NCAA Bracket 2017: Highlighting Favorites and Cinderella Teams for March Madness

The field of 68 NCAA men's basketball teams that will compete for a chance to win the Division I national tournament was announced on Sunday evening. 

The top seeds were as to be expected: Villanova earned the No. 1 seed in the East Regional, perennial contender Kansas had the top spot in the Midwest, North Carolina surprised some with the No. 1 seed in the South, and one-loss Gonzaga earned the top seed in the West. 

The ACC sent the most teams to the tournament, with nine, while the Big East and Big Ten each saw seven of their squads earn a bid. 

The first round will get underway on Thursday, and play will continue through to the championship game on April 3.

The official bracket is below, while a printable bracket is available on the NCAA website.

More detailed information about the teams and seeding in each regional is below, including favorites to win it all and Cinderella teams who could pull major upsets as we advance throughout the tournament. 

East Regional

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

The No. 1 seed in the East, the Villanova Wildcats, are a clear favorite to go all the way this year. The Wildcats went 31-3 in 2016, and that puts them in pretty exclusive company. 

Per ESPN Stats & Info, Villanova is the first reigning national champion to enter the tournament having already won at least 31 games. 

But the Wildcats also have to contend with the Duke Blue Devils, who earned the No. 2 seed in the East. 

Looking for a sleeper team that could surge ahead and win it all coming out of the East? The Big Ten's Wisconsin Badgers are the Cinderella team to keep an eye on here.

It was somewhat surprising to see Wisconsin fall all the way to the No. 8 seed, but the selection committee was clearly swayed by Michigan's 71-56 triumph over the Badgers in the Big Ten championship game Sunday. 

However, Wisconsin's 25-8 regular season still stands up against the Wolverines' 23-11 campaign. 

Midwest Regional

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

The Kansas Jayhawks may have gotten eliminated from the Big 12 tournament, but it didn't affect their overall national championship seeding as they still ended up as the Midwest's top team. 

As ESPN shared on Twitter, Kansas has failed to reach the Final Four the last four times it has earned the No. 1 seed. However, when Kansas did last reach the Final Four, the Jayhawks won it all:

"

Kansas has failed to reach the Final Four the last four times it's been a No. 1 seed.

The last time it did? The Jayhawks won it all (2008).

— ESPN College BBall (@ESPNCBB) March 12, 2017"

Meanwhile, No. 5 seed Iowa State is a sleeper to watch in this region. 

The Cyclones were flying high coming off their 80-74 defeat of West Virginia for the Big 12 conference title, and now the team will play No. 12 Nevada in Milwaukee. 

South Regional 

In another surprise on Sunday, the 27-7 North Carolina Tar Heels earned the No. 1 seed in the South. The committee was no doubt impressed with UNC's 90-83 victory over Duke on March 4, finishing three games ahead of its archrival in the regular season. 

However, Duke had 12 wins against teams in the top 50 of the RPI compared to UNC's 11, so some thought that the Blue Devils should have earned that seed. 

UNC officially has earned the most No. 1 seeds of all time in the tourney:

No. 4 seed Butler is certainly a contender after having dealt top-seeded Villanova two of its three losses on the year. 

The Bulldogs fell to Xavier in the Big East tournament, but a winnable matchup against No. 13 Winthrop could help the Dawgs get back on track. 

West Regional

In no surprise to anyone, 32-1 Gonzaga was awarded the top seed in the West. 

The Northwestern Wildcats made tournament history on Sunday when they earned the No. 8 seed in their very first NCAA tournament bid in program history after 78 futile years. 

Brian Hamilton of Sports Illustrated shared a picture of the momentous occasion. 

The Wildcats will face No. 9 Vanderbilt in their first game. There's no question that Northwestern faces an uphill battle if it wants to advance in the tourney, but they don't make Cinderella stories much better than this one.