Sports
March Madness 2020 Bracket: Early Projections for Top Four Seeds
Brad Tollefson/Associated PressFor weeks, the talk regarding the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament revolved around which order the Kansas Jayhawks, Baylor Bears, Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Diego State Aztecs would be placed. After San Diego State fell to the Utah State Aggies in the Mountain West tournament final, there is some…
Brad Tollefson/Associated Press
For weeks, the talk regarding the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA men's basketball tournament revolved around which order the Kansas Jayhawks, Baylor Bears, Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Diego State Aztecs would be placed.
After San Diego State fell to the Utah State Aggies in the Mountain West tournament final, there is some conversation about the Dayton Flyers taking over the fourth spot on the top seed line.
The Aztecs did not have the best finish to the regular season, as they were upset by the UNLV Rebels at home and they beat the Colorado State Rams and Nevada Wolfpack by single digits.
On the other end of the top seed line, Kansas appears to have the No. 1 overall seed locked up barring an upset in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals.
Projections For Top Seeds
Kansas
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At the moment, the easiest decision the selection committee has is placing Kansas into the No. 1 overall seed position and sending it to Omaha, Nebraska for the first two rounds.
Bill Self's team completed a 28-3 regular season by knocking off the Texas Tech Red Raiders on the road Saturday, which extended its winning streak to 16 games.
The Jayhawks put together a 17-1 conference record, with the only blemish being a home loss to Baylor, who is expected to be the second-or-third-best team when the committee ranks the field of 68.
In nonconference play, Kansas defeated Dayton, the BYU Cougars and Colorado Buffaloes, all of whom are safely in the NCAA tournament field.
The only losses suffered by Kansas were against the Duke Blue Devils, Villanova Wildcats and Baylor.
With no bad defeats and a collection of strong wins that look even better if the Jayhawks beat Baylor in the Big 12 tournament final, Kansas is the best choice to top the overall rankings.
With double-double machine Udoka Azubuike patrolling the paint and Devon Dotson, Marcus Garrett and others shining in the backcourt, Kansas will be one of the top picks to cut down the nets on the first Monday of April at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Since they have been immune to bad upsets all season, the Jayhawks appear to be a team you can trust to make it to the Final Four.
Baylor
Chris Covatta/Getty Images
Trust in Baylor making a deep run in March has wavered a bit over the last two weeks after it suffered losses to the TCU Horned Frogs and West Virginia Mountaineers.
The February 29 road loss to TCU was the worse of the two since the Horned Frogs had lost six of eight games dating back to February 1 before the win.
Losing to West Virginia on the road is not terrible since Bob Huggins' team is 14-2 on its home court.
Scott Drew's Bears may have a chance to avenge both losses in Kansas City, as they are in line for a potential quarterfinal meeting with TCU and could face West Virginia in the semifinals.
As long as Baylor reaches Saturday's final, there should be no doubt in its credentials to be a No. 1 seed.
A second loss to Kansas would not hurt the Bears' resume, and a second win might not be enough to climb up to the No. 1 overall seed because of the Jayhawks' near-perfect teamsheet.
Baylor will likely be slotted into the South region, which means if it wins two games, it will stay in Texas to play the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in Houston.
The Bears were 14-1 at home and would likely have a home-court advantage at the Toyota Center.
Gonzaga
William Mancebo/Getty Images
The good news for Gonzaga is there is separation between itself and San Diego State going into Monday.
That is important because the Bulldogs are currently in position to earn the top seed in the West region, which would keep them in the Pacific time zone until the Final Four.
The Bulldogs would play the first two rounds just a few minutes from their campus in Spokane, Washington before heading to Los Angeles for the second weekend.
Before that is finalized, Gonzaga has to win a pair of games at the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
Mark Few's team faces the San Francisco Dons in Monday's semifinal and will take on either BYU or the Saint Mary's Gaels if it advances to Tuesday's championship.
A neutral-site meeting with BYU would provide the biggest boost to Gonzaga's resume since it has a chance to avenge one of its two defeats.
Even if Gonzaga falls in the final, it could make a case that it has a stronger resume than San Diego State.
The Bulldogs had a 5-1 record against power-conference teams in nonconference play, including wins over the Oregon Ducks and Arizona Wildcats.
San Diego State was 3-0 in such situations, with all of the wins coming on a neutral floor. Gonzaga's wins over Arizona and the Washington Huskies were true road contests.
The Zags appear to be poised for an extended March Madness stay thanks to their scoring depth, which is led by Filip Petrusev.
Gonzaga has six players who average over 10 points per game, and it can spread any defense out with its three-point shooting and strength down low.
San Diego State
Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images
The top seed in the East region will be debated at length over the next week.
San Diego State put itself in a vulnerable situation by failing to secure the Mountain West's automatic bid.
However, the Aztecs still have enough on their resume to beat out Dayton for the final spot on the top seed line.
Brian Dutcher's team owns nonconference wins over the Creighton Bluejays, Iowa Hawkeyes and BYU.
Dayton lost to Kansas and the Colorado Buffaloes outside of the Atlantic 10 and all but one of its nonconference victories occurred against programs not projected to make the field of 68.
Dayton's best win occurred against Saint Mary's, who is the third-best team in the WCC behind Gonzaga and BYU.
A perfect 18-0 mark in A-10 play is commendable, but the quality of teams in the league has not been as high as expected.
The Richmond Spiders are the only other A-10 squad in contention to make the NCAA tournament, as they sit on the first four out line in the latest projection from ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
If Obi Toppin propels Dayton to the A-10 tournament crown, the debate will become more heated, but at the moment, San Diego State still holds an edge because of its resume.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com
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