What the 2020 NCAA Tournament Bracket Might Have Looked Like
Thursday would have been the first full day of the 2020 men's NCAA tournament had it not been canceled one week ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the NCAA ultimately opted not to reveal a bracket by the selection committee of what the field would have been, that doesn't mean we can't still imagine it.
We asked SI's bracketologists, Jim Root and Ky McKeon of Three Man Weave, to project what the field would have looked like on Selection Sunday, but with a few important caveats. Any conference that played its tournament championship game to award an NCAA automatic bid would have that autobid stand (for example, Boston University keeps the Patriot League's spot in the field of 68). For the rest of the conferences, the autobid was rewarded to the regular-season champ (in the event of a tie, it went to the No. 1 seed).
In addition, any conference tournaments that started and didn't finish (like the ACC, Big East, Big Ten and Pac-12, which played first- and/or second-round games), had those results thrown out. Otherwise, it would create too much unevenness amongst bubble teams, some of whom got an extra game and some of whom didn't.
With these parameters in mind, here is the final bracket projection by Three Man Weave. Below it is a text version that includes NCAA tournament subregional sites as well.
South Region
Omaha:
(1) Kansas vs. (16) Robert Morris / NC Central
(8) LSU vs. (9) Arizona State
Sacramento:
(5) West Virginia vs. (12) Liberty
(4) Wisconsin vs. (13) North Texas
St. Louis:
(6) Penn State vs. (11) Utah State
(3) Creighton vs. (14) Bradley
Tampa:
(7) Michigan vs. (10) Marquette
(2) Florida State vs. (15) Little Rock
Midwest Region
St. Louis:
(1) Baylor vs. (16) Boston University / Prairie View A&M
(8) Colorado vs. (9) Saint Mary's
Tampa:
(5) Auburn vs. (12) Yale
(4) Maryland vs. (13) Akron
Greensboro:
(6) Iowa vs. (11) NC State / Xavier
(3) Kentucky vs. (14) Belmont
Albany:
(7) Illinois vs. (10) Texas Tech
(2) Villanova vs. (15) Winthrop
West Region
Spokane:
(1) Gonzaga vs. (16) Eastern Washington
(8) Florida vs. (9) USC
Omaha:
(5) Butler vs. (12) Cincinnati
(4) Louisville vs. (13) Vermont
Albany:
(6) BYU vs. (11) Richmond / UCLA
(3) Seton Hall vs. (14) Hofstra
Sacramento:
(7) Arizona vs. (10) Rutgers
(2) San Diego State vs. (15) North Dakota State
East Region
Cleveland:
(1) Dayton vs. (16) Siena
(8) Providence vs. (9) Oklahoma
Spokane:
(5) Ohio State vs. (12) Stephen F. Austin
(4) Oregon vs. (13) New Mexico State
Cleveland:
(6) Virginia vs. (11) East Tennessee State
(3) Michigan State vs. (14) UC Irvine
Greensboro:
(7) Houston vs. (10) Indiana
(2) Duke vs. (15) Northern Kentucky
