For most of the men's college basketball season, the March Madness conversation revolved around which teams could beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs and Baylor Bears.
The Michigan Wolverines were added to that discussion in the last month, and the Illinois Fighting Illini should join the trio as the fourth No. 1 seed.
On Sunday, we will find out the exact path the NCAA tournament favorites will have to navigate to reach the Final Four and National Championship.
Selection Sunday Info
Date: Sunday, March 14
Start Time: 6 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Live Stream: CBSSports.com and CBS Sports app
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Gonzaga, Baylor, Michigan and Illinois will not have to worry about where they are seeded on Selection Sunday.
Each team is listed on the No. 1 seed line by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, and they have four of the best resumes in the sport.
Gonzaga's aggressive nonconference scheduling approach earned it wins over the Kansas Jayhawks, West Virginia Mountaineers, Iowa Hawkeyes and Virginia Cavaliers. Mark Few's team added to those wins with a perfect run through the West Coast Conference, which means it does not have any flaws for the selection committee to point at.
Gonzaga should be the No. 1 overall seed after Baylor lost to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 tournament semifinal and Michigan fell to Illinois and the Michigan State Spartans in the last week.
Despite suffering two losses in the last three weeks, Baylor is a lock on the top seed line. The Bears won the Big 12 regular-season title with a 13-1 mark and picked up six Top 25 wins in the process.
Michigan and Illinois topped the only league that could be viewed as more difficult than the Big 12. The Big Ten has four teams in the top 10 of the latest AP Top 25 and five ranked sides entering the conference tournament.
The Wolverines' 14-3 Big Ten record includes three triumphs over Top 10 teams. Their only bad loss is to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but they were a Top 25 side at the time.
Illinois locked up the fourth top seed through a three-game run of wins over the Wisconsin Badgers, Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan.
There is a chance Michigan and Illinois will face off for a second time on Sunday if they win their respective Big Ten tournament semifinals.
Some of the teams that could unseat the top four seeds from tournament glory reside in their own conferences. The Big Ten and Big 12 are projected to have five No. 2 and No. 3 seeds entering Saturday.
Oklahoma State may be the top candidate from that group to reach the Final Four. The Cowboys have the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA draft in Cade Cunningham and have one loss dating back to February 13.
There is much more drama on the other end of the bracket, as the Utah State Aggies and Memphis Tigers are fighting to stay alive on the bubble. Both sides still have a chance to win their respective conference tournaments and could do so by beating programs already locked in to the field of 68.
If they do not win league tournaments, Utah State and Memphis could be in for a nervy Selection Sunday since there are two potential bid stealers in the Big East and Pac-12.
If the Oregon State Beavers and Georgetown Hoyas win Saturday, the complexion of the projected bracket will change significantly, but that can only be altered if they win because they are not expected to earn at-large berths.
Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.
Statistics obtained from ESPN.com.
