2021 NCAA Tournament field, odds: Gonzaga, Baylor, Illinois, Michigan are top seeds; Louisville, Duke, Ole Miss among Big Dance snubs

As expected, the NCAA Tournament selection committee named Gonzaga (West), Baylor (South), Illinois (Midwest) and Michigan (East) as the top four seeds for the 2021 Big Dance, with the Zags as the overall No. 1 as they look for their first-ever national title. This year, all games are being played in or around the Indianapolis area due to COVID. Thus, teams were placed in the bracket without regard to geography but by the committee's overall ranking. Unbeaten Gonzaga is the +230 favorite at William Hill Sportsbook to cut down the nets on April 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

If chalk held, and it never does, Gonzaga would face Michigan in the Final Four and Baylor would meet Illinois. The Zags will open against either Norfolk State or Appalachian State. The Big Ten led all conferences with nine teams in the Dance. 

This year, the First Four (highlighted by Michigan State vs. UCLA) will be played on just one day: Thursday. It used to be played on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton. First- and second-round games are Friday-Monday instead of the usual Thursday-Sunday. The Sweet 16 is Saturday, March 27 and Sunday, March 28, with all eight games played at separate times. The Elite Eight is Monday, March 29 and Tuesday, March 30. The Final Four is April 3 and then the title game on April 5.

Get every pick, every play, every upset and fill out your bracket with our help! Join SportsLine now to see which teams will make and break your bracket, and see who cuts down the nets, all from the model that beat nearly 90 percent of brackets last tournament, one year after finishing in the top 5 percent!

The Big Ten hasn't won a national championship since 2000 when Michigan State and the "Flintstones" beat Florida in the title game. This clearly appears the Big Ten's best chance since with the Illini and Wolverines both top seeds and Ohio State and Iowa as No. 2 seeds. 

Michigan and Baylor are the two No. 1 seeds that didn't win their conference tournament. Wolverines coach Juwan Howard also lost one of his best players, senior Isaiah Livers, to a stress injury to his right foot during the Big Ten Tournament. He is being called out indefinitely. Livers was averaging 13.1 points and 6.0 rebounds this year. Over the past two seasons, U-M is 33-9 with a fully healthy Livers and 6-6 when he was out or left a game early due to injury. The Wolverines are +550 to win the national title.

Only seven schools in history have won the NCAA Tournament without a loss as Gonzaga is looking to accomplish. The Zags are the 20th team to reach the Big Dance unbeaten and first since a Kentucky squad loaded with future NBA players lost in the 2015 Final Four to Wisconsin. The last unbeaten national champion was Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers in 1976.

Baylor is the +350 second-favorite at William Hill and a No. 1 seed for the first time (it surely would have been last year). The two-loss Bears were upset 83-74 in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals by Oklahoma State. The Cowboys, led by freshman superstar Cade Cunningham, are supposed to be on a one-year postseason ban, but because the appeal hasn't been ruled on by the NCAA yet are allowed to play in the NCAA Tournament (barring a shocking ruling this week).

There's no doubt that conference title upset victories by Oregon State in the Pac-12 and Georgetown in the Big East knocked two teams out of the field. Among schools that didn't get in:  Duke, which had to withdraw from the ACC Tournament due to a positive COVID test, Ole Miss and Memphis. ESPN's Joe Lunardi projected that Utah State was the last team in and Wichita State the first team out, but Wichita State made the field. The last four in ended up being Michigan State, UCLA, Wichita State and Drake.

Virginia and Kansas also had to pull out of their respective conference tournaments due to a COVID issue but both apparently are good to go for the NCAA Tournament as of now. Any team that is selected and then notifies the NCAA before 6 p.m. ET Tuesday that it can't meet the medical/testing protocol will be replaced with another team selected by the committee. 

For the first time ever, the committee announced alternate teams, in effect the 69th, 70th, 71st and 72nd teams. Louisville, Colorado State, Saint Louis and Ole Miss were those four. Thus, Louisville would be the first team in if another school has to drop out. 

There is no school in the field of 68 with a losing record. The Ivy League didn't play this season so there was one fewer automatic bid given out and one more at-large berth.

The American Gaming Association released figures Sunday predicting that more than 47 million Americans plan to make a bet on March Madness this year, whether legally or otherwise. That's about the same as in 2019 – of course, the 2020 tournament was canceled.

"I think it's going to be very heavily bet," said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US. "Just look at how much betting is up as a general matter, and layer on top of that the fact that we didn't have it last year. There's unquestionably a lot of pent-up demand. In many ways it's a signal that America is coming back. Beyond the sports betting aspect, it flows into the whole COVID recovery story."

The NCAA Tournament is the most-wagered event in the USA every year, even more so than the Super Bowl. That's one game while the Big Dance is spread over three-plus weeks. Note: New Jersey, Illinois, Virginia, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. all do not allow wagering on in-state/district colleges.

William Hill favorites to win NCAA title

Gonzaga +230

Baylor +350

Michigan +550

Illinois +750

Iowa +2000

Houston +2000

Ohio State +2000

Florida State +2000

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