After what felt like a long season that had a questionable few weeks in January (covid issues), Selection Sunday finally arrived. The NCAA Tournament bracket for the 2021-22 season was revealed, with a few surprises. Teams such as Rutgers, Indiana, and Notre Dame were among the last teams in, while Texas A&M, Dayton, and SMU were barely left out.
But the real eye-popping results that came with the other selections were with seeding. Gonzaga being the No. 1 overall seed wasn’t a surprise, with Arizona, Baylor, and Kansas also top seeds in their respective regions. But Duke getting a No. 2 seed over the likes of SEC Tournament champion Tennessee was interesting, to say the least.
There will be plenty of analysis over the Field of 68, including future predictions of who will move on and make potential deep runs. Here’s a look at 10 takeaways I have from the selections and placements.
1. Gonzaga has the toughest path of the 1 seeds
Last season, Gonzaga was in the same West Region as Iowa, Kansas, and Virginia. And that was interesting because those were the marquee opponents in the Bulldogs’ non-conference schedule. Of course, that ended up not mattering as all three fell early in the tournament before the No. 1 seed could face them.
This time around, Gonzaga has another trio of familiar opponents in the West Region. Duke, Texas Tech, and Alabama all played the Bulldogs earlier this season, with two of them getting wins and the other (Texas Tech), playing them competitively without its best player Terrence Shannon Jr.
The good news for Gonzaga is they’ll only have to face one of them in the Elite 8 since they’re all on the other side of the bracket. However, they still have some quality opponents nearby, including either the Mountain West champions Boise State, as well as a red-hot Memphis squad that has looked like a top-25 team after Emoni Bates was out of the rotation. And if the Bulldogs survive that, they’ll potentially get either Arkansas or UConn, two teams that have the pieces to cause major issues in a Sweet 16 matchup.
Of all the regions, the West looks to be the toughest. Even the 16 seed Georgia State has the talent of a 12/13 seed but injuries and covid hurt them throughout the year. So even the first-round matchup isn’t a gimme. If the Bulldogs want to get back to the national title game, they’ll have to get through a tough region to do so.