March Madness 2017: Bracket Release Dates for Men, Women Tournaments

Some of the most anticipated events in the sports calendar include watching a person announce names one by one at a podium (the NBA and NFL drafts), viewing players run 40-yard dashes (the NFL Scouting Combine) and seeing team names magically appear on a television screen (the NCAA men's and women's college basketball selection shows).

To non-sports fans, it probably seems ridiculous. For people who watch and love sports, however, they are days to plan around and circle on the calendar.

Two of those days will happen next week. CBS will televise the men's basketball selection show on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. The women's basketball selection show will take place on Monday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Here are three teams in men's and women's college basketball who will make for must-see appointment viewing this month.

Men's College Basketball

UCLA

The Bruins have been fantastic this year, going 28-3 in the regular season and winning nine straight heading into the Pac-12 tournament.

Freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, who is projected to go second in DraftExpress' latest 2017 NBA mock draft, looks like a future NBA star, averaging 14.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and a Division I-leading 7.8 assists.

UCLA is dominating offensively, averaging 91.3 points per game. The Bruins are the only team in the country that averages more than 90 a night. It is an efficient scoring team, ranking second in adjusted offensive efficiency per the Ken Pomeroy college basketball rankings.

West Virginia

UCLA may have the most exciting offense to watch in men's hoops, but West Virginia certainly has the most captivating defense.

WVU leads Division I in steals per game (10.9) as well as turnover margin (8.8), per NCAA.com. Junior point guard and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Jevon Carter leads WVU's pressure defense with 2.7 steals per contest.

The Mountaineers are also the only team in men's college basketball to defeat Kansas, who is on track for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. WVU crushed Kansas, 85-69 in Morgantown this season.

West Virginia is going to be a very tough out for any team in March Madness. As it stands, WVU is a No. 4 seed in ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi's latest projections.

Provided that projection comes to fruition and the Mountaineers make the Sweet Sixteen, its likely matchup with the No. 1 seed will be one of the most interesting games of the season, as the Mountaineers are capable of hanging with any team in the country.

Kentucky

Freshman guards De'Aaron Fox and Malik Monk will almost certainly be picked in the top 10 of this summer's NBA draft (DraftExpress has them going eighth and ninth, respectively, in its most recent mock draft), but for now, fans will see if they can lead the Wildcats to their second national championship in the John Calipari era.

Monk is one of the best pure scorers in the country. He dropped 47 points in a 103-100 win over North Carolina in December. Perhaps more impressively, he scored 30 points in the second half against Florida in a 76-66 win. Monk also led the SEC in scoring with 21.2 points per game. 

Fox can do a little of everything, averaging 15.5 points, 5.0 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game this season. He got a triple-double against Arizona State in just 31 minutes in December (14 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds) and put up a 27-6-6 line against Arkansas as well.

His one weakness is three-point shooting (21.1 percent from beyond the arc), but that didn't stop him from having a great year and being named first-team All-SEC alongside Monk.

It will be interesting to see how far Fox and Monk can take the Wildcats in March this year.

Women's College Basketball

UConn

Yes, this is an obvious pick, but the Huskies have won 107 consecutive games. That's insane.

Anthony Chiusano of NCAA.com looked at UConn's streak by the numbers, and this passage stood out:

"

104: Double-digit wins during the streak. Yes, that means just three of UConn's past 107 victories have even come close to coming down to the wire. There haven't been too many stressful games for the Huskies faithful to watch.

"

The Huskies aren't just winning games at a record clip—they are dominating nearly every single contest. UConn just won its conference title game by 56 points, 100-44, over South Florida as forward Katie Lou Samuelson scored 40 points with perfect 10-of-10 three-point shooting. In other words, she was five points away from outscoring USF by herself.

The Bulls aren't a bad team, either, as they went 24-8 this season and were ranked in the Associated Press poll for most of the season.

UConn is simply amazing. Will any team give the Huskies a good fight in the tournament?

Washington

Senior guard Kelsey Plum averages 31.7 points per game and is the all-time scoring leader in women's college basketball history. On the day Plum earned the record, she scored 57 points in an 84-77 win over the Utah Utes.

But she isn't the lone star on the Huskies. 

Huskies center Chantel Osahor is dominating down low every game, grabbing 15.3 boards per night, which ranks first in Division I. She also scores 15.7 points per game and knocks down 38.3 percent of her three-pointers, a remarkable achievement for a center. ESPN did a Sport Science segment on Osahor's three-point shooting last year if you want to learn more.

The Huskies are picked to be a No. 3 seed in Charlie Creme's latest bracket projections for ESPN.

Baylor

If you're looking for a team that could knock UConn off its perch, look no further than Baylor.

When these two teams played in November, the Lady Bears and Huskies were tied at 54 with seven minutes remaining in the game before UConn won 72-61.

The Lady Bears are 30-3 overall and ranked second in the Associated Press poll, but they just lost to unranked West Virginia on Monday, so they'll likely drop a bit.

Still, Baylor is a great team. It has averaged 89.3 points per game, which ranks second in Division I. The Lady Bears also have a 21.5-rebounding margin (first in the NCAA by a whopping 6.6 boards) and block 8.1 shots per game (first in the NCAA by 1.6 blocks a night).

Sophomore Kalani Brown is one of the most efficient (if not the most efficient) players in college basketball, leading her team with 15.2 points per game on 67.3 percent shooting, which is third in Division I. What's more remarkable is that Brown barely plays more than half the game (21.1 minutes per night). She also leads the team in rebounds (8.2) and blocks (1.9).

If the favorites hold serve, the Final Four will be very entertaining this year.