Busting Brackets
Fansided

March Madness 2021: 5 biggest winners from Selection Sunday seeds

By Tristan Freeman

Mar 14, 2021; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats (R) celebrates after winning the SEC championship game against the LSU Tigers at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2021; Nashville, TN, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats (R) celebrates after winning the SEC championship game against the LSU Tigers at Bridgestone Arena. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
March Madness Gonzaga Bulldogs Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
March Madness Gonzaga Bulldogs Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

Gonzaga Bulldogs

To the victor goes the spoils right? That’s what clearly happened to the Bulldogs, who got the clear benefit of being the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. As mentioned before, the committee’s desire to not have top teams from the same conference made it clear that either Iowa or Ohio State would be in Gonzaga’s region.

It ended up being the Hawkeyes, who Gonzaga has already comfortably beaten, despite giving up 30 points to likely National Player of the Year Luka Garza. That level of familiarity compared to the Buckeyes is a good sign. The same goes for the No. 3 and 4 seeds,

Virginia and Kansas, for who the Bulldogs scored a combined 200 points in a pair of double-digit victories. Giving head coach Mark Few and the coaching staff a great scouting and gameplan opportunity in the Big Dance. This doesn’t even include the current covid situations both programs are going through, with neither current lock to even play in the NCAA Tournament.

The rest of the field isn’t a great matchup either for when they take on the WCC juggernauts. Both Missouri and Oklahoma have struggled mightily and the winner will need to look like they did in December when taking on GU than they have had in the past month. No. 5 seed Creighton has the offensive capability to keep up with Gonzaga but their overreliance on the three-pointer and lack of size to effectively guard Drew Timme makes this a potential mismatch as well.

Oddly enough, the two teams that may have the best chance to knock off the Bulldogs are from the Pac-12 in No. 6 seed and USC and No. 7 seed Oregon. All-American freshman big man Evan Mobley could cause problems for the Trojans, while the Ducks have top-15 talent when healthy and not on pauses. Pac-12 Player of the Year Chris Duarte is a star in his own right and would be a problem for the Bulldogs.

Still, the odds of either of those teams even making it to the Elite 8 will be low, meaning that Gonzaga could very well have a pair of rematches in the Second Weekend. Even if things will be different, it’s hard to see any of the other 15 teams in the West Region stopping the No. 1 seed from making a Final Four run.

Home/March Madness