Kansas, Villanova, Oklahoma and North Carolina are the projected No. 1 seeds in Joe Lunardi’s latest Mock NCAA Tournament Bracket released Thursday.
Lunardi added on Twitter Thursday night that Kansas and Villanova are “close to locks.”
As the No. 1 seed in the Midwest, Kansas would play its first two games in Des Moines and potentially the Regional final in Chicago at the United Center.
Villanova, the projected No. 1 seed in the East, would play its first two games at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and then the East Regional final at home in Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia.
Oklahoma, the projected No. 1 in the South, would start in Oklahoma City and then go to Louisville, while North Carolina, projected No. 1 in the West, would start near home in Raleigh and head to Anaheim.
Kansas, meantime, could re-ascend to No. 1 in the AP poll on Monday following Villanova’s loss to Xavier. There have been six different No. 1 teams this season, and the all-time record is seven.
Ben Simmons and LSU remain out of the bracket, and Simmons risks becoming the first No. 1 pick since Michael Olowokandi in 1998 whose team didn’t qualify for the Big Dance.
Per Lunardi, Miami, Xavier, Virginia and Michigan State are the 2 seeds.
The 3 seeds feature Iowa, Maryland, West Virginia and Oregon.
The 4s are Kentucky, Duke, Arizona and Iowa State.
The ACC, Big 12 and Big Ten all have 7 teams in the Dance. The Pac-12 has 6 and the SEC and Big East 5 apiece.
From the tri-state area, UConn, Seton Hall, Yale, Monmouth, Wagner and Stony Brook are all in the field.
UConn is projected as an 8 seed facing No. 9 Seton Hall, setting up the possibilty of UConn guard Sterling Gibbs facing his old team.
Monmouth is an 11 and would face No. 6 Dayton.
Stony Brook is a 13 and would get No. 4 Kentucky.
Yale is also a 13 and would get No. 4 Duke.
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