Imagine what history would say about Gonzaga if it had finished undefeated at 32-0 last season instead of falling to Baylor in the national championship game.
Men's NCAA tournament field set with Gonzaga, Kansas, Arizona and Baylor as No. 1 seeds
The Zags, sparked by ex-Minnehaha Academy star Chet Holmgren, top a field that includes a number of lower-seeded rivals who are dangerous despite losing in their conference tournaments.
March 14, 2022 at 11:35AM
The Zags, who beat UCLA on Minnesota's own Jalen Suggs' buzzer beater for the ages in the Final Four, probably would be in the category of greatest college hoops teams of all time.
Indiana's 1976 fighting Bobby Knights, though, are still the last undefeated squad in the men's game — no matter what happens in this year's NCAA tournament.
The Zags (26-3) have three losses but are back with the top overall seed, leading the West Regional in the tourney this season — and led again by a Minnesota freshman star with Chet Holmgren, Suggs' former Minnehaha Academy teammate.
Holmgren's team cruised to be crowned West Coast Conference tournament champions as in most years, but many of their Final Four-contending counterparts struggled to stay unblemished going into the Big Dance.
In fact, No. 1 seeds in the ACC, Big Ten, Big East and SEC tournaments were upset this year, which hurt Duke, Auburn, Kentucky and Providence on Selection Sunday. The Blue Devils (No. 2 in West), Tigers (No. 2 in Midwest) and Wildcats (No. 2 in East) were likely dropped from the top seed line after failing to win their conference tourneys.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga, Arizona (No. 1 in South) and Kansas (No. 1 in Midwest) were rewarded with No. 1 NCAA seeds after sealing the deal with victories going into the NCAA tournament. The only outlier was defending champion Baylor, which earned the last No. 1 spot in the East despite not reaching the Big 12 tournament final. Sound familiar? The Bears won the NCAA title after losing in the Big 12 semifinals in 2021.
Don't be surprised if most people have Gonzaga and Arizona as the favorites to meet in this year's national championship game. That's obviously being lazy, picking the top two teams in the country right now.
One of the biggest questions when the tournament's main field gets underway Thursday will be how much losing in the conference tournament will affect how everyone looks at the top-tier teams that could've easily been No. 1 seeds by finishing stronger this year.
Let's start in the Big Ten with Purdue (No. 3 in East), which lost to Iowa 75-66 on Sunday in the conference tournament title game. The Boilermakers were ranked No. 1 in the country earlier in the season, but their All-Big Ten trio of Jaden Ivey, Zach Edey and Trevion Williams couldn't bring home either the regular-season or tournament championship. It's hard to bet against Matt Painter, but Illinois and Wisconsin were more consistent as co-regular season champions.
We'll go next with Auburn. The Tigers, like Purdue, were No. 1 nationally this season for the first time. Similarly, they couldn't handle having that target on their back. Only Holmgren has gotten more hype for the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft than Auburn's big man Jabari Smith, but his team went from 19 straight wins to losing four of its last nine games entering the NCAAs.
Providence and Duke were outright champions in the Big East and ACC, respectively. The Friars (No. 4 in Midwest) were blown out by Creighton in their tournament semifinals, but they were in rare territory having never won the Big East regular-season title. The Blue Devils were the bigger shocker to fall, to Virginia Tech by 15 points in their conference tourney championship.
If there's any coach who can overcome losing in the conference tournament to make a deep run, it's probably good to bet on Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, entering his final NCAA tournament.
Duke and Gonzaga could have a rematch in the Elite Eight. And the Blue Devils already beat the Zags 84-81 on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas this season.
You're crazy if you think the NCAA tournament selection committee didn't have that matchup in mind when setting the 68-team field Sunday. Holmgren and the Zags can accomplish what Suggs and the Zags couldn't do last year, but it could mean taking out a legend in the process.
And there are plenty of more battle-tested power conference teams in the NCAA tournament this year wanting to prove that falling in their respective conference tourneys didn't hinder them from going all the way to New Orleans.
Two offensive linemen from Lakeville, Bryce Benhart and Riley Mahlman, are standouts for Big Ten rivals of Minnesota.
