INDIANAPOLIS – Nobody will get a lump in their throat or start sizing up glass slippers for the men’s basketball programs at Alabama, Baylor or Illinois.
They’re not underdogs. Their schools are anything but unknown. What they are is part of a new group of teams with well-recognized names in the NCAA tournament, and they hope to keep making life hard on some of the programs that have long had a stranglehold on surviving and thriving during March Madness.
Alabama (24-6) is the East Region’s No. 2 seed – that matches the best seed in Crimson Tide history – after sweeping the Southeastern Conference’s regular season and tournament titles, with the latter championship its first in three decades.
Baylor (22-2), building momentum for a while now, beat out Kansas for the Big 12’s regular-season title despite a three-week break induced by the coronavirus. No. 1 in the South Region, the Bears are a top-seeded team for the first time.
Illinois (23-6), an NCAA tourney regular from the 1980s through the 2000s with five Final Four trips and a runner-up finish (2005), is in the 68-team bracket for the first time since 2013. The Fighting Illini, slotted into the Midwest Region, join a fellow Big Ten team with more postseason success of late, Michigan (20-4), as No. 1 seeds; the Wolverines are tops in the East Region, with Gonzaga (26-0) No. 1 both in the West and overall.