With College Basketball on a break over Christmas, we want to look ahead to the 2017 NCAA Tournament. We use ESPN’s Bracketology as our bracket and predict every game of the tournament.
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First Four
The tournament starts with the First Four every year.
(16) New Orleans over Mt. St. Mary’s
(16) Morgan St. over Texas Southern
(12) Miami (FL) over Michigan
(12) Texas Tech over Clemson
East Region
The East hosts defending champion Villanova as the top seed.
The top 8 seeds all advance through the round of 64. Then the top four seeds, Villanova, North Carolina, UCLA and Purdue, all advance to the Sweet 16. The regional final is the fourth seed Purdue against second seed North Carolina.
North Carolina knocks out Purdue to advance to the 2017 Final Four.
West Region
Undefeated Gonzaga is the top seed in the West region. Like the East, the West follows it’s seeding through the first two rounds. However, the lower seeds advance to the regional final as four seed West Virginia eliminates Gonzaga and three seed Louisville beats Arizona.
West Virginia beats Louisville to advance to the 2017 Final Four.
Midwest Region
Kansas is the top seed in the Midwest. The Midwest Region has a first round upset as 11 seed UNC Wilmington bounces Xavier. Otherwise, the first round holds to form with the higher seed advancing.
In round 2, the top four seed, Kansas, Florida St., Oregon and Wisconsin all advance to the Sweet 16. Wisconsin and Oregon pull upsets to advance to the Elite 8.
Wisconsin beats Oregon to advance to the 2017 Final Four.
East Region
Baylor is the top seed in the East. The East sees the most upsets as two double digit seeds advance to round 2 as Middle Tennessee upsets Maryland and Kansas St. knocks out Northwestern.
The top 4 seeds, Baylor, Kentucky, Butler and Virginia all advance to the Sweet 16.
Kentucky and Virginia advance to the regional final.
Kentucky advances to the 2017 Final Four.
Final Four
No 1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It’s two #2 seeds and two #4 seeds playing for a birth in the 2017 National Championship game.
#4 West Virginia from the West Region beats #2 North Carolina from the East region to make it to the Championship Game.
#2 Kentucky from the South Region defeats #4 Wisconsin from the Midwest Region to advance to the Championship Game.
Championship Game
West Virginia wins the 2017 NCAA Tournament over Kentucky.
Get our college basketball predictions daily throughout the NCAA Tournament.