The NCAA men's basketball tourney is outside of Indiana and back to its old Thursday-to-Sunday ways for the first time since 2019, which feels pretty good! And after the final conference championship games wrapped up on Sunday, the powers-that-be revealed this year's bracket. Here it is:
Some quick takeaways:
- Gonzaga is No. 1 overall for the second straight year, and they get a one next to their name for the fourth tournament in the last five, so maybe this will finally be the year they win it all.
- Houston is the fourth-best team in the country by KenPom but has been tremendously disrespected by the committee and ranked as a No. 5 seed.
- Conversely, KenPom has the Big East regular season champs Providence all the way down at 49th, while the committee handed them a No. 4 seed. Wisconsin, too, gets a No. 3 seed and home games in Milwaukee despite being ranked 34th.
- Iowa looks terrifying as a mere fifth seed after they blasted through the Big Ten Tournament. They've won nine of their last ten, with the lone loss coming by two points at fourth-seeded Illinois.
- The nation will be united in support of 15th-seeded Cal St. Fullerton on Friday as the Titans try to beat Duke and bring an ignominious end to the career of Coach K.
The fake action happens on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, then the real action gets underway in the afternoon on St. Patrick's Day. Try your best to pace yourself.
