The Missouri Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners, two teams that followed a similar path to the NCAA Tournament, will play one another in a 6:25 Saturday night game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, with coverage on TNT and KTTN FM 92.3, with pregame at 6 o’clock.
Missouri and Oklahoma each had strong starts to their seasons, heading into conference play, with the Tigers rising to as high as #9 in the country, and second in the Southeastern Conference standings, before a late-season swoon that saw losses in five of the final seven regular season games for MU. Oklahoma’s start was similar, as was the Sooners finish, slumping OU into the 8-9 seeded game. The survivor between the former Big 12 rivals will likely play the tournament’s #1 overall seed, unbeaten Gonzaga University, on Monday in the Round of 32.
The Bulldogs are the #1 seed in the West Region for the all-in-Indiana bracket announced on Sunday night. GU enters the 68-team event with a perfect mark of 26-0, attempting to become the first undefeated national champion since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
Norfolk State and Appalachian State will play in a “First Four” battle of #16 seeds on Thursday night, with the winner advancing to play Gonzaga.
Kansas and Virginia will both try to battle through COVID-19 shutdowns to play in the upcoming tournament. Both the Jayhawks and Cavaliers had to bow out of their conference tournaments due to positive testing in the program. The NCAA pushed the opening games for both programs to Saturday, with Kansas opening against Big Sky champion Eastern Washington, while Virginia will battle Mid-American Conference champ Ohio, in the field of 68 for the first time since 2012.
Grand Canyon University, in the tournament for the first time, will have a tough opener, with the 15th-seeded Antelopes drawing the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday. GCU defeated New Mexico State in Las Vegas on Saturday night, 74-56, pushing coach Bryce Drew and Grand Canyon into the “Big Dance” after two straight WAC Tournament title game losses to the Aggies.
In addition to area favorites Mizzou, Oklahoma, Kansas, Drake, Wichita State, and Creighton, the West Region will have two entries from the Pac-12 Conference, #24 Southern California and the regular-season champion Oregon Ducks. Wichita State and Drake will play in a First Four matchup on Thursday, with the winner playing USC, while Oregon will play VCU in the opener for the Ducks.
