Selection Sunday winners and losers: Contrasting fortunes for No. 1 seeds
At long last, we have a bracket. March Madness pools are open. Matchups are being dissected. Final Four paths are being sketched out. And some look far more straightforward than others.
Selection Sunday served up very few surprises at the top. But within the bracket, there are imbalances throughout. And nowhere are those imbalances more stark than on the No. 1 seed line.
Here are the winners and losers of the NCAA tournament bracket reveal, starting with Gonzaga, and continuing below with two other top seeds that could struggle to win their regions.
Selection Sunday winners
Gonzaga | Seed: 1 | Region: West
Gonzaga absolutely earned a kind draw. But not every top seed who earns one gets one. And the Bulldogs got a dream draw:
A No. 2 seed they've already beaten by double digits
No. 3 and 4 seeds with COVID-19 issues
Nothing even remotely resembling a potential roadblock in the second round or Sweet 16
The Zags were already going to be a popular Final Four pick before Selection Sunday. Now they should be an overwhelmingly popular one.
Purdue | Seed: 4 | Region: South
The Boilermakers got a gift in the form of a potential second-round matchup with Villanova, who, in its last four games:
Lost to 10-15 Butler
Lost starting point guard Collin Gillsepie to an MCL tear
Scored 52 points in a loss at Providence
Lost to Georgetown in its Big East tournament opener
That gives Purdue a relatively clean path to the Sweet 16. And once there, Baylor – the top seed in the South – isn't the juggernaut it was earlier this season.
Syracuse | Seed: 11 | Region: Midwest
Not only did 'Cuse get in. It avoided a play-in game, and found itself staring at an Elite Eight path that's about as undemanding as a No. 11 seed could possibly imagine. San Diego State is beatable in the first round. West Virginia, the likely second-round opponent, is the weakest of the No. 3 seeds. And Houston is the weakest of the No. 2s.
West Virginia | Seed: 3 | Region: Midwest
The Mountaineers could also be considered a winner. Most bracketologists had them slotted in as a No. 4. They jumped a seed line, and have a similar Elite Eight path to Syracuse's.
Selection Sunday losers
Michigan | Seed: 1 | Region: East
Michigan's Big Ten semifinal loss didn't knock the Wolverines off the top line, but it did bump them below Illinois on the top line. The result?
A potential second-round matchup with fearsome LSU.
A potential Sweet 16 matchup with arguably the best No. 4 seed, Florida State.
And a collision course with the red-hot SEC champs, second-seeded Alabama.
Baylor | Seed: 1 | Region: South
The Bears could have to go through the loaded Big Ten three times to reach the Final Four. A second-round matchup with either Wisconsin or North Carolina is scary. Purdue is formidable as a likely Sweet 16 opponent. And Ohio State, which very nearly won the Big Ten tournament, looms in the bottom half of the region.
Baylor got the second-overall No. 1 seed, but didn't get a kind draw out of it.
Loyola/Georgia Tech | Seed: 8/9 | Region: Midwest
KenPom says Loyola is the ninth-best team in college basketball.
Georgia Tech has won eight in a row en route to an ACC tournament crown.
Their rewards?
Each other, in the first round; and a potential second-round matchup with the white-hot Illinois. Brutal.
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