The full NCAA Tournament men’s bracket has been officially revealed, and with the First Four games beginning on Tuesday and Wednesday, they’ll lead right into the first round starting Thursday afternoon.
Brackets are already being filled out, and for former Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl — who served as an analyst on CBS Sports’ Selection Show — he unveiled his Final Four predictions and even called his pick for who will be crowned national champion in Indianapolis.
Pearl predicted that the St. John’s Red Storm, a No. 5 seed, will reach the Final Four to face the No. 1 seeded Florida Gators, while the other side of the bracket will feature the two remaining No. 1 seeds: the Arizona Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines.
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In the national title game, the former SEC coach has Florida facing Arizona and believes the Wildcats, for the first time since 1997, will win it all.
“I like Arizona. I like Arizona to cut them,” Pearl said. “I’ve seen them live — they’re big, strong, fast. They play great defense. They’re the most tested team, I think, in this tournament.”
Florida will be looking to go back-to-back after winning the NCAA Tournament last season, while Arizona has often been one of the favorites to make a deep run but has frequently fallen short of expectations.
That said, this year’s Arizona team has been very different from past squads. They dominated throughout the regular season, losing just two games, and recorded a remarkable 32 wins after rallying off three straight victories in the last handful of days to capture the Big 12 Tournament championship on Saturday night over Houston.
They’ll kick their tournament off on Friday when they take on No. 16 seed LIU Sharks. If they win that game as massive favorites, they would face the winner of No. 8 Villanova or No. 9 Utah State.
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