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Top 16 seeds according to NCAA Men’s Basketball Selection Committee released

The projected lines of the March Madness field are released because the men’s basketball committee thinks they’re the College Football Playoff now.

By Collin Sherwin
Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs looks on during the college basketball game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Pepperdine Waves on January 30, 2021 at the Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, CA. The game was played without fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee has released a preview of the NCAA Tournament field today, showing the Top 16 teams as they would be seeded if March Madness started on Saturday morning.

Here’s the field as of now according to those that will set it on March 14th: Since by NCAA bracketing procedures these are all projected lines, we’ll assume this is how the committee sees the teams 1-16.

No. 1 Seeds

  1. Gonzaga (19-0)
  2. Baylor (17-0)
  3. Michigan (13-1)
  4. Ohio State (16-4)

No surprises here: Gonzaga and Baylor look dominant and will need to be upset at some point to not meet in the national championship game. Neither has really been tested yet this season.

Michigan missed some time with COVID-19, but except for a loss at The Barn in Minnesota where everything went wrong, they’ve run through what is the deepest conference in college basketball. Ohio State is the best team of the rest, as there’s a cutoff between the third-best resume in college basketball and the rest of them.

No. 2 Seeds

  1. Villanova (13-2)
  2. Alabama (16-5)
  3. Illinois (14-5)
  4. Houston (17-2)

The Wildcats are No. 1 in the Big East and 13-2, but have a big test with Creighton today that might even improve their case to the top-four with a win. Alabama is the best defensive team in America by most advanced metrics, Illinois has one of the best inside-outside duos in America in Ayo Dosumnu and Kofi Cockburn, and Houston survived their own COVID-19 crisis to dominate the American Conference.

No. 3 Seeds

  1. Oklahoma (12-5)
  2. Tennessee (14-4)
  3. Virginia (14-3)
  4. West Virginia (14-5)

Oklahoma and West Virginia are playing right now in Morgantown as we write this, and that might move them up and down this ladder. Tennessee should have Yves Pons back for their game tonight at LSU, and Virginia looked in trouble after a loss to San Francisco early in the year, but they’re 10-1 in the ACC and playing Bennett Ball in rhythm right now.

No. 4 Seeds

  1. Missouri (13-4)
  2. Texas Tech (14-6)
  3. Texas (12-5)
  4. Iowa (14-6)

Mizzou might be the luckiest team in the country by the advanced stats, but they’ve got big wins over Tennessee and Alabama. Texas Tech beat Texas by two in January, and that’s probably giving them the edge over the Longhorns here. Iowa has the most adjusted efficient offense in the country and Wooden Award favorite Luka Garza, but their defense is part of the reason they’ve lost four of six.

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