Joe Men's Bracket, 2021

After not having March Madness last year, this year's edition has more than made up for it!  Georgetown and Oregon State were absolute bid stealers, which resulted in my having to make several adjustments to my bracket, thus delaying its release.  I feel pretty good about it now, though.  Only Cincinnati can still screw things up, and that adjustment would be relatively easy.

Gonzaga will be the No. 1 overall seed.  That much we know.  Everything else is up in the air.  We don't even know if everybody who's selected will actually be able to play.  Virginia and Kansas both said they're good to go after having to withdraw from their conference tournaments because of positive COVID tests, but I won't believe it until they actually step on the court!

Speaking of Kansas, they're on team I've really been playing up when people ask me who I think is going to win the tournament.  That's another one of the great unknowns heading into this year's tournament.  With all the starting and stopping, some teams never found their rhythm.  But once they get into the Indiana "controlled environment," they're absolutely capable of going on a run.

This has to be one of the selection committee's most difficult years for another reason, too.  With very few non-conference games, how do they compare teams?  It's not like they have many common opponents, and strengths of schedule, which are always skewed in favor of Power 5 teams anyway, will be even less helpful when teams didn't even play everyone in their conference.

Of course, the committee was also granted an extra at-large berth thanks to the Ivy League's decision not to play.  As it turns out, that extra at-large bid was needed.  Especially after the Georgetown and Oregon State upsets.  Although, those two winning also means that two potential mid-major at-large teams won't get in while two more big time schools do.

I'm also curious to see how the committee will handle it if a team needs to be replaced.  Will it be like tennis, where the "lucky loser" just gets plugged into the seed's place in the bracket?  If so, the just-missed bubble teams could end up making out in this deal.  They also said that they still want to make sure every conference is represented, but I'm assuming that means if an auto-bid team can't play they'll be replaced by a team from their conference.  With at-larges, they said it'll be the first four teams out who get the spots.  (Duke also said their positive COVID test shouldn't prevent them from playing.  It's cute that they still think they have a chance!)

And, even with an extra at-large bid available, I don't see things being much different this year than they normally are.  Partially because of how strong the top of the Power 6 leagues were, they're gonna gobble up most of the at-large bids.  Frankly, BYU and VCU are the only at-large locks from outside of the top six leagues.  Including those two, I have just four mid-major at-large teams.  One is Drake, the other is Utah State, who's in danger of dropping out between now and the Selection Show.

If Cincinnati wins the American, they get the 11-seed in the Brickyard Region.  VCU drops into the First Four against Syracuse, and Utah State goes from the last team in to the first team out, bumping Western Kentucky from the list of potential replacements.

You'll notice I've given the regions Indiana-based names.  The NCAA renamed the regions in the women's tournament after San Antoino landmarks, but didn't do the same on the men's side, which is really just no fun at all!  So, since I like what they did for the women, I decided to do it for the men, as well.  Hoosier is obvious.  Colt and Pacer for Indiana's two major league pro teams.  And Brickyard because of that somewhat famous auto race held annually in the city.

So, with that, it's time to move on to the bracket.  Gonzaga and Illinois are the top two overall seeds, while Baylor and Michigan get the other 1's.  Final Four matchups are Gonzaga (Hoosier) vs. Michigan (Brickyard) and Illinois (Pacer) vs. Baylor (Colt).  And with that, I present the 2021 Joe Men's Bracket...

HOOSIER REGION
1-Gonzaga (1) vs. 16-Mount St. Mary's/Norfolk State, 8-Loyola Chicago vs. 9-Maryland
5-Villanova vs. 12-Oregon State, 4-Florida State vs. 13-Grand Canyon
6-Oklahoma vs. 11-Michigan State, 3-Arkansas vs. 14-Morehead State
7-Georgia Tech vs. 10-St. Bonaventure, 2-Ohio State vs. 15-Abilene Christian

BRICKYARD REGION
1-Michigan (4) vs. 16-Hartford/Appalachian State, 8-BYU vs. 9-North Carolina
5-Creighton vs. 12-UCSB, 4-West Virginia vs. 13-Liberty
6-Oregon vs. 11-VCU, 3-Texas vs. 14-Colgate
7-Virginia Tech vs. 10-Rutgers, 2-Alabama vs. 15-Iona

PACER REGION
1-Illinois (2) vs. 16-Oral Roberts, 8-LSU vs. 9-Connecticut
5-Texas Tech vs. 12-Winthrop, 4-Virginia vs. 13-Drexel
6-USC vs. 11-Syracuse/Utah State, 3-Kansas vs. 14-Ohio
7-Wisconsin vs. 10-Missouri, 2-Houston vs. 15-Eastern Washington

COLT REGION
1-Baylor (3) vs. 16-Texas Southern, 8-Clemson vs. 9-Florida
5-Colorado vs. 12-Georgetown, 4-Purdue vs. 13-UNC Greensboro
6-Tennessee vs. 11-Drake/Louisville, 3-Oklahoma State vs. 14-North Texas
7-San Diego State vs. 10-UCLA, 2-Iowa vs. 15-Cleveland State

Replacement Teams: Wichita State, Colorado State, Saint Louis, Western Kentucky

Bids by Conference: Big Ten (9), ACC (8), Big 12 (7), SEC (6), Pac-12 (5), Big East (4), Atlantic 10 (2), Missouri Valley (2), Mountain West (2), West Coast (2)