Defending champion odds
Kansas looked every bit capable of defending its national championship with a 16-1 start this season before suffering three straight losses in January, including a blowout by TCU. The Jayhawks roared back with 12 of 14 wins, including seven in a row. Their only two losses in that stretch were both to Texas by a combined 36 points. But Bill Self's squad has possibly the least difficult region, which has No. 2 seed UCLA banged up entering the tourney.
League title droughts ending?
The Pac-12 has the longest NCAA title drought of the power conferences, with Arizona the last to be crowned in 1997. The No. 2-seeded Wildcats made a strong case to be a top seed after winning their conference tournament over UCLA. The Big Ten has the next-longest major conference drought, going back to Michigan State's 2000 title run. Purdue looked primed to make a Final Four run when it was ranked No. 1 for six weeks
Toughest region
Why is the Midwest Region the toughest? Because of the depth of the teams vying to make a deep run. You've got six that were competing for conference regular-season titles, in the SEC (Texas A&M), Big 12 (Iowa State and Texas), Big East (Xavier), Big Ten (Indiana) and ACC (Miami). The only major conference contender we're missing is from the Pac-12. No. 1 seed Houston wouldn't face one of those opponents until the Sweet 16.
NBA talent drop-off?
The top four picks in the NBA draft played in the NCAA tournament last season. This season, the top three prospects by many mock drafts aren't even playing college basketball. The most talented player in the tournament is arguably Alabama freshman Brandon Miller. Arkansas' Nick Smith and Anthony Black, Kansas' Gradey Dick and Baylor's Keyonte George are players who could solidify top-10 draft status with a big-time run.
Cinderella story returns?
No. 13 seed Iona, coached by Rick Pitino, is an early favorite vs. No. 4 UConn. And No. 12 seed Oral Roberts (Sweet 16 team in 2021) went undefeated in Summit League play behind All-American Max Abmas.
