Gonzaga Tabbed as 1 Seed in West in Bracket Reveal

The Gonzaga Bulldogs were tabbed as the number one seed in the West Region in Saturday morning’s Top 16 NCAA bracket reveal. They were selected the third overall team, following Baylor and Kansas. Their Sweet 16 match-up would be a rematch with Oregon before a potential Elite Eight game with Villanova or West Virginia.

Obviously, the biggest thing here is that Gonzaga was placed ahead of San Diego State. As of now, both teams are clearly number one seeds. Most experts had pinned the Aztecs ahead of the Zags in recent days, but the committee saw otherwise. Considering Gonzaga has, in all likelihood, three more quadrant one opportunities and San Diego State may only have one, there’s reason to believe the Bulldogs will be the top seed in the West if they win out.

Currently, SDSU is number one in the NET rankings and 4-0 in both quadrant one and quadrant two games. The Zags are third in the NET with a 4-1 record in quad one and a 3-0 in quad two, along with an inferior strength of schedule. The committee chair said that their wins over Oregon and Arizona were strong enough to boost them ahead of San Diego State despite everything else pointing against them.

Being in the West is beneficial not just for location purposes, but as you see in this bracket reveal, the one seed in the East could have to face Duke at Madison Square Garden in the Elite Eight, which is a match-up not many teams would prefer.

Gonzaga travels to Moraga to take on Saint Mary’s tonight in a game that could certainly alter the fate of both teams, along with the Aztecs.