Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse
earned top billing and the No. 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament Sunday,
with the Jayhawks named the top seed overall for the 2010 version of
March Madness.
With all the conference tournaments complete,
the NCAA selection committee rolled out its 65-team bracket, setting it
up for millions of fans to start making their picks for what is annually
America's largest, three-week office pool.
Play starts Tuesday with an opening-round game,
and the tournament goes into full swing Thursday.
Syracuse was ranked fourth of the top seeds and
sent to the West Region. That was a surprise for the Big East
regular-season champions, who were considered a lock for a top spot,
while Duke was expected to vie with West Virginia for the final No. 1
seed. Duke was ranked third and will play in the South region.
According to the committee, Kansas (32-2) is
the favorite to win its second national title in three years.
Leading the Jayhawks in the Midwest Region are
Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, two key pieces in the team's 2008
title run. The Jayhawks earned the overall No. 1 seed based on an 18-1
record against Big 12 foes, which includes three wins over Kansas State,
a team in the mix for a top seed until falling to KU in the conference
final Saturday.
Kansas opens Thursday against No. 16 Lehigh in
the Midwest regional. No. 1 seeds are undefeated in the first round
since 1985, when the field first was expanded to 64 teams.
Other first-round games in the Midwest are: No.
8 UNLV vs. No. 9 Northern Iowa; No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 12 New
Mexico State; No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Houston; No. 2 Ohio State
against No. 15 UC-Santa Barbara; No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Georgia
Tech; No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Ohio and No. 6 Tennessee vs. No. 11
San Diego State.
In shaping the bracket, the selection committee
didn't include teams' performances in their last 12 games — a longtime
staple of its expansive criteria that was deemed as carrying too much
weight.
But Syracuse (28-4) still took a bit of a hit,
ranked fourth among the top seeds, behind Duke, and was sent to the
West region. The Orangemen closed out the season on their first two-game
losing streak and lost center Arinze Onuaku in a loss to Georgetown in
the Big East quarterfinals. Onuaku is expected back for his team's
opener Friday against No. 16 Vermont.
Other West region games include No. 8 Gonzaga
vs. No. 9 Florida State, No. 4 Vanderbilt against No. 13 Murray State
and No. 5 Butler against No. 12 UTEP, one of the bubble teams. The other
side of the bracket pits No. 2 Kansas State against No. 15 North Texas,
No. 7 BYU against No. 10 Florida, No. 3 Pittsburgh against No. 14
Oakland and No. 6 Xavier against No. 11 Minnesota.
Along with UTEP, Minnesota and Florida were
considered among the bubble teams most at risk.