Gonzaga was No. 1 overall in the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee simulation key revealed on Saturday afternoon, eliminating the undefeated Baylor.
The Bulldogs and Bears have been at the top of the ranking since the first week of the season, and they are the two unbeaten teams that remain in college basketball. They are also the two main teams of the NCAA Assessment Tool (NET), as well as almost all metrics. Gonzaga has another victory in Quadrant 1 than Baylor, giving the Zags the advantage 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 so far and although there is no reason to think that this will not continue, the beauty of college basketball is that anything can happen on any given night.”
Barnhart also said that the top margin was “thin as a razor”.
Joining Gonzaga and Baylor on the 1-seed line were the ten great powers of Michigan and the state of Ohio. Another Big Ten team, Illinois, was the first team in the 2-seed row, followed by Villanova, Alabama and Houston.
The 3-seed line was led by Virginia, with West Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma right behind the Cavaliers.
Completing the top 16 revealed were 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 the most recent seed list by ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. In the Badgers’ place at the official revelation was Oklahoma.
NCAA senior vice president of basketball, Dan Gavitt, said on CBS that the State of Florida and the USC were also strongly considered to be among the top 16.
Gavitt added some notes on the NCAA tournament protocols, saying that the NCAA hopes to have “limited capacity” for fans.
He was asked about the ramifications of a positive test, but said that a positive test “should not eliminate teams from the entire tournament, as long as they maintain their physical distance and wear masks. The team must be able to move forward safely. “
NCAA’s director of media coordination, David Worlock, said in a post on Twitter that several details of the tournament have yet to be decided.
“Among the things yet to be determined / announced are the names of the four regions, details on possible attendance and contingency plans in the event that a team has problems related to COVID before the start of the tournament and after the start of March Madness,” Worlock wrote.
Selection Sunday is scheduled for March 14, with the First Four of the NCAA tournament taking place on March 18.