Will Gonzaga go undefeated through tourney; finally win a title?
The most unusual NCAA Tournament will tip off on Thursday.
March Madness will be contained entirely in and around Indianapolis. Players will be quarantined outside of games and practices. Fans will be here, but at 75% fewer capacity than recent years.
But after last season’s tournament was canceled, fans and players won’t mind much.
The NCAA Tournament could be a blast for reasons other than the fact that it’s simply taking place.
The No. 1 seeds — Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois and Michigan — have few flaws. Watching tournament games in Hinkle Fieldhouse will bring a tear to basketball purists’ eyes. From Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham to Illinois’ Ayo Dosunmu to Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs, the tournament is filled with entertaining athletes.
And who knows what Tiktok antics players will come up with as they’re trapped in hotel rooms for a few weeks?
Here are five answers to popular questions about this season’s tournament. ———
1. Will a Big Ten team win the national title?
With a record nine teams in the NCAA Tournament, the short answer is: They better.
The conference has constantly produced contenders but fallen short, having suffered a national championship drought since Michigan State won it all in 2000.
The Big Ten can boast five teams with at least a No. 4 seed and seeded as one of the top 15 teams overall. Ohio State and Iowa drew No. 2 seeds, while Purdue earned a No. 4 seed.
The tournament produced two No. 1 seeds from the Big Ten for the first time since 2001, when Michigan State and Illinois came in with high expectations. The Spartans bowed out in the Final Four, while Illinois exited in the Elite Eight that season.
Since 2000, the Big
Ten has produced eight
No. 1 seeds. Three got bounced in the national championship (Illinois in 2005, Ohio State in 2007 and Wisconsin in 2015).
Coaches have talked all season, rightly so, about the Big Ten being the best conference this season. Some say, maybe ever.
This is the Big Ten chance to prove it with a trophy. ———
2. Will Gonzaga be an undefeated champion?
This feat hasn’t happened since Indiana’s famed 1976 team.
That was so long ago some players’ parents weren’t even born yet. So it’s clear how difficult this is to pull off.
Gonzaga (26-0) rallied to beat BYU for the
West Coast Conference Tournament championship and has a roster full of potential NBA players.
The Bulldogs played in the national championship game in 2017 — losing to North Carolina — but this season’s team seems capable of even more.
Suggs, who averages
14.3 points, can take over games. Forwards Corey Kispert and Drew Timme combined to average 37.9 points per game.
The Zags seem to have a clear path to the title game. They’ve already played — and beaten — beat three teams in its region: No. 2 seed Iowa(98-88 on Dec. 19), No. 3 seed Kansas (102-90 on Nov. 26) and No. 4 seed Virginia (98-75 on Dec. 26).
Gonzaga is the first team since Kentucky in 2015 to enter the tournament undefeated. That team imploded against Wisconsin. Gonzaga, which opens the tournament Saturday against the First Four winner between Norfolk State and Appalachian State, is out to make history.
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3. How will COVID-19 impact the tournament?
Virginia and Kansas had to withdraw from their conference tournaments after positive tests, but both teams sound hopeful about being eligible for the NCAA Tournament.
They were assigned to Saturday tipoffs, giving them an extra day to provide the seven days of negative tests for players to compete. Virginia expects at least one player to miss the first two rounds.
Kansas is planning to arrive in Indianapolis without three players, but coach Bill Self hoped two players could join the Jayhawks later in the week after negative tests, according to reports.
The NCAA is hoping to avoid further complications.
Teams will be eligible to remain in the tournament as long as five players have tested negative and are available. If a team is unable to compete because of COVID-19, the NCAA designated the last four teams not selected for atlarge bids as alternates.
After 5 p.m. (CST) Tuesday, the window closes and teams won’t be replaced. If a team can’t play, its opponent advances.
Players will be in quasibubbles, and they’re expected to stay in their hotel or arena to avoid infection.
The optics might be strange if a team competes with only five players. But if the NCAA can pull off a tournament without a team dropping out, it will be a significant accomplishment up there with the NBA’S successful bubble teams.
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4. Which potential opponent should Illinois fans worry about?
A Sweet 16 meeting for Illinois against No. 4 seed Oklahoma State will have basketball fans drooling about the showdown between dynamic scorers Dosunmu and Cunningham.
Cunningham, a freshman projected as the No. 1 NBA draft pick, and Dosunmu, another projected firstround pick, will surely bring out the best in each other.
Cunningham averaged 24 points in the Big 12 Tournament and put up 25 in a stunning semifinal victory against Baylor. Dosunmu averaged 19 points, one below his season average, and led the Illini to the Big Ten Tournament title.
The Illini are considered one of the hottest teams in the tournament, coming in with a seven-game win streak which includes five against ranked opponents. But Oklahoma State also picked up some confidence.
The Cowboys have won seven of their last nine, upsetting Baylor (the NCAA Tournament’s overall second seed) in the Big 12 semifinals before losing to Texas in the finals. Their other loss was to Baylor, ranked No. 2 nationally.
Many bracket analysts have criticized the low seed given to Oklahoma State. Need another storyline? Most of the faces are different at Oklahoma State since Brad Underwood coached there, but fans weren’t too pleased when he left for Illinois in 2017 after one season.
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5. If Loyola meets Illinois in the second round, do the Ramblers have a chance?
It depends on if Sister Jean attends.
Just kidding. (Kind of.) The Ramblers first have to get by No. 9 Georgia Tech in the first round to set up the intrastate showdown.
Loyola will draw tons of comparisons to its 2018 Final Four team — and the Ramblers appear to be bigger and as loaded as that bracket-busting team.