NCAA tournament bracket revealed on Selection Sunday
That’s the field of 68. The bubble burst for Syracuse and Illinois State. Both had good cases but didn’t get in. It appears the first four in were Wake Forest, Kansas State, Southern California and Providence.
Some interesting seeding points.
The Big Ten went No. 4 Purdue, No. 5 Minnesota, No. 6 Maryland, No. 7 Michigan and No. 8 Wisconsin and Northwestern and No. 9 Michigan State. Hard to really make sense out of that. Wisconsin and both Maryland were sliding at end of year, but Badgers beat Terps and got to Big Ten tournament final as the No. 2 seed. And Minnesota ahead of Michigan is curious. The Wolverines might be the most-dangerous of the seven teams.
Hard to understand South Carolina as No. 7, too.
The South is loaded with North Carolina, Kentucky and UCLA as the top three seeds. All three are legitimate title contenders that no team would want to face. And Wichita State at No. 10 is very dangerous.
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Gonzaga gets the No. 1 seed in the West and first-round game against South Dakota State.
And here’s Northwestern! Wildcats get their first NCAA berth and are seeded No. 8. No. 9 is Vanderbilt. Commodores beat Florida three times get their spot.
No. 5 is Notre Dame. The ACC tournament finalists will play No. 12 Princeton. Great matchup between two teams that shoot the three. Should be fun one.
No. 4 is West Virginia. No. 13 Bucknell draws the Mountaineers.
No. 2 in the region is Arizona. A possible rematch looms with Gonzaga if the Wildcats and Bulldogs get to Elite Eight.
No. 15 is North Dakota.
No. 7 Saint Mary’s gets No. 10 Virginia Commonweath in a great contrast of styles.
No. 3 Florida State and No. 14 Florida Gulf Coast face off in Orlando. Great feature game in Sunshine State.
And No. 6 Maryland draws No. 11 Xavier.
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No. 1 North Carolina is the top seed in the South. They face Texas Southern in the first round.
No. 8 Arkansas and No. 9 Seton Hall are the other two teams in the grouping.
Surprisingly, Minnesota is a No. 5 seed. Three lines ahead of Wisconsin. Interesting. No. 12 is Middle…