Kansas, Villanova, Virginia and North Carolina are the projected No. 1 seeds in Joe Lunardi’s latest Mock NCAA Tournament Bracket released Monday.
Lunardi said on Twitter on Thursday night that Kansas and Villanova are “close to locks.”
Kansas figures to replace Villanova atop the AP Poll on Monday.
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.
Virginia, 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.
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, Michigan State, Miami, Xavier and Oklahoma are the 2 seeds.
The 3 seeds feature Kentucky, Maryland, West Virginia and Oregon.
The 4s are Duke, Iowa State, Utah and Iowa.
The ACC, Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten all have 7 teams in the Dance. The SEC and Big East 5 apiece.
From the tri-state area, UConn, Seton Hall, Yale, Monmouth, Wagner, Stony Brook and Hofstra are all in the field.
Thanks to back-to-back wins over Providence and No. 5 Xavier, Seton Hall is now a 7 seed and would play No. 10 VCU in Brooklyn, which produced stars Isaiah Whitehead and Khadeen Carrington.
UConn is now projected as a 10 seed facing No. 7 Wichita State.
Justin Robinson and Monmouth are an 11 and would face No. 6 Baylor.
Jameel Warney and Stony Brook are a 13 and would get No. 4 Utah.
Yale is also a 13 and would get No. 4 Duke.
Hofstra lists as a 14 against No. 3 Maryland.
Wagner is a 16 and would have a play-in game against Texas Southern.
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