other teams to watch: No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Kansas, No. 4 Virginia, No. 7 Oregon, No. 12 UC Santa Barbara
South region
No. 1 Baylor had the best start in the program’s history, with 18 consecutive victories, and won the title of the 12 big ones of the regular season for the first time. The last time Bears won a conference title was in 1950 as a co-champion and in 1948 as the absolute winner. The proficiency of Baylor – who led the league in 3-point shots this season – may help to reverse his difficulties these days.
Other teams to watch: No. 5 Villanova, No. 7 Florida, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 10 Virginia Tech
Midwest region
No. 1 Illinois will be playing in his first NCAA tournament since 2013. His race in the Big Ten tournament, which he won with an overtime victory against Ohio State on Sunday night, was the work of a team that felt rejected: the Fighting Illini are angry the winning percentage model, approved months ago, that gave Michigan the title of the Big Ten of the regular season. Unfortunately for other conferences, Illinois may now be looking to ease some frustrations in its teams.
Other teams to watch: No. 2 Houston, No. 3 West Virginia, No. 12 Oregon State
Eastern Region
No. 1 Michigan he was 19-3 entering the Big Ten tournament, despite having spent 23 days between games, when the university’s sports department shut down all sports for three weeks due to problems with the coronavirus. In his second season, coach Juwan Howard guided the Wolverines to their first place in the NCAA tournament since 1993, when he played on a team that reached consecutive NCAA championship games.
Other teams to watch: No. 2 Alabama, No. 5 Colorado, No. 15 Iona
The women’s key will be announced on Monday on a selection program that will air at 7 pm on ESPN. The usual elite teams will be there – but others have a real chance of winning a championship this year.
First-rate programs have once again governed the season. Six of the top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll won at least one title; only two never made it to a Final Four.
But the high ratings of perennial competitors like Stanford, Baylor, Louisville and, yes, UConn obscure the fact that there is much more level playing field at the top of the game than years ago, as evidenced by the split votes for the No. 1 spot.
UConn is the only team in the top 25 with only one loss, but the Huskies played a relatively easy schedule. Among their top peers, there is no clear favorite, which sets the stage for fierce Elite Eight clashes.
You don’t have to be a college basketball expert. But you need to read the rules of the pool carefully.
If it’s an old school pool that gives you the same number of points, no matter which team you choose, you’ll want to stick with the favorites. Don’t be smart with UC Santa Barbara or Liberty. There is no reason to; the reward is simply not worth the risk.
But if the pool grants bonus points for surprises, you will have to follow a completely different direction. Now you want to choose long moves in the first rounds; in fact, you must do this in order to have any chance of winning.
The number of players in the pool can have a big effect. If the pool is just you and a handful of friends, choose all the favorites. But the best bet for a bigger pool is to mix your choices up a bit when you’re in the final eight. And when choosing your eventual winner, it can be beneficial for you not to go with the team that everyone else in your group likes.
The male key may be discarded, but it will not freeze until 6 pm Eastern time on Tuesday – a permission for the virus to harm one team’s hopes while giving another team a chance to play for the championship.
The rules vary depending on the home conference of an affected team.
If a team plays in a league that has only one team in the tournament, the conference can choose its replacement. The new team will assume the position in the key of the team that it replaced.
If a team belongs to a league that has won several tournament bids, four teams – Louisville, Colorado State, St. Louis and Mississippi – will be waiting to replace them in the same key position. Substitute teams that do not qualify for the NCAA men’s tournament can play in the National Invitation Tournament as No. 1 seed.
As soon as the deadline ends on Tuesday, no new teams will be added to the men’s or women’s tournament keys. When the tournament is underway, if a team does not have at least five healthy and eligible players to start a game, the game will be classified as non-competitive, moving the opponent into the next round.
Duke and Kentucky have combined to win three championships since 2010, but for the first time since 1976, when the field had only 32 teams, none of them will be on the field this year.
Kentucky’s season came to a merciful end last Thursday, when the Wildcats lost to the State of Mississippi in the SEC tournament. This happened about two hours after Duke announced that his season was over, after a member of the program tested positive for the coronavirus.
Two other traditional blue bloods, Kansas and North Carolina, also had frustrating seasons, but won bidding in tournaments, Kansas as the third seed in the west and North Carolina as the eighth seed in the south.
Kansas and another major team, Virginia, withdrew from their conference tournaments last week because of coronavirus cases, questioning whether they would be able to participate in the NCAA tournament. Virginia is the 4th planted in the West region.
As in recent years, the men’s tournament matches will be broadcast on CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. The official way to broadcast the tournament is through the NCAA’s March Madness Live app, which requires login via a TV provider. (The Paramount + app will also feature games broadcast on CBS.)
Women’s tournament matches will be broadcast on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2 and ESPNU and can be streamed on the ESPN app.
Here is the round-by-round schedule:
Men’s Tournament
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Play-in games: Thursday, March 18
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Round 64: Friday, March 19, and Saturday, March 20
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Round 32: Sunday, March 21 and Monday, March 22
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Round 16: Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28
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Round 8: Monday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 30
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Final four: Saturday, April 3
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Championship match: Monday, April 5
Women’s Tournament
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Round 64: Sunday, March 21 and Monday, March 22
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Round 32: Tuesday, March 23 and Wednesday, March 24
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Round 16: Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28
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Round 8: Monday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 30
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Final Four: Friday, April 2
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Championship match: Sunday, April 4
To reduce travel, most of the men’s tournaments will be played in Indianapolis, where Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indiana Farmers Coliseum and Lucas Oil Stadium will host the games. The teams will also play at Mackey Arena, on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, and at Assembly Hall, which is at Indiana University in Bloomington.
For the women’s tournament, teams will play at three locations in San Antonio: the Alamodome, the Bill Greehey Arena at St. Mary’s University and the Convocation Center at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Texas State University will have first-round games at the University Events Center in San Marcos, as well as the Frank Erwin Center at the University of Texas in Austin.