Oregon received a surprising No. 1 seed for the NCAA tournament, joining Kansas, North Carolina and Virginia with top billing.
The Ducks (28-6) beat out Michigan State for a spot on the top line. The Spartans were widely viewed as a top seed, and their win over Purdue in the Big Ten tournament final did nothing to hurt their resume.
The Jayhawks (30-4) are the overall No. 1. They won both the regular-season and conference titles in the nation’s toughest league, the Big 12.
Oregon’s surprise was in keeping with one of the most unpredictable seasons ever. The top spot in The Associated Press poll changed hands six times — one short of the record.
Meanwhile, 20 top seeds in conference tournaments failed to win the trophy.
Wichita State is in, but the Shockers will have to play an extra game. The perennial power out of the Missouri Valley Conference was one of those top seeds that didn’t win their conference and was left to hope for an at-large bid.
Wichita State got it, but will start in Dayton, Ohio, in the First Four against Vanderbilt, another bubble team. Kentucky coach John Calipari touted his SEC rivals from Vandy, saying the Commodores were a tournament team when many thought they were not. Cal was right.
Holy Cross — led by former Northwestern coach Bill Carmody — which won the Patriot League as the No. 9 seed and with an overall losing record, is headed to Dayton, Ohio, as expected. The Crusaders will face SWAC champion Southern in a First Four game with the winner getting Oregon in Spokane, Washington.
It would be a better bowl game, but Texas and Texas A&M are lined up to meet in the second round of the West Region in Oklahoma City. The former Big 12 rivals broke off their regular meetings in football and basketball when the Aggies left for the Southeastern Conference four years ago. The divorce was messy with plenty of lingering animosity. Texas is a sixth seed that opens with Northern Iowa. A&M has Green Bay in the first round.
Michigan is in. The Wolverines are going to the First Four to play Tulsa, with Notre Dame then waiting for the winner in Brooklyn.
Remember Florida Gulf Coast? The Eagles made a surprising run to the Sweet Sixteen in 2013 with then-coach Andy Enfield. They were Dunk City back then. FGCU won the Atlantic Sun again and will be in the First Four against Fairleigh Dickinson. The winner plays top seed North Carolina in the East.
UPDATE:Monmouth was left out despite wins against Notre Dame and Southern California. Unfortunately for the Hawks, wins against UCLA and Georgetown were not so impressive in the end.
Sharing the Atlantic 10 regular-season title did not get St. Bonaventure in the field.
South Carolina did not make it, despite starting 15-0 and finishing 24-8. The Gamecocks played a weak nonconference schedule. St. Mary’s was the West Coast Conference regular-season winner and beat Gonzaga twice, but got left out.
Tulsa and Syracuse surprisingly got in.
A supposedly leaked official bracket was posted on Twitter during the CBS selection show. It ended up being 100 percent correct. It was nearly an hour later by the time the network had officially announced all the teams, with Syracuse getting in and Monmouth — and its entertaining bench players — missing out.
