The NCAA tournament will begin on Saturday for the Gonzaga and Eastern Washington University men’s basketball teams. On Sunday, the two teams learned about their seedings in the 68-team tournament, which begins next weekend in Indianapolis.The Bulldogs are the number one seed in the West bracket and the country and will play Saturday at about 6:20 PDT against the winner of a Thursday night contest between Norfolk State and Appalachian State. If they win their first-round contest, the Zags would then play on Monday against the winner of a game between Oklahoma and Missouri.
The Bulldogs finished a 26-0 season last week by beating BYU in the final of the West Coast Conference tournament. They've been ranked number one in the nation all season and are favored by some odds makers to win their first national championship.
The Eagles, as champions of the Big Sky Conference, are also in the West bracket, as the 14 seed. They will play the third-seeded Kansas Jayhawks at 10:15 PDT. If they win that game, they would match up against one of three teams, Wichita State, Drake or USC. Eastern defeated Montana State last week in the Big Sky final.
The Gonzaga women’s team will find out on Monday about its path through the NCAA tournament. The Bulldog women won the West Coast Conference tournament with a last-second win over BYU.