March Madness is officially here and rapidly approaching, so here is everything you need to know for NCAA Selection Sunday 2017.
March Madness officially commences this Sunday, March 12, with the Selection Committee announcing the field of 68 for the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The selection show will be televised nationally on CBS beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET until 7:00 p.m. ET. NCAA.com will also host a live stream of the show.
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The tournament begins Tuesday, March 14, with the First Four matchups between play-in teams. The Round of 64 begins on Thursday, March 16.
For the first time ever, the Selection Committee released a mid-season list of their top 16 seeds about two months ago. The list gave the public insight as to what the committee was looking for in teams’ resumes, whether it be valuing good wins more heavily than bad losses, strength of schedule, overall record or RPI and other metrics. At the time, the committee had Villanova, Kansas, Baylor and Gonzaga as one seeds in the tournament.
Perhaps the two most notable headlines that all college basketball fans should be aware of is the historical weakness of this season’s bubble and the ACC’s dominance.
This year’s bubble is quixotically horrendous. Teams in the bubble conversation this year — TCU, Vanderbilt, Indiana, among many others — would never be considered a tournament team in years past. As a matter of fact, Syracuse, Vanderbilt, TCU, and Iowa are all one loss away from breaking the record for most losses for an at-large NCAA Tournament team (14).
The weak bubble may reduce the amount of upsets this season, chiefly an 8/9 seed upsetting the No. 1 seed in the Round of 32. One and two seeds should have relatively easy roads to the Sweet 16, but nothing is guaranteed in March Madness.
The ACC, according to some experts, could be the best conference in college basketball history.
Eight days away from Selection Sunday and 11 ACC teams still have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Best league in history of the sport.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 4, 2017
As of right now, ESPN’s bracketology expert Joe Lunardi has 10 ACC teams in the Big Dance. This number could be reduced over the coming days, considering the ACC had minuscule upsets compared to that of the Big 12, for example. Regardless of how many ACC members punch their ticket, from top-to-bottom, the ACC could very likely be the best conference in college basketball history. The Big East sent an NCAA record 11 teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2011.
As of March 10, the following schools have officially punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament:
Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun)
Winthrop (Big South)
UNC Wilmington (Colonial)
Northern Kentucky (Horizon)
Iona (MAAC)
Wichita State (Missouri Valley)
Mount St. Mary’s (Northeast)
Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley)
Bucknell (Patriot)
East Tennessee State (Southern)
South Dakota State (Summit)
Gonzaga (West Coast)
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While this may be considered to be a “down year” by some, March Madness will undoubtedly be incredibly exciting and dramatic, and it all starts this Sunday with the Selection Show.