March Madness: Early NCAA Tournament Bracket predictions and ZZ Tourney Challenge

It’s time for March Madness! Bracket predictions and Zona Zealots staff invite to take you on in their bracket challenge!

The Pac-12 tournament is around the corner, the winner will walk away with the trophy and cut down the nets. That team will have an automatic bid for March Madness, but it looks like four Pac-12 teams may get an automatic bid based on recent predictions.

Earlier this month Joe Boozell (NCAA.com) predicted that Oregon would get a two-seed, UCLA and Arizona a three-seed, and USC an 11-seed. Cal would also have the chance to play for an 11-seed versus Wake Forest for the “play-in” game.

ESPN Bracketology Guru Joe Lunardi, or the expert most media and maybe the decision makers listen too, predicts Arizona to be a No. 3 seed in the South playing Akron in the first round. At this point, he has the four No. 1 seeds as Gonzaga, Kansas, North Carolina, and last years NCAA Champion Villanova.

Lunardi put Arizona in the bracket with North Carolina who he has as the No. 1 seed in the South. Arizona would have to beat Akron, then either No. 6 Iowa State or No. 11 Providence to move on to the Sweet 16. The Cats would then have to beat one of the following teams to make it to the Elite Eight:

No. 2 Kentucky
No. 7 Creighton
No. 10 Syracuse
No. 15 UNC Greensboro

If all goes by the seeding per Lunardi, the South’s top two matchups looks like this:
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 West Virginia
No. 2 Kentucky vs. No. 3 Arizona

Stuff that glares out at us:
1. Kentucky No. 2 seed with a 25-5 record. History, that’s what Lunardi uses as his basis, historically how has a school performed.
2. Why the heck is Duke a No. 3 seed in the East with a 23-7 record? Again it must be history. We know, and agree, there is a huge bias, but Coach K is known to work miracles when it counts.
3. UNC (24-6) and Gonzaga are a No. 1 seed? Would have been great for Arizona to be a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in a No. 1 Gonzaga bracket. UNC it’s history folks, that and the games are on late at night maybe?
4. Syracuse is a team that makes runs in the tournament, so it is quite possible that Arizona would have to take on the men in orange and not in blue and white.

Either way, Coach Miller would be battling two hall of fame coaches in Calipari or Boeheim, and that won’t be an easy trip to the Final Four.

Lunardi includes four more Pac-12 teams. Oregon gets a No. 2 seed in the West with Gonzaga as the No. 1 seed (Including No. 4 Florida State and No. 3 Butler). He gives UCLA a No. 3 seed in the Midwest. UCLA leads the NCAA in scoring with an average of 91.8 points per game, and have split wins with Arizona, although Arizona was the few teams that held the Bruins to their.

UCLA would have face No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Louisville, and No. 4 Virginia in the Midwest, with Purdue as maybe the only other contender in their bracket.

Lunardi also includes both Cal (West) and USC (East) as 11-seeds having to battle for a spot in the tournament.

These predictions will be changing as we all try to survive through the conference tournaments. Arizona will probably be either a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the PAC-12 tournament.

At this point, it isn’t quite feasible that the Wildcats may see UCLA again before having to potentially play Oregon for the crown. We predict this will be some of the best college basketball in the country to watch.

We sure hope it’s the Cats who dominate in the tournament and the team comes together when it counts. The loss to UCLA at home stings. Let’s pray it stings more for our team, and this is the wake up call they need before they bear down and rise up!

Master how to break the 3-2 zone and in my opinion, Miller needs to throw a press in there, much much earlier than the one-minute mark. Heck it worked for Wichita State against the Cats, they pressed minute one!

JOIN ZZ In our 2017 NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge! The prize will be bragging rights, but also we will have fun along the way Tweeting about leaders and discussion and more.  Click the link in this tweet below to enter:

Must Read: New Athletic Director Dave Heeke Officially Introduced by University of Arizona

It’s March! The PAC-12 tournament is next, followed by the NCAA Tournament, so let’s have some fun and we will keep you in the loop on seeding! Bear Down Arizona!