At The Top Of Their Game

The Duke Blue Devils, Stanford Cardinal, Michigan State Spartans and Arizona Wildcats received the top seeds in each of the four regions for this years' NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Duke, which won the ACC regular season and conference tournament championships, got the nod as the top seed in the East Region.

Stanford, which finished tied for the Pac-10 title with Arizona, but lost to the Wildcats twice during the season, will head to the South Region as the No. 1 seed.

Michigan State, the Big Ten Conference tournament champions, were given the Midwest's top seed. The Spartans become the first team with seven losses to be chosen a No. 1 seed since the seeding process began in 1979.

In a mild surprise, Arizona was made the No. 1 seed in the West Region. Craig Thompson, Chairman of the NCAA selection committee, said the Wildcats were considered a stronger team than Stanford despite having three more losses. He added that Arizona's two head-to-head wins over the Cardinal factored a great deal in the decision.

That left Cincinnati, which was the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll for 12 weeks this season, as a No. 2 seed in the South Region.

That didn't sit well with Bearcats head coach Bob Huggins.

"It's ridiculous, totally ridiculous," Huggins said. "We must be the first team in history to be No. 1 in the RPI and not get a No. 1 seed. That's a historical thing those guys just did. How do they know how good we'll be without Kenyon?"

Another team that was considered a possible No. 1 seed was Temple. But, like Cincinnati, the Owls were made a No. 2 selection. They will play in the East Region. Iowa State (Midwest) and St. John's (West) received the other No. 2 seeds.

As far as the conference breakdown is concerned, the Big 12, Big Ten and SEC grabbed the most tournament bid. Each got six teams into the dance. The Big East was next with five and Conference USA and the Pac-10 got four berths.

The ACC will be represented by only three teams. But, North Carolina is one of those three That extends the Tar Heels' consecutive tournament appearances record to 26-straight years.

Since St. Bonaventure and Indiana State received the highest seeds among at-large teams, it's safe to assume that they were the last two teams to make the tournament field.

That left high-profile teams such as Vanderbilt, Villanova, Notre Dame, BYU and Southwest Missouri State on the outside looking in.

Produced by John Esterbrook.