Gonzaga received the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament, with Arizona, Kansas and defending champion Baylor joining the Zags as No. 1s.
Last week: No. 1 Gonzaga outlasts No. 17 Saint Mary’s, wins WCC tourney
Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed for the fifth time in program history. The Bulldogs (26-3) will play Georgia State on Thursday in Portland, Oregon, in the West Region.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last tournament has Duke playing as the No. 2 seed in the West, meaning he might have to get past Gonzaga in the regional final to make his 13th Final Four. Duke is one of three teams to beat Gonzaga this season. Another of those teams, Alabama, is the sixth seed in the West bracket.
The Blue Devils will start play Friday in Greenville, South Carolina. They play Cal State-Fullerton. No. 7 seed Michigan State plays 10th-seeded Davidson in that bracket, setting up a potential second-round matchup between Spartans coach Tom Izzo and Krzyzewski.
Rutgers will play Notre Dame in Dayton, Ohio, for the chance to be the No. 11 seed playing Alabama on Friday in San Diego, California.
The West Region!
#SelectionSunday #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/LyHu0R2JMx
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 13, 2022
The March Madness bracket came out Sunday for a tournament that begins with early round games Tuesday and concludes with the Final Four in New Orleans on April 2. The championship game is April 4.
This marks the return to the first “normal” tournament since 2019, with teams scattering to jam-packed arenas in eight cities for the first weekend, then to four different destinations for Sweet 16, before the fun ends in the Big Easy for the semifinals and title game.
“This was a really special year because we all realized what we missed,” said Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose team, a No. 2 seed, won the Big East title in front of a packed house at Madison Square Garden.
The tournament was scratched in 2020 due to the then-erupting COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, all the teams played in front of limited crowds in a makeshift bubble in and around Indianapolis. One thing that remains the same: Last year’s finalists, Gonzaga and Baylor, are top seeds, with the Zags the favorite to win it all.
SeattleSports.com staff contributed to this post.
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