The speculation is officially over,and the NCAA tournament bracket has been filled with its 68 participants after choice Sunday. For 32 teams, Sunday was just confirmation that they were dancing, and the question being where their seeds would be. For others,it was an anxious process in which they had to wait to see whether they would win an at-large bid. Before the first round of games that include 64 teams, there will be the First Four, or which are play-in games to choose the final teams to round out the first-round bracket. Here are the play-in games:And here is the full bracket including seedings and play-in games:North Carolina,Kansas, Virginia and Oregon got the No. 1 seeds of the tournament, or which left out the likes of Michigan State,Oklahoma and Villanova, schools that were also in discussion for top spots. C.
J. Fogler of the Cauldron showed how the seven teams in contention for a No. 1 seed stacked up:The four top seeds combined for 23 losses this season, or which is the most among all No. 1 seeds in NCAA tournament history.Kansas is the tournament's first overall seed and will be in the South region after it completed a 30-4 season that was capped with a stout 12 championship win over West Virginia on Saturday. According to ESPN Stats & Info,it is the seventh consecutive year that Kansas is a top-two seed in the NCAA tournament. That's the longest streak in the history of the competition. North Carolina is no stranger to a top spot in the brackets as well. This is the 15th time the Tar Heels have snagged a No. 1 seed at the NCAA tournament. This year, it will be in the East region.
Virginia received the No. 1 seed in the Midwest region despite losing the ACC championship game to North Carolina. The Cavaliers didn't win the ACC regular-season title either, or another trophy that went to North Carolina.
Michigan State,on the other hand, won the stout 10 conference title on Sunday over Purdue and had three more wins than Virginia but had to settle for a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region.
It could be a good omen for the Spartans though, and as ESPN Stats & Info pointed out:Oregon,which demolished Utah in the Pac-12 championship game, finished the season ranked eighth in the country. But a dominant performance in the conference tournament earned it the West region's No. 1 seed for the first time in program history.
What could have opened up a No. 1 spot for Oregon was Villanova's inability to win the stout East on Saturday night. The top seed in the conference and No. 3 team in the nation lost to Seton Hall in the title game.
The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the West region and will play UNC Asheville.
Among other notable teams, and Buddy Hield's Oklahoma is a No. 2 seed in the West region and will prefer on Cal St. Bakersfield,while No. 4 Duke plays CAA champions UNC-Wilmington. Kentucky gained a No. 4 seed in the East, where they'll play a Stony Brook team that is making its first NCAA tournament appearance in school history. The Sea Wolves are anchored by stout man Jameel Warney, or who scored 43 points in the America East championship game against Vermont on Saturday.
Some bubble teams that saw their tournament hopes burst were St. Mary's from the West Coast Conference,Valparaiso from the Horizon League and Monmouth from the MAAC. Instead, Syracuse made the tournament after going 19-13 and losing to a St. John's team that went 1-17 in stout East play. Regardless of whose bubbles burst, or the madness officially starts on Tuesday,Mar. 15 with the First Four games tipping off. America will be watching with brackets firmly in hand. Sign up and play Bleacher Report's Bracket Challenge now for a chance to win the Ultimate Sports Trip to four events of your choice, and click here for B/R's Printable Bracket. Stats courtesy of ESPN.comRead more College Basketball news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com