NCAA Selection Committee Releases Mock Brackets for March Madness

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has selected Virginia as the No.1seed overall ahead of Villanova despite the fact the Cavaliers lost to Virginia Tech, 61-60, in overtime Saturday night at home in Charlottesville.

The other three No. 1 seeds are the Wildcats, Xavier and Purdue.

“When the committee started our meeting Tuesday, I think there was general agreement on who the top three teams, were, but by late Saturday night, that group had grown to four,’’ Creighton AD and committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen said. “We initially felt Villanova was the overall top seed, but we flipped that Thursday morning after they lost to St. John’s at home and Virginia won at Florida State. Despite Virginia’s loss Saturday, we felt that based on their 13 wins in the first two quadrants, they deserved to remain on top.

“Villanova bounced back with a good win over Butler Saturday, so we keep them second. Purdue had two tough losses to quality teams (Ohio State at home, Michigan State on the road), while Xavier picked up two good road wins to solidify the fourth No. 1 seed and ultimately leap past Purdue on the seed list.’’

Auburn, Kansas, Duke and Cincinnati were voted as the No. 2 seeds, while Clemson, Texas Tech, Michigan State and North Carolina was placed in the third seed. The fourth seeds included Tennessee, Ohio State, Arizona and Oklahoma.

Using existing bracketing principles, the committee assigned Virginia to the South regional, which will take place in Atlanta. Villanova was sent to the East regional in Boston, while Xavier was assigned to the Midwest regional in Omaha and Purdue was sent to the West regional in Los Angeles.

Because the top No. 2 seed can’t go to the same region as the overall No. 1 seed, Auburn could not go to its closest site. Therefore, the Tigers were assigned to their next closest site, Omaha.

Kansas was initially assigned to the closest available site, Atlanta. That however changed later in the bracketing process.

Duke went to its closest site in Boston, while Cincinnati was originally sent to Los Angeles.

In the bracketing for the four No. 3 seeds, Clemson could not go to Atlanta or Boston because fellow ACC members had already been assigned to those regions. That resulted in the Tigers going to Omaha. A fourth ACC team on the No. 3 line, North Carolina, had to be sent to Los Angeles because the committee places the top four teams from a conference in separate regions, if they are on the top four lines.

Texas Tech was sent to its closest available site, Boston, while Michigan State was sent to Atlanta.

The bracketing for No. 4 seeds was much easier. Each team went to its closest geographical site. Tennessee went to Atlanta. Ohio State was assigned to Boston. Arizona stayed out west in Los Angeles and Oklahoma went to Omaha.

One of the committee’s charges is to have a balanced bracket. To achieve this, the committee adds up the true seed list number to each of the four teams. The committee considers a balanced bracket to have no more than a five-point separation between the highest and lowest total among the four regions. After reviewing options, the committee decided to switch Cincinnati and Kansas, sending Kansas to Los Angeles and Cincinnati to Atlanta.

Here’s what the mock top 16 looks like:

South (Atlanta):  1. Virginia 2. Cincinnati 3. Michigan State 4. Tennessee

East (Boston). 1. Villanova 2. Duke 3. Texas Tech 4. Ohio State

Midwest (Omaha): 1. Xavier 2 Auburn 3. Clemson 4. Oklahoma

West (Los Angeles): 1. Purdue 2. Kansas 3. North Carolina 4. Arizona

Interestingly, there may not be a truly great team in this bracket. Virginia, Tennessee, Villanova, Duke, Auburn, Oklahoma, Purdue, Kansas and Arizona all lost games this past week.

Rasmussen is joined on the committee by vice chair Bernard Muir, the AD at Stanford, Mitch Barnhart, the AD at Kentucky; Tom Burnett, the commissioner of the Southland Conference; Janet Cone, the AD at UNC-Asheville, Tom Holmoe, the AD at BYU, Jim Phillips, the AD at Northwestern, Jim Schaus, the AD at Ohio U., Craig Thompson, the commissioner of the Mountain West and Kevin White, the AD at Duke.

The actual bracket will be revealed on TBS 6 p.m. Sunday, March 11. The First Four tips off March 13 and 14 in Dayton on truTV. First and Second round games will take place Thursday and Saturday, March 15-17 in Boise, Dayton, Pittsburgh and Wichita; and Friday and Sunday, March 16 and 18 in Charlotte, Detroit, Nashville and San Diego on TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.

The South and West regional will be played March 22 and 24 while the East and Midwest regional will take place March 23 and 25. Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games will air on TBS and CBS, while the 80^th Final Four will be March 31 and April 2 on TBS.