If the NCAA Tournament started today, Arizona would be a No. 1 seed.
The NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee’s mock bracket release has Arizona as the top seed in the West region and the fourth one seed. Purdue is the No. 1 overall seed. UConn and Houston are the other No. 1 seeds.
The committee said that the first time the top four seeds were unanimous on every member’s bracket.
Committee chairman Charles McClelland says that for first time in committee history, the top 4 seeds were unanimous, in order, on every member’s ballot.
— Brian Bennett (@GBrianBennett) February 17, 2024
The committee released its top 16 seeds in mock form on Saturday, one month ahead of Selection Sunday.
As the top seed out west, Arizona would begin the NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City. The NCAA West Regional will be played in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena. The West Region would also feature No. 2 Kansas, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Auburn according to the committee’s mock bracket.
Arizona entered Saturday at No. 3 in the NCAA NET Rankings, behind Houston and Purdue. Arizona’s 7-3 record in Quad 1 games is the fourth-best in the country, behind Houston, Purdue and UConn.
Arizona is also the only team ranked in the top 10 of the NET with a Quad 3 loss, which came at Oregon State.
The mock bracket release is a good indicator of where teams will be seeded come March. Last year all four No. 1 seeds from the bracket preview show were also No. 1 seeds on Selection Sunday.
What does today’s top-16 bracket reveal portend? Here’s the data on the past seven years, per the NCAA.
UConn from last year the only champ in the past seven times that won the NCAAs but wasn’t in the top 16.
The steepest fall was Oklahoma in 2018 going from a 4 to a 10. pic.twitter.com/NPmP2TZU7j
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) February 17, 2024
Arizona is seeking its third straight top two seed under coach Tommy Lloyd. The Wildcats earned a No. 1 seed in 2021-2022 and a No. 2 seed in 2022-23.
