2021 NCAA Tournament Final Four Picks and Predictions

Everybody knows it is difficult enough to fill out the early part of a March Madness bracket, but we’re feeling especially ambitious, so we’re going to take things a step further here by making some 2021 NCAA Tournament Final Four picks before things get underway in Indianapolis.

With the 2021 NCAA Tournament field set and the pairings firm, the championship paths for this year’s contenders have come into focus. Let’s dive into which teams will be left standing and make some Final Four picks and predictions.

2021 NCAA Tournament Final Four Picks

In a normal year, March Madness typically arrives with wild buzzer-beaters, unthinkable upsets, and, well, chaos. Following a college basketball season like no other, this year’s tournament figures to bring both its own unforgettable and unpredictable moments.

But this year’s tournament also features what appears to be a handful of teams with true championship potential. Will these seemingly dominant teams flex a championship mettle and make deep runs, or will they be derailed by an unassuming upstart?

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West Region: Gonzaga Bulldogs

The skeptic will look at this Gonzaga team and dismiss it because of past failings. After all, this program has consistently produced other top seeds that have fallen short in March. However, this Bulldogs squad stormed to a perfect 26-0 record, utterly dominating the West Coast Conference on the way to Indianapolis.

It’s not as if Mark Few’s teams always go down early — it was just four years ago that Gonzaga came up short in the national title game to North Carolina.

With its 88-78 win over BYU in the WCC Conference Tournament Championship Game, Gonzaga capped a remarkable run in which it won 23 consecutive games by double digit points. In fact, the Bulldogs won 25 of 26 games by double digits this season. Its lone single-digit win came over No. 11 West Virginia (87-82). That dominant run also included impressive wins over Kansas and Iowa.

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While Gonzaga wasn’t tested on a nightly basis in one of the nation’s most elite conferences, this team still boasts a likely lottery pick Jalen Suggs and projected first round pick in Corey Kispert.

Suggs is one of the most talented players in the tournament, and Kispert is an elite long-distance shooter (44% from beyond the arc). While Gonzaga may meet an opponent capable of slowing its perimeter production, the Bulldogs will be hard pressed to find an opponent that can also answer inside for Drew Timme, who is averaging over 18 points and 7 rebounds per game this season.

The bottom of the bracket could present challenges in Kansas or Iowa, but Gonzaga has already beaten both teams.

Note: Check out our full guide on NCAA Tournament first round picks.

East Region: Alabama Crimson Tide

A true football school will briefly turn into a basketball school over the next two weeks as the Crimson Tide look positioned for a Final Four run.

Michigan earned the region’s No. 1 seed after winning 17 of its first 18 games, but the Wolverines faltered late, losing three of their last five.

The larger concern for Michigan is the absence of senior forward Isaiah Livers, who said this week it would be “miraculous” if he were to return this season after suffering a stress fracture in his right foot.

That injury opens up the East Region a bit, with teams like Alabama, Florida State and Texas thinking Final Four.

After watching Florida State commit more than 25 turnovers against Georgia Tech in the ACC Championship game, ball control and consistency issues are a concern for the Seminoles.

Texas made an impressive run through the Big 12 Tournament. The expectation is that the Longhorns will eventually meet the Crimson Tide, but we’re giving the nod to the SEC champ.

Alabama figures to find itself in tight spots in the coming weeks, and this is a team that has proven it won’t back down when things get difficult. Several times this season, Alabama met in-game adversity with resolve, quickly erasing sizable deficits with stifling defense, stellar three-point shooting and an unrelenting tempo.

The inside and outside tandem of SEC Player of the Year Herbert Jones and John Petty can power this team to a deep run.

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South Region: Baylor Bears

Baylor enters the tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South Region, so this pick isn’t exactly going out on a limb. But following Baylor’s loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament semifinals, this selection is far from a lock.

The south may be the most wide-open region in the tournament, and the question that has to be asked here is how much have lengthy COVID-19 disruptions impacted the Bears? For most of the season, this was an elite defensive team, but the Cowboys scored at will in that semifinal matchup. Another potential concern is Baylor’s suspect 69.7% free throw shooting which ranked just 226th in the nation.

While teams such as North Carolina, Arkansas and Purdue could present some uncomfortable moments along the way, the guess here is that Baylor will rebound and go on a run. Keep in mind that the Bears have impressive wins over Texas, Kansas and Illinois, the latter of which has emerged as a popular championship pick.

Baylor boasts two future NBA players in Jared Butler and Davion Mitchell and leads the country in three-point shooting percentage (41.8%). If the defensive intensity returns, Baylor will throttle its opponents and make the naysayers look silly.

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Midwest Region: Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois comes into the NCAA Tournament playing arguably the best basketball in the country. Riding a seven-game winning streak that includes five wins over ranked teams, the Big Ten Conference Tournament champ is battle-tested, talented, and playing lights-out right now.

Its 23-point win over Michigan in Ann Arbor was both a statement game and springboard for this team’s torrid run through the conference tournament. Now, it’s hard to see where they slip up as a Final Four pick.

Looking ahead, star guard Cade Cunningham and an improving Oklahoma State team could provide some resistance, as could the suffocating defense of Houston later in the tournament.

Illinois, however, demonstrated its toughness with gutty late regular season Big Ten wins in the absence of star Ayo Dosunmu, who’s averaging over 20 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

Pair his game with the dominant inside presence of Kofi Cockburn, a player nearly averaging a double-double this season with 17.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, and Illinois has many ways it can win.

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