Three prime contenders for this yr’s faculty basketball tournaments: Cooper Flagg of Duke, JuJu Watkins of USC and Johni Broome of Auburn.
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Photos; Ronald Martinez/Getty Photos; Alex Slitz/Getty Photos
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Jared C. Tilton/Getty Photos; Ronald Martinez/Getty Photos; Alex Slitz/Getty Photos
March Insanity is nearly upon us.
The 68-team fields for each the lads’s and girls’s NCAA Division I faculty basketball tournaments shall be unveiled on Sunday, March 16.
Round half of the event berths are robotically locked in when groups win their convention tournaments. These tournaments will proceed over the subsequent few days, with groups on the bubble making an attempt to select up sufficient wins to shine up their resumes, whereas smaller faculties determined for his or her solely shot to bop.
That can all be wrapped up by Sunday afternoon — leaving simply the brackets to be revealed in choice exhibits that night.
Here is what it’s worthwhile to know:
When will the brackets be launched?
The boys’s bracket shall be launched throughout a variety present that begins at 6 p.m. Japanese time on CBS. The ladies’s bracket could have its personal choice present at 8 p.m. Japanese time on ESPN.
Who’re anticipated to be the highest seeds?
Within the males’s bracket, faculties within the South have dominated this season. The highest seeds are anticipated to incorporate Auburn, who’ve reached the Closing 4 solely as soon as at school historical past. Two different SEC faculties, Florida and Alabama, are additionally within the combine for No. 1 seeds. The convention hasn’t received a basketball title since Kentucky in 2012 — and solely two different SEC faculties have ever received a title.
The perennial contender Duke can also be prone to be again in a prime slot. However a serious concern for them arose Thursday when star freshman Cooper Flagg sprained his ankle and needed to be rolled to the locker room in a wheelchair.
Within the girls’s bracket, the highest total seed might go to UCLA. That is a reputation with lots of historical past within the males’s sport, the place the Bruins have received 11 nationwide titles and reached the Closing 4 19 instances. However UCLA girls’s basketball has had nowhere close to that degree of success: They’ve by no means reached the Closing 4. Will this be the primary time?
South Carolina and head coach Daybreak Staley appear to be a lock for one more No. 1 seed. Search for stars JuJu Watkins and Paige Bueckers to guide USC and UConn, respectively, to different excessive seeds.
Kiki Rice and the UCLA Bruins rejoice after successful the Large Ten convention championship event final weekend.
Andy Lyons/Getty Photos/Getty Photos North America
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Andy Lyons/Getty Photos/Getty Photos North America
Who may very well be this yr’s Cinderella groups?
High seeds have all the time had extra success within the girls’s event, the place the disparity between the haves and have nots is far wider than within the males’s sport. Put one other approach, no crew worse than a No. 3 seed has ever minimize down the nets.
One contender to make that historical past may very well be Iowa. Sure, the Hawkeyes have been runner-ups the final two years in a row. However that was with megastar Caitlin Clark, who graduated final yr and left for the WNBA. This yr, Iowa would not have the resume for the next seed, however nonetheless the Hawkeyes have been frisky, knocking off then-No. 4 USC in February on the day Clark’s jersey was retired.
On the lads’s facet, one stylish decide is one other Iowa college: the Drake Bulldogs, led by first-year head coach Ben McCollum. McCollum received 4 Division II nationwide titles at his earlier college, Northwest Missouri State. Hold your eye, too, on UC San Diego, making its first ever event look after shifting as much as Division I.
And a word about this yr’s males’s event: Most of the so-called “blue bloods” of school basketball — probably the most historic and embellished applications within the sport — are weaker than normal. The Kansas Jayhawks and UConn Huskies, the 2 faculties which have received a title most just lately, appear to be on observe for No. 6, 7 or 8 seeds. The North Carolina Tar Heels are on the bubble, that means they won’t qualify in any respect until they will scrounge one other win or two within the ongoing ACC Match. And two different current champs, Villanova and Virginia, are prone to be ignored altogether.
When do the tournaments start?
The boys’s event suggestions off with the opening “first 4” video games on Tuesday and Wednesday, then the insanity will get underway subsequent Thursday and Friday with the spherical of 64.
Males’s First 4
Tuesday, March 18 and Wednesday, March 19
Males’s Spherical of 64
Thursday, March 20 and Friday, March 21
Males’s Spherical of 32
Saturday, March 22 and Sunday, March 23
Males’s Candy 16
Thursday, March 27 and Friday, March 28
Males’s Elite Eight
Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March 30
Males’s Closing 4
Saturday, April 5
Males’s Nationwide Championship Sport
Monday, April 7
The ladies start their event a day later, with the primary 4 video games on Wednesday and Thursday adopted by the total spherical of 64 subsequent Friday and Saturday.
Ladies’s First 4
Wednesday, March 19 and Thursday, March 20
Ladies’s Spherical of 64
Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22
Ladies’s Spherical of 32
Sunday, March 23 and Monday, March 24
Ladies’s Candy 16
Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29
Ladies’s Elite Eight
Sunday, March 30 and Monday, March 31
Ladies’s Closing 4
Friday, April 4
Ladies’s Nationwide Championship Sport
Sunday, April 6
