It was Sunday that the famous “bracket” of the NCAA final tournament was revealed. And there’s no big surprise: Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and defending champion Baylor are the No. 1 seeds in their respective “regions”.
For the return to normal of the “March Madness”, that is to say with stadiums filled again and regional tournaments in the four corners of the country, the Zags will want to suffer the setback of last season, their second final national lost in the past four years. They are for once favorites of bettors, just ahead of Arizona, and also the classics, Duke and Kentucky (yet seeded n°2 only).
The tournament will begin on Tuesday with the “First Four”, a sort of “play-in” of the final tournament, from which UCLA notably came out last season, before going to the Final Four. The latter will take place between April 2 and 4 in New Orleans.
The last tournament of Coach K.
The first round can begin in earnest on Thursday with Gonzaga facing Georgia State in the West, Baylor facing Norfolk State in the East, while Arizona and Kansas will await the results of the “First Four”. before knowing the identity of their opponent.
It should be noted that, for his last adventure at the head of Duke, Coach K and his Blue Devils have been transferred to the West region, which means that they may have to meet Gonzaga (for the Elite Eight) if they want to reach the last four in Louisiana.
In addition, the Michigan of Juwan Howard and the young Frenchman, Moussa Diabaté, qualified with extreme accuracy, seeded n ° 11 in the South region, where the Arizona of another Frenchy, Adama Bal, will also evolve. but also Alexis Yetna’s Seton Hall.
Finally, be aware that Dayton, Oklahoma, SMU and Texas A&M would be the first teams drafted (the “first four out”) if the Covid were to resurface during the tournament. In terms of the conference, the Big Ten (9) is the best represented in the final tournament this year, ahead of a trio made up of the Big 12, the Big East and the SEC, all three with 6 teams.
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