For the eighth consecutive year, the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee will unveil its top 16 seeds roughly a month before Selection Sunday. The Bracket Preview Show will air at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time Saturday on CBS, with committee Chair Charles McClelland joining Jay Wright, Clark Kellogg, Seth Davis and host Adam Zucker to discuss how the committee selected, seeded and bracketed the teams as part of this week's annual selection orientation meeting.
Leading the committee through the process this week was JoAn Scott, who was recently promoted to vice president of men's basketball. After serving as the managing director of men's basketball championships for the past 11 years, Scott has ascended to vice president, with oversight of the Division I, II and III Men's Basketball Championships, the National Invitation Tournament and the NCAA Men's College Basketball Academy. Scott also manages the NCAA championships engagement unit, which supports corporate partner activations, branding, marketing, fan events and game presentation for all NCAA championships.
Scott joined the NCAA staff in 2013 after spending the previous 17 years at Nike. Before that, Scott worked at USA Basketball from 1987-96, culminating as the director of basketball operations from 1992-96. During that time, she was a staff administrator for the original Dream Team at the 1992 Olympics, as well as the 1996 U.S. Olympic men's basketball team. The Ansley, Nebraska, native played volleyball and one year of basketball at Nebraska-Kearney, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1986. She earned a master's degree in business administration from Butler in 2005.
"The management of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship and the related business of men's basketball during this dynamic time in college sports is important for the future of the NCAA," said Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior vice president of basketball. "JoAn's continued leadership and increased role on the strategic direction of NCAA championships will be supported by her colleagues at the national office, as well as coaches and administrators from schools and conferences within the membership, I believe. We were fortunate to hire JoAn more than a decade ago, and she has exceeded the considerable expectations we had for her, thanks to her ability to form and develop relationships, her tireless work ethic, and her willingness to challenge herself and others to help make the Division I Men's Basketball Championship the world-class sporting event that it is.
"Part of her role in managing the day-to-day operations of the tournament is working closely with the Men's Basketball Committee and helping guide them through the selections meeting each March. This week's orientation meeting helps newer committee members get familiar with the process while serving as a refresher for veteran members, but it's also a chance to give everyone an idea of how the committee is evaluating teams at this point of the season. Recent history tells us there are plenty of things you can take away from Saturday's announcement as the stretch run of the season begins."
To Gavitt's point, the Bracket Preview Show has proven to be a good indicator of teams being seeded favorably when the actual bracket is released on Selection Sunday. Better than 83% of teams (80 of 96) have remained among the top four seeds when the actual brackets have been announced annually on Selection Sunday (removing the 2020 selections because of the tournament being canceled before Selection Sunday). Of the 16 teams that did not remain on the top four lines on Selection Sunday, nine were a No. 4 seed on the Bracket Preview Show. Only one No. 2 seed fell off the top four lines, while six No. 3 seeds failed to stay a top four seed.
The stability from the Bracket Preview Show to Selection Sunday has been even more evident among the very best teams. In each of the first five years of the Bracket Preview Show (not counting 2020), three of the four No. 1 seeds all remained on the No. 1 line. Last year, all four No. 1 seeds from the Bracket Preview Show were also No. 1 seeds on Selection Sunday.
