March Madness 2016 NCAA tournament brackets revealed
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.
However Oregon apparently won the top spot in part thanks to incredible depth and a wide-range of scoring options, reports CBSSports.com's Sam Vecenie.
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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. CBSSports.com's Gary Parrish reports this is an experienced and proven team with a top-10 offense and a top-10 defense.
This was among the most unpredictable seasons ever. The top spot in The Associated Press poll changed hands six times -- one short of the record.
The first controversy in the brackets came quickly. Oregon, which won the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles, took the one seed that many experts though could go to Michigan State. The Spartans and coach Tom Izzo have been a constant Final Four threat, but they didn't win the Big Ten regular season, just the tournament.
The Tar Heels (28-6) are tops in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and open Thursday against the Florida Gulf Coast-Fairleigh Dickinson winner about 30 miles away from campus in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Virginia is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Midwest Region even without winning a conference title. The Cavaliers, who open against Hampton, finished the ACC regular season a game behind North Carolina, and lost to the Tar Heels in the conference tournament.
No. 7 seed Dayton (25-7) and No. 10 Syracuse (19-13) meet in the other Midwest Region opener in St. Louis on Friday.
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, 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.
Yale earned just the fourth NCAA bid in school history, finishing the regular season with a 22-6 overall record and 13-1 in the Ivy, matching the best league record in school history.
The UConn Huskies are back in the NCAA Tournament and are confident they've got what it takes to make another strong run.
"I think our style travels very, very well because we play defense," coach Kevin Ollie said after Sunday's 72-58 victory over Memphis in the American Athletic Conference title game gave his team the league's automatic NCAA berth.
"You play defense, and that allows us to win championships, and that's what we hang our hats on," Ollie added. "No matter where we're at, we're going to play defense, we're going to give our offense an opportunity to step up."
Up next is a trip to Des Moines, Iowa, as the No. 9 seed in the South Region. The Huskies (24-10) will face eight-seeded Colorado 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.
Southern California is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five years. The Trojans (21-12) are seeded No. 8 in the East and will face Providence in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday.
There were no easy choices for the committee this season, and the way the big slate of conference tournaments played out only emphasized the way this season has gone. Of the 31 postseason tournaments, top seeds only won 10.
That gave automatic spots to bubble teams (or less) such as Fresno State, Gonzaga and Connecticut, while squeezing out a few spots on the bubble -- even though there were two more available this season because Louisville (and Rick Pitino) and SMU (and Larry Brown) are both ineligible.
Among those sitting out include Monmouth, which played a killer nonconference schedule but didn't get rewarded, St. Mary's, which won the regular-season title in the West Coast Conference but fell to the 'Zags in the tournament, and Valpo, which ranked 49 in the RPI but had only four wins against top 100 teams.