NCAA Tournament bracket predictions: Which teams will play in Spokane?
As conference tournament week wages on, college basketball programs are punching their tickets to the 2024 NCAA Tournament leading up to Selection Sunday.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs missed out on a chance to officially cement themselves in the 68-team field with an automatic bid, losing losing 69-60 to Saint Mary's in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game on Tuesday. Nonetheless an at-large bid for Mark Few's program is guaranteed at this point, as the Zags (25-7, 14-2 WCC) are ranked 17th in the NET and have seven combined wins in Quad 1 and Quad 2.
"We still have everything in front of us," Few said after the WCC Championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. "The guys have done a great job of putting us in position to play in the greatest show on earth. For a few months there we probably weren't in a position to drop a game [in the WCC Tournament] but they fought like crazy and did an unbelievable job."
Though Gonzaga still seems poised for its 25th-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, fans in Spokane likely won't be able to see their hometown team play in the first and second round at the Spokane Arena. ESPN's Joe Lunardi and Fox Sports' Mike DeCourcy have the Bulldogs on the 7-seed line, while CBS Sports' Jerry Palm has as them as an 8-seed. The Zags would likely need to receive at least a 5-seed to be place in Spokane.
Lunardi's bracketology update Wednesday projected that the Spokane Arena will host 5-seed Nevada against 12-seed Richmond in a high-quality mid-major matchup in the first round. The winner of that hypothetical matchup would take on either 4-seed Auburn or CAA champion and 13-seed Charleston in the second round. Both matchups would take place in the Midwest Region of the bracket.
In the South Region, Lunardi has 5-seed San Diego State returning to Spokane to face 12-seed Princeton, with the winner playing either 4-seed Alabama or 13-seed UC Irvine. While the Aztecs and Crimson Tide are safely in the field, any team in the Ivy League or Big West could steal the automatic bid from the Tigers or Anteaters, respectively. Both mid-majors are the No. 1 seeds in their respective conference tournaments.
Looking at Palm's predictions, he has 5-seed Utah State taking on 12-seed Grand Canyon in the Spokane pod. The Aggies have an impressive at-large resume and are ranked No. 32 in the NET, while the Antelopes will look to avoid an upset in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas. GCU is 53rd in the NET with one Quad 1 win on the season.
On the other side, Palm has Kentucky returning to Spokane as a 4-seed facing 13-seed Vermont. The Wildcats are familiar with the region after last season's 88-72 loss to Gonzaga at the Spokane Arena. For the Catamounts out of the America East, they'll need to secure an automatic bid with a win Saturday over UMass Lowell in the conference title game.
In Palm's South Region, he projects 4-seed Illinois will play 13-seed and Southern Conference champion Samford in the first round in Spokane. The winner will face either 5-seed Auburn or 12-seed South Florida. The Bulls have a 17.7% chance of dancing in March according to Bart Torvik, though those odds can jump to 100% with a Conference-USA championship over the likes of Florida Atlantic or Charlotte.
