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The men’s college basketball season is plowing ahead through the month of February which means it’s time to start projecting who will land where for the NCAA Tournament in March.
Experts like ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and CBS’ Jerry Palm among others like Andy Katz have been regularly updating their field of 68, so let’s take a look at where some notable programs will land in Indianapolis. March Madness is a little over one month away, and each week will have significant implications for the 2021 mens basketball tournament.
No. 1 seeds
To no surprise, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Baylor Bears, and Michigan Wolverines are all projected as locks for one-seeds with the Bulldogs as the consensus top overall seed in the tournament. All three of these programs occupy the top three spots in the latest NET rankings, so this isn’t a shock.
While the Villanova Wildcats are projected as the final one-seed, Lunardi has the Alabama Crimson Tide overtaking them in his latest bracket. The Tide are undefeated in SEC play at No. 7, and they’re currently slotted five spots ahead of Villanova in NET rating.
Other Notable Seeds
Just below the top-spots is a dogfight with programs like Ohio State, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Texas all vying for the No. 2 spots. Teams like Kansas, Creighton, Florida State and Wisconsin are all being projected for the dreaded No. 5 spot as potential victims of the 12/5 upset while bubble teams like LSU, Stanford, Maryland and St. John’s might be playing their way into the field of 64 as ‘First Four’ participants.
Multiple bids for which conferences
With the entire tournament taking place in Indianapolis, it’s fitting that the Big Ten is projected to have the most representation, with upwards of 10 teams potentially making The Dance according to Katz. The conference currently boasts three teams (Michigan, Ohio State, Iowa) ranked in the Top 10 of the Associated Press poll, and 10 teams in the top 50 of NET rankings.
Behind them is the ACC, who could get upwards of eight teams to the dance while the SEC, Big XII and Big East could see potentially five teams make it to Indianapolis as well.