The NCAA bracket 2017 was revealed on CBS and the one seeds are no surprise.
With very little drama on the bubble entering this year’s Selection Sunday, the question marks came at the top of the bracket where it was unknown as to who was going to grab at least two of the four one seeds.
Related Story: Final projected bracket for Selection Sunday
In the end, the Villanova Wildcats were given the number one overall seed, the Kansas Jayhawks were given the number two overall one seed despite losing to TCU in the Big 12 Tournament, the North Carolina Tar Heels were inserted as a third overall one seed over Duke, and Gonzaga grabbed the final one seed after winning dual conference championships.
The biggest question coming into the day was whether or not Duke was going to jump the Tar Heels or the Bulldogs after winning four games in four days at the ACC Tournament in Brooklyn. However, the committee not only didn’t have them on the one line but they had them as only the third best two seed as they were placed in Villanova’s region (East).
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It’s very simple in regards to why the Tar Heels and Bulldogs leaped the Blue Devils. UNC won the best league in the country by two full games and had a better overall body of work based on their non-conference wins. Yes, Duke beat UNC twice and yes, the Blue Devils had more top 25 and top 50 wins, but three of those came over the last week in the ACC Tournament.
In regards to the Bulldogs, they won both the WCC regular season and conference tournament crowns and had huge non-conference wins over Iowa State, Florida, and Arizona (without Allonzo Trier). Add in just one loss, and Gonzaga was clearly a top four team in the country.
There was nothing much to argue about in regards to Villanova and Kansas, though. The Wildcats won both the Big East regular-season and postseason titles and garnered 12 RPI top 50 wins. The Jayhawks won their 13th straight Big 12 title, capturing one of the deepest leagues in the country by three full games. They swept Baylor and beat Kentucky and Duke during their non-conference slate.
So who has the most difficult path to the Final Four?
Next: Predicting the one seeds
That is to be determined as the Midwest is loaded from top to bottom, the East is strong at the top, the South is filled with marquee, bluebloods at the top and the West has some “sneaky” good teams in Florida State and Notre Dame. This is going to be a fun March that’s for sure.