NCAA Basketball: Questions about Kentucky, Duke, and more takeaways from the week
By Brian Rauf
5) Two West Coast teams might get No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament
And neither of them will be from the Pac-12!
Gonzaga and Nevada are both *newsflash* really good and both have picked up several non-conference wins that will give them elite resumes for mid-major teams. There’s no doubt that both will get into the tournament but teams like these often get hurt seeding-wise because of the schedules they play, thus keeping them from being on that top seed line.
Going undefeated would put any top-seed questions to rest and both teams actually have a pretty good chance to accomplish that. After beating Arizona State in Los Angeles on Friday night, KenPom gives the Wolf Pack a 12.6 percent chance to go undefeated. 12.6!
Gonzaga has a much lesser chance with games against Tennessee and North Carolina still looming on their schedule but the Zags are favored to win both. Two victories and suddenly Gonzaga’s chances are just as good as Nevada’s, if not higher.
Now, in a much more realistic sense, both teams will probably trip up in a game or two down the road, and that’s expected. However, each has the caliber of non-conference wins to offset those losses.
I’d bet least one of these two wind up with a one-seed come Selection Sunday – but it wouldn’t surprise me to see both accomplish that feat.