NCAA Tournament committee releases initial top 16 teams ahead of March

The end of the regular season is rapidly approaching in college basketball. Most teams are gearing up for their final five or six regular season games, setting up an important final stretch ahead of conference tournaments and eventually March Madness. On Saturday, the NCAA Tournament committee released its initial top 16 teams as the regular season winds down.

NCAA Tournament committee’s initial top 16

1. Gonzaga (West region)
2. Auburn (Midwest)
3. Arizona (South)
4. Kansas (East)
5. Baylor (South)
6. Kentucky (East)
7. Purdue (Midwest)
8. Duke (West)
9. Villanova (East)
10. Texas Tech (Midwest)
11. Tennessee (South)
12. Illinois (West)
13. Wisconsin (East)
14. UCLA (Midwest)
15. Providence (South)
16. Texas (West)

If this top 16 held up, the West Region would be led by Gonzaga, Duke, Illinois, and Texas. The Midwest would include Auburn, Purdue, Texas Tech, and UCLA. In the South, Arizona is joined by Baylor, Tennessee, and Providence. Kansas leads the East, and is joined by Kentucky, Villanova, and Wisconsin.

Latest Bracketology from ESPN

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi recently released his latest Bracketology for March Madness. In his projection, he had some surprises within his projected top 16 teams in the NCAA Tournament field.

Lunardi had Gonzaga, Kansas, Auburn, and Arizona as his four one seeds in his projected field. Texas Tech, Kentucky, Purdue, and Duke were his projected two seeds, with Baylor, Villanova, Providence and UCLA as three seeds. Rounding out Lunardi’s top 16 (the four teams holding a one, two, three, or four seed in each region) is Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, and Tennessee, coming in as four seeds.

Michigan State, Ohio State, Houston and Alabama finished just behind Lunardi’s four seeds, coming in on the five line.

There are some intriguing matchups on Saturday’s slate of games, which could have major ramifications on the next release of the NCAA Tournament committee’s top 16. No. 19 Michigan State hosts No. 12 Illinois on Saturday, while No. 20 Texas hosts No. 11 Texas Tech. No. 25 Alabama also travels to take on No. 4 Kentucky, and No. 23 Arkansas hosts No. 16 Tennessee.

Conference tournaments are set to begin over the first week or two in March. Once those tournaments are over, a full field will be selected for the 2022 NCAA Tournament. But between now and then, there is still a lot of basketball that has to be played.