MARCH MADNESS

Preview of big tournament

There are 67 games to be played over the next three weeks to determine the next champion of the NCAA Tournament.

So what’s in store in 2017? Here are a few things to keep in mind as the First Four games hit the hard court on Tuesday:

Still No. 1s: Kansas (28-4) and North Carolina (27-7) kept their expected No. 1 seeds after losses in their conference tournaments.

The Jayhawks lost their only Big 12 Tournament game 85-82 to TCU in Kansas City, where they could play again in the Sweet 16. ACC regular season champion North Carolina fell to Duke 93-83 in the league tournament semifinals.

Defending national champion Villanova (31-3), the overall No. 1 seed, swept the Big East regularseason and conference titles, as did Gonzaga (32-1) in the West Coast Conference.

Double down: A record 10 doubledigit seeds won first-round games in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Four of those winners are back in the field this year, three of them double-digit seeds again.

Gonzaga, which made it to the Sweet 16 as a No. 11 seed last year, is a No. 1 this time.

Middle Tennessee State pulled off the biggest shocker as a No. 15 seed last year. The Blue Raiders are now a No. 12 seed.

Virginia Commonwealth is a No. 10 seed again, and Wichita State also ranks at 10.

On the wrong side: Baylor, a No. 3 seed again this season and playing New Mexico State, has lost to double-digit seeds in its opener in the last two NCAA Tournaments.

The Big 12 Bears lost to 12thseeded Yale last year after 14th-seed Georgia State pulled off a first-round upset in 2015 on R.J. Hunter’s three-pointer with 2.7 seconds left.