Bracketology: 2021 NCAA Tournament

FINAL — These bracket projections were last updated to include all games played through March 14, 2021.

Learn more about the bracket, or dive right in below.

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Last Four In: UCLA, Drake, Colorado State, Syracuse

Whispering Distance: Utah State, Wichita State, Ole Miss

Talking Distance: Saint Louis, Boise State, Memphis, Xavier

Shouting Distance: Seton Hall, Duke

Bids by Conference

Big Ten — 9

ACC — 8

Big 12 — 7

SEC — 6

Pac-12 — 5

Big East — 4

A10 — 2

MVC — 2

MW — 2

WCC — 2

1-68 Seed List

  1. Gonzaga
  2. Baylor
  3. Illinois
  4. Michigan
  5. Alabama
  6. Ohio State
  7. Iowa
  8. Houston
  9. Texas
  10. Oklahoma State
  11. Arkansas
  12. Kansas
  13. West Virginia
  14. Purdue
  15. Virginia
  16. Florida State
  17. Villanova
  18. USC
  19. Tennessee
  20. Creighton
  21. Texas Tech
  22. Missouri
  23. Colorado
  24. LSU
  25. BYU
  26. Wisconsin
  27. San Diego State
  28. Loyola Chicago
  29. Oklahoma
  30. Clemson
  31. UConn
  32. Oregon
  33. St. Bonaventure
  34. Florida
  35. Georgia Tech
  36. North Carolina
  37. Rutgers
  38. Virginia Tech
  39. Maryland
  40. VCU
  41. Michigan State
  42. Louisville
  43. UCLA
  44. Drake
  45. Colorado State
  46. Syracuse
  47. Oregon State
  48. Georgetown
  49. Winthrop
  50. UC Santa Barbara
  51. North Texas
  52. Colgate
  53. UNC Greensboro
  54. Ohio
  55. Liberty
  56. Morehead State
  57. Cleveland State
  58. Abilene Christian
  59. Eastern Washington
  60. Hartford
  61. Grand Canyon
  62. Drexel
  63. Oral Roberts
  64. Iona
  65. Appalachian State
  66. Mount St. Mary’s
  67. Norfolk State
  68. Texas Southern

Congratulations to…

Liberty (ASUN), Morehead State (OVC), Winthrop (OVC), Loyola Chicago (MVC), Appalachian State (Sun Belt), UNC Greensboro (SoCon), Mount St. Mary’s (NEC), Cleveland State (Horizon), Drexel (CAA), Gonzaga (WCC), Oral Roberts (Summit), Hartford (A-East), Georgia Tech (ACC), Texas (Big 12), Georgetown (Big East), Eastern Washington (Big Sky), UC Santa Barbara (Big West), North Texas (C-USA), Iona (MAAC), Ohio (MAC), Norfolk State (MEAC), San Diego State (MW), Oregon State (Pac-12), Abilene Christian (Southland), Texas Southern (SWAC), Grand Canyon (WAC), Colgate (Patriot), St. Bonaventure (A10), Alabama (SEC), Houston (AAC), and Illinois (Big Ten) on clinching automatic bids to this year’s Big Dance.

Nuts and Bolts

The bracket holds 31 automatic bids for conference champions (noted with their conference next to their name), and the remaining 37 are at-large selections. I am evaluating teams on how they have performed to this point in the season without projecting how they will perform in remaining games.

If a league’s tournament hasn’t finished yet, the conference’s auto bid has been given to the highest remaining seed.

In today’s bracket, Gonzaga is the No. 1 overall seed, followed by Baylor, Michigan, and Illinois. The Final Four matchups would be Gonzaga (Region 1) vs. Illinois (Region 4), and Baylor (Region 2) vs. Michigan (Region 3).

Got questions? Tweet to @catch_n_shoot.

The Catch and Shoot is a top-10 source for bracketology according to The Bracket Project’s “Bracket Matrix.”

Author: Jesse Kramer

Jesse Kramer is the founder of The Catch and Shoot. He's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He has had work featured on SI.com, College Insider, The Comeback/Awful Announcing, and 247Sports.

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