Because they avoid matching up conference mates that early. 3 of the 4 spots were blocked by dates, but we could have slid directly into Kansas' spot. And then they would have been a 5 seed with the locations scrambled and Gonzaga dropping to a 4

Means we would have gotten Samford in round 1 and then (likely) one of Kansas, San Diego St, Wisconsin, or St Mary's in the 2nd round - guessing it would be San Diego St or Wisconsin (if they wanted to avoid the regular season rematch) .

And then we'd get matched up against (very likely) Purdue if we made it to the Sweet 16.