Florida Leads No. 1's in NCAA Tournament Squeezed to Hilt
The Florida Gators, who barely held off Kentucky to win the Southeastern Conference tournament championship on Sunday and extend their winning streak to 26 games, landed the No. 1 overall seed when the N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament pairings were announced less than an hour after their SEC victory.
Arizona (30-4), Wichita State (34-0) and Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia (28-6) joined the Gators (32-2) as top seeds in a draw heavy on legacy conference teams and light on those from the midmajors. The Big 12 placed seven teams in the tournament, with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Pac-12, Big Ten and Atlantic 10 each qualifying six teams.
The challenge of wedging unexpected conference champions with automatic bids into the field - like Providence from the Big East - probably forced the exclusion of bubble teams like Southern Methodist, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Florida State and Georgetown. In the 31 conference tournaments this season, only 11 No. 1 seeds claimed a league title.
The Men's Bracket'I thought Green Bay was the one team that I thought had the profile of being worthy,' said the CBS basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, noting that Wisconsin-Green Bay (24-6) lost to Milwaukee in the Horizon League semifinals after winning the regular-season title. 'Factoring the number of No. 1 seeds that didn't win, that may have created some issues for a team like Green Bay because it squeezed the bubble a touch.'
One top conference seeds that did prevail was Missouri Valley champion Wichita State, the first team to enter the N.C.A.A. tournament undefeated since Nevada Las-Vegas in 1991. Criticized for a schedule that ranked 97th nationally, the Shockers almost certainly needed to go unbeaten to secure an N.C.A.A. No. 1 seed.
And the committee did the Shockers no favors, slotting them in a loaded Midwest Region with fellow 2013 Final Four participants Michigan (25-8) and Louisville (29-5), plus Duke (26-8).
Florida, in the South Region, must contend with Kansas (24-9) and Syracuse (27-5). Arizona, in the West Region, may have the least difficult road to the Final Four in Arlington, Tex., Kellogg said.
Ron Wellman, the chairman of the N.C.A.A. Division I men's basketball selection committee, said on the CBS Selection Sunday broadcast that Virginia, which drew the top spot in the East, edged Michigan and Villanova (28-4) as the last No. 1. 'Virginia just continued to impress us throughout the year, and they continued to play well down the stretch,' Wellman said. Wisconsin (26-7), a No. 2 seed in the West, was not considered for a top seed, Wellman said.
Kansas (24-9), the No. 2 seed in the South, received the highest seed of the Big 12 teams, a list that included Kansas State (20-12), Texas (23-10), Oklahoma State (21-12), Oklahoma (23-9), Baylor (24-11), Iowa State (26-7). The Jayhawks played the country's toughest schedule but lost to Iowa State in the Big 12 Conference semifinals without injured center Joel Embiid (stress fracture in back). At the Big 12 tournament, Kansas Coach Bill Self reiterated that Embiid remained doubtful for the first weekend of N.C.A.A. tournament play.
The new American Athletic Conference placed four teams in the tournament: the defending national champion Louisville (29-5), Cincinnati (27-6), Connecticut (26-8) and Memphis (23-9). But S.M.U. (23-9), which posted its best record in two decades under Coach Larry Brown, was left out despite four victories against top 25 teams. S.M.U. lost its last three and was eliminated by Houston in the A.A.C. quarterfinals.
Wellman said on the CBS broadcast that S.M.U.'s weak schedule proved the determining factor. 'Their nonconference strength of schedule was in the 300's, which is not very good,' he said. 'And their overall strength of schedule was 129. The next lowest in the field was 91. It still became a very difficult decision, because when you give them the eye test, they're very good.'
Brown told The Dallas Morning News he thought S.M.U. might be the last team announced. That turned out to be Providence, the 11th seed in the East Region.
'When I saw some of the teams that got in, Xavier, N.C. State, some of the late teams, and then I didn't see any American Athletic Conference teams in the first two regions, then all of a sudden I see Louisville at 4, I knew we were going to be in trouble,' Brown told the newspaper.
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