Arizona was given the No. 3 seed in the Midwest in the as-of-now partial NCAA Tournament bracket released today, while Oregon received a No. 2 in the West.
In theory, that means the Wildcats would be lined up for a possible Elite Eight game against Kansas in Kansas City instead of one against Gonzaga in San Jose.
If the bracket stayed firm until Selection Sunday and then played out as seeded, Arizona would face Florida State in the Sweet 16 in Kansas City – with the winner facing top-seeded Kansas there for the right to go to the Final Four in Phoenix.
The first-weekend sites were not revealed but UA would most likely carry its Midwest pod to Salt Lake City, or possibly Sacramento (but Oregon and UCLA will most likely have pods there).
While the bracket means little at this point, it shows that the Wildcats need to leapfrog Oregon to avoid the possibility of facing KU in its backyard, either in the Pac-12 Tournament or by finishing the regular season considerably better than Oregon does.
Committee chair Mark Hollis said the Ducks’ 85-58 win over Arizona moved Oregon ahead of Arizona, giving the Ducks a No. 2 seed and keeping them in the West Region, where they would face a potential Elite Eight game against Gonzaga in San Jose.
“At this point – we don’t have all the data points like we will in March – head-to-head common opponents became important,” Hollis said. “The head-to-head with Arizona and Oregon was looked at.”
Because of the Pac-12's unbalanced schedule, the Wildcats won't have another crack at Oregon unless they meet in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The top four rated teams in each conference must be assigned to different regions, meaning UCLA was assigned to go to the East as a No. 4 seed, where it would face a possible Sweet 16 game with Villanova.
Seeding “principles” such as those spreading conference teams apart and geographical considerations account for why the bracket was not laid out in a perfect “S-Curve” format (i.e. with No. 1 overall facing No. 8 overall in a possible Elite Eight)
Here’s the full list of seeds in each region, with their overall seeding in parentheses. The NCAA’s official release is attached as a PDF.
EAST
1 Villanova (1)
2 Louisville (7)
3 Kentucky (12)
4 UCLA (15)
SOUTH
1 Baylor (3)
2 North Carolina (5)
3 Florida (11)
4 Butler (13)
MIDWEST
1 Kansas (2)
2 Florida State (6)
3 Arizona (9)
4 Duke (16)
WEST
1 Gonzaga (4)
2 Oregon (8)
3 Virginia (10)
4 West Virginia (14)
Biggest college basketball news in the Bay area isn't Cal's appearance at McKale but the St. Mary's-Gonzaga showdown (6:15 p.m., ESPN).
You might say this California Golden Blogs post is pretty fired up about the UA-Cal game, however.
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