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Gonzaga s Corey KispertYoung Kwak/Associated Press
With a new calendar year on the horizon, it s finally time for our first in-season projection for the 2021 men s NCAA tournament bracket. And if you ve seen the latest AP rankings, it should come as no surprise that Gonzaga, Baylor, Kansas and Villanova are our four No. 1 seeds.
At this point in a most unusual season, projected seeding is still based primarily on preseason expectations as opposed to actual results from the first five weeks. After all, the first NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings won t come out until Jan. 4, and KenPom.com data still has a lot of preseason modeling baked into the numbers.
Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
The Seton Hall Pirates opened Big East play with a bang on Friday, picking up a 77-68 win over the St. John’s Red Storm at the Prudential Center.
Seton Hall center Sandro Mamukelashvili had a career-high 32 points on 12-18 shooting, as the Red Storm had no answer for the big man throughout the game.
Both teams struggled to consistently make shots over the first 15 minutes of the game, not cracking the 20-point threshold until there were five minutes left in the half. Much like Mamukelashvili was able to keep the Pirates afloat, though, Julian Champaigne was able to do the same for the Red Storm, coming away with 12 of their 30 points in the first half.