Big Name Teams Win in Conference Tourneys
March 12, 2007— -- It was a first for Florida. Not only were the Gators named the top seed in the Midwest regional on Sunday, they also earned the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Defending champion Florida (29-5) received the overall No. 1 for the first time, and it came despite being ranked sixth heading into Sunday's SEC title game. In the ESPN/USA Today poll released after the game, the Gators rose to third.
North Carolina (28-6) is the top seed in the East regional after winning its first ACC tournament title in nine years. The Tar Heels were ranked eighth in the nation going into Sunday's game but rose to fourth.
In the South, Ohio State, the top-ranked team in the nation, earned the No. 1 seed. The Buckeyes (30-3) won the Big Ten regular-season and tourney titles.
Kansas (30-4) earned its seventh top seed in the tournament and will be No. 1 in the West. The Jayhawks beat Texas in overtime Sunday to win their second straight Big 12 tournament. The Jayhaws are a solid No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today poll.
The 65-team tournament begins Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, with an opening-round game between Florida A&M and Niagara, the two lowest-ranked teams.
Syracuse fans won't be able to pick their team. The Orange, the 2003 champions, were among the more surprising omissions from the field. Drexel, Kansas State, Air Force and West Virginia also were sure to be disappointed after being left out.
"We actually had 104 teams that had won 20 or more games, and that was more than the previous record of 78," NCAA selection chairman Gary Walters said.
A year after George Mason became the nation's favorite underdog, mid-majors won't get a great chance for another run. Only six of them -- down a couple of spots from last season -- were included in a field dominated by the power conferences. George Mason, which lost to Virginia Commonwealth in the Colonial Athletic Association championship, was not among them.
"We still believe we'll have great representation as it relates to mid-majors," Walters said.
He added that the committee chose Old Dominion over Drexel because of the Monarchs had a better inter-conference record by a significant margin. George Mason beat Old Dominion in the Colonial tournament.
The Atlantic Coast Conference sent seven teams in the tournament, up from four last year, highlighted by former national champions Duke, North Carolina and Maryland. The Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 sent six.
Going by the top seeds, the East is the toughest of the regionals with North Carolina and Georgetown, the regular season and tournament champions of the ACC and Big East, as the top two seeds. Washington State, the regular season runner-up in the Pac-10, is the No. 3 and Texas, which lost to Kansas on Sunday, is the best of the No. 4s.
Joakim Noah and the Gators (29-5) hope to become the first repeat champions since Duke in 1992. Florida, which won the football championship in January, will begin its bid for another basketball title in the Midwest region with a game Friday against 16th-seeded Jackson State in New Orleans.
The Gators, who return all five starters from last season's national championship team, emphatically won the Southeastern Conference tournament, routing Arkansas 77-56, recovering from a late season slump.
Wisconsin got the No. 2 seed in the Midwest and will play No. 15 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Other games in the region are: No. 3 Oregon vs. No. 14 Miami of Ohio, No. 4 Maryland vs. Davidson, No. 5 Butler vs. No. 12 Old Dominion and No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 11 Winthrop, which has an 18-game winning streak and No. 7 UNLV vs. No. 10 Georgia Tech, and No. 8 Arizona vs. No. 9 Purdue.
Arizona coach Lute Olson will make his 23rd straight appearance, tying former North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
In the West, Big 12 champion Kansas opens against the play-in winner Friday in Chicago.
UCLA, with the most NCAA men's basketball titles in history, became a No. 2 seed after losing its first game in the Pac-10 tournament to California. The Bruins, who reached the title game last season, were ranked No. 1 for six weeks this season, more than any other team. UCLA (26-5), coming off consecutive losses to Washington and Cal, will play Weber State.
Also in the West bracket, it will be: No. 3 Pittsburgh vs. No. 14 Wright State, No. 4 Southern Illinois vs. No. 13 Holy Cross and No. 5 Virginia Tech vs. No. 12 Illinois.
Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke got the No. 6 seed after losing to North Carolina State in the first round of the ACC tournament. The Blue Devils will play No. 11 Virginia Commonwealth. No. 7 Indiana plays No. 10 Gonzaga, and No. 8 Kentucky faces No. 9 Villanova.
North Carolina drew the top seed in the East by defeating N.C. State for the ACC title. Coach Roy Williams, mask-wearing center Tyler Hansbrough and the Tar Heels, a deep young team that plays at a fast pace, will make the short trip to Winston-Salem to play Eastern Kentucky on Thursday.
Big East champion Georgetown, with John Thompson III as its coach and Patrick Ewing Jr. coming off the bench, is the No. 2 seed and takes on No. 15 Belmont. Also in the East, it's No. 3 Washington State vs. No. 14 Oral Roberts; No. 4 Texas and star Kevin Durant against No. 12 New Mexico State; No. 5 Southern California vs. No. 12 Arkansas; No. 6 Vanderbilt vs. No. 11 George Washington, No. 7 Boston College vs. coach Bobby Knight's 10th-seeded Texas Tech, and No. 8 Marquette vs. No. 9 Michigan State.
Ohio State beat Wisconsin to win the Big 10 tournament and its No. 1 seed in the South. The Buckeyes play No. 16 Central Connecticut State on Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
Ohio State's only losses were on the road to North Carolina, Florida and Wisconsin. Star freshman Greg Oden missed the first seven games of the season recovering from offseason wrist surgery, but he has been one of the most dominant players in the country since.
Other games in the South include coach John Calipari and No. 2 Memphis against No. 15 North Texas, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 1988; No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 14 Pennsylvania; No. 4 Virginia vs. No. 13 Albany, N.Y.; No. 5 Tennessee vs. No. 12 Long Beach State; No. 6 Louisville vs. No. 11 Stanford; No. 7 Nevada vs. No. 10 Creighton and No. 8 BYU vs. No. 9 Xavier.
Coach Rick Pitino and Louisville are NCAA perennials, and the Cardinals drew a convenient setting this year. They'll be right up the road in Rupp Arena, home of rival Kentucky, in Lexington.
That likely will not sit well with No. 3 seed Texas A&M, which would play Louisville if both teams win their opening games.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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