March Madness: Gonzaga Bulldogs get No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament West Region
The 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket has been finalized.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team received a No. 3 seed in the West Region of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Zags will play No. 14 seed Grand Canyon in the first round on Friday in Denver, Colorado.
If Gonzaga can beat Grand Canyon, they would play the winner of No. 7 TCU vs. the First Four play-in winner of Arizona State/Nevada in the second round. The top seed in the West Region is Kansas.
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Here's a look at the West Region:
The Kansas Jayhawks are the No. 1 seed in the West Region. Kansas will play No. 16 Howard in the first round. The other West Region matchups on this side of the bracket are No. 8 Arkansas vs. No. 9 Illinois, No. 5 Saint Mary's vs. No. 12 VCU and No. 4 UCONN vs. No. 13 Iona.
The other side of the West Region bracket features No. 6 TCU vs. ASU/Nevada play-in winner, No. 3 Gonzaga vs. No. 14 Grand Canyon, No. 7 Northwestern vs. No. 10 Boise State and No. 2 UCLA vs. No. 15 UNC Asheville.
Gonzaga's path to the Sweet 16 will be Grand Canyon in the first round and either TCU or the ASU/Nevada winner in the second round. The games will be played in Denver, which is 5,280 feet above sea level. The Zags will need to be mindful of conditioning and the impacts of playing at high altitude.
CBS college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg likes Gonzaga's draw and he picked the Bulldogs to win the national championship. But first things first: Gonzaga will have to get past a very good Grand Canyon team on Friday.
The Antelopes are 24-11 and are led by head coach Bryce Drew, who is in his third season at GCU. Drew's team shoots a ton of 3-pointers - they have five players who have shot at least 90 - and they are led by 6-4 sophomore guard Ray Harrison who averages 17.7 points per game.
