Selection Sunday College Basketball Recap

Teams admitted to this year's NCAA Basketball Tournament were announced.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament features some of the biggest games of the year in College Basketball. Selection Sunday is well known as the day that the division tournaments finish and the seeds for the NCAA tournament are announced before the tournament starts later in the week. This year, 68 teams will compete for the title.

This year’s tournament is different from past tournaments because it will feature three extra teams who get in from at large bids and will play in the play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday before the tournament officially begins on Thursday. The tournament will be covered on four television networks.

The overall number 1 seed is Ohio State University with a 32-2 overall season record. This comes as no surprise with their extremely successful season and that they just won the Big 10 tournament. They will represent the East region in this year’s tournament bracket.

The other number 1 seeds are Kansas, Pittsburgh, and Duke. Kansas will be in the Southwest region, Pittsburgh in the Southeast, and Duke in the West region. Duke was previously ranked number 5 in NCAA rankings, but their recent win in the ACC Tournament seems to have given them the edge to get a 1 seed. As play starts in all of these regions, it will all come down to the winner of the East region playing the winner of the West region to get to the final and the winner of the Southwest region playing the winner of the Southeast region to take the other final spot.

The East region consists of multiple teams from the Big East. The top seed, Ohio State, will play the winner of Texas San Antonio and Alabama State. George Mason gets an 8 seed in the tournament to face 9 seeded Villanova. West Virginia takes a 5 spot and will play the winner of University Alabama at Birmingham and Clemson. The Kentucky team has been successful at the tournament in the past, and this year, they get a 4 seed to play the winner of the Ivy League division, Princeton. The ACC regular season champions, North Carolina, take a two seed to play number 15 seeded Long Island University. The 7 vs. 10 matchup in this division features Washington and Georgia. Another Big East team, Syracuse faces Indiana State. The final matchup is between 6 seed Xavier and 11 seed Marquette.

In the West region, Duke leads the way with the number 1 seed and they play the 16 seed Hampton Pirates. The 8 vs. 9 matchup is between Michigan and Tennessee. Arizona gets a 5 seed to play number 12 Memphis who just won the Conference USA Tournament. Texas is matched up with Oakland in the 4 vs. 13 game. San Diego State is the 2 seed in this bracket, and they play 15 seeded Northern Colorado. Temple gets a 7 seed to play a very happy and excited 10 seeded Penn State team. After an incredibly successful weekend at the Big East Tournament, UConn gets a 3 seed to play the 14 seeded Bucknell. Finally, Cincinnati is seeded 6 to Missouri’s 11.

The Southwest region features the top seeded Kansas taking on number 16 Boston University. UNLV and Illinois with square off in an 8 and 9 seed matchup. The Vanderbilt Commodores get a 5 seed vs. the 12 seeded Richmond team. Louisville lost to UConn in this weekend’s Big East Tournament, and they have secured a 4 seed to play Morehead State, a 13 seed. Though Notre Dame was not able to get a top seed in the tournament, they did get a 2 seed to play 15 seeded Akron. Number 7 Texas A&M will play 10 seeded Florida State. Purdue gets a solid 3 seed vs. 14 St. Peter’s. The Hoyas of Georgetown take a 6 seed and will have to wait to see which 11 seed they will face after the play in game of USC and VCU.

The last of the regions is the Southeast where the Pittsburgh Panthers are the number 1 seed playing the winner of UNC Ashville and Arkansas at Little Rock in the first round. Last year’s successful team, Butler, gets an 8 seed vs. 9 seed Old Dominion University. Kansas State takes a 5 seed to play the Utah State team who is seeded 12. Wisconsin is a 4 seed play 13 seeded Belmont. Florida is the second highest seeded team in this region with the 2 seed, and they will play 15 seed UC Santa Barbara. 7 seeded UCLA will take on 10 seed Michigan State. After recent struggle, BYU earns a 3 seed to play 14 seeded Wofford. Finally, St. John’s gets a 6 seed against 11 seeded Gonzaga.

Though there is much debate as to why some teams got in to the tournament over others, there’s nothing left to be done at this point except to wait and see the results as the tournament begins in the next week.