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What The 2020 NCAA Tournament Bracket Might Have Looked Like

SI's bracketologists, Jim Root and Ky McKeon of Three Man Weave project what the field would have looked like had the tournament not been canceled because of the coronavirus crisis. And yes, NC State would have been in

There were no selections this Selection Sunday.

With the NCAA tournament having been canceled because of the growing coronavirus crisis, the committee that selects and seeds the 68 teams for the event chose not to release a bracket.

But fear not.

SI bracketologists Jim Root and Ky McKeon of Three Man Weave have done the committee's job for it by projecting what the field might have looked like had the tournament been played as scheduled -- 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 (including the ACC, which played first- and 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.

That means NC State's win against Pittsburgh on Wednesday neither helped nor hurt a resume coach Kevin Keatts confidently proclaimed was already good enough to earn an NCAA bid.

Root and McKeon aggreed with Keatts, at least to a point.

While they put the Wolfpack into the field, they penciled Keatts' team into a First Four game in Dayton against Xavier. It would have been a rematch of a 2014 First Four matchup, won by the Wolfpack behind 25 points by T.J. Warren.

As one of the two No. 11 seeds in the Midwest Region, the winner of the game between the Wolfpack and Muskateers would then have been matched against sixth-seeded Iowa in Greensboro.

Also on that side of the bracket are No. 3 Kentucky, which would have played 14th-seeded Belmont; No. 7 Illinois, which was matched against No. 10 Texas Tech and second-seeded Villanova, which would have been paired against Winthrop to begin the tournament either thursday or Friday.

Here are all the bracket projections by Three Man Weave. Below is a text version that includes NCAA tournament subregional sites as well.

2020 projected bracket

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