Louisville snatches overall No. 1 seed in crazy field

3/18/2013

Louisville is the top seed in the NCAA tournament after a topsy-turvy season in college basketball, capped by another round of upsets over the weekend.

That other team from the Bluegrass State won't even get a chance to defend its national title.

While the Big East champion Cardinals surged to the top of the 68-team bracket released Sunday, joined by fellow No. 1 seeds Kansas, Indiana, and Gonzaga, the school that won it all a year ago was left out of the field. Kentucky was hoping the committee would overlook a dismal performance in the Southeastern Conference tournament, but the Wildcats will have to settle for a spot in the second-tier National Invitation Tournament.

As if that's not bad enough for Kentucky fans, Louisville (29-5) gets to rub a little more salt in its rival's wounds by opening the tournament about 75 miles from home on Kentucky's home court, Rupp Arena in Lexington. The Cardinals will face either Liberty or North Carolina State in a second-round game on Thursday.

The selection committee had its work cut out after five teams swapped the top ranking in the Associated Press poll, capped by West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga (30-2) moving to the lead spot for the first time in school history. Committee chairman Mike Bobinski said last week he thought as many as seven teams could be in the running for No. 1 seeds, the result of a season in which no school established itself as a solid favorite.

Of course, only four spots were available. The top one went to No. 4-ranked Louisville, which stumbled through a three-game losing streak in January after rising to No. 1 in the poll, and came up short in an epic five-overtime loss at Notre Dame a few weeks later.

The Cardinals have ripped off 10 straight wins since, capped by a stunning turnaround in the championship game of the Big East tournament. They trailed Syracuse by 16 points early in the second half, but turned up the full-court pressure and won in a romp, 78-61.

The Big East, in its final year before the basketball-only schools break away to form their own league, led the way with eight teams in the NCAA field.

No. 7 Kansas (29-5) moved up to take the second overall seed after an impressive run through the Big 12 tournament, punctuated by a 70-54 victory over rival Kansas State in the title game. No. 3 Indiana (28-6) is third overall despite falling to Wisconsin in the Big Ten semifinals. The Zags claimed the last of the coveted No. 1 seeds, edging out Atlantic Coast Conference champion Miami.

The top spots are significant in at least one respect: A No. 1 has never lost to a 16th-seeded team.

Miami became the first ACC team to be denied a top seed after winning both the ACC regular season and conference tournament.

"We try to control the things we can control," coach Jim Larranaga said. "We have no control over that. Wherever they seed us, wherever they send us, whoever we play, we'll get ready just like we do for every game."

The Hurricanes were among the No. 2 seeds with conference rival Duke, Georgetown from the Big East, and Big Ten tournament champion Ohio State.

Duke cost itself a shot at a No. 1 seed with a loss to Maryland in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament. Georgetown lost in the Big East semifinals and settled for a No. 2 as well, but Indiana was in no danger of dropping off the top line, despite its loss to the Badgers. Bobinski said the Hoosiers' overall body of work was good enough to ensure they didn't fall below one of the top four spots, no matter what happened Sunday.

The tournament begins Tuesday with a pair of games in Dayton. Everyone is trying to get to Atlanta for the Final Four, which begins April 6 at the Georgia Dome.

If Louisville advances to the round of 16, there's a chance Pitino would get to match up with Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford, a regional MVP on Pitino's Kentucky team that made it to the Final Four two decades ago.

On Thursday, Gonzaga takes on Southern in the second round of the West Regional at Salt Lake City. The Zags will be relishing their first No. 1 seed, though they are hardly a tournament neophyte; this is their 15th straight NCAA appearance, a mid-major program that has shown it can hang with the big boys. The Zags are no longer the plucky upstarts. They're one of the favorites.

"In our judgment that's a very complete and very strong basketball team," Bobinski said.

On Friday, Kansas stays close to home in Kansas City, facing Western Kentucky in a South Regional second-round game, while Indiana opens in Dayton at the East Regional against either LIU Brooklyn or James Madison, another of the "First Four" contests.

While the Big East had the most teams, followed by the Big Ten with seven, the less-glamorous leagues also did well. Middle Tennessee State, for instance, was the last of the at-large teams to make the field, beating out power-conference teams such as Tennessee, Iowa, Alabama, and Virginia.

MTSU lost in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament after winning the regular season title, which in previous years might have been enough to knock them out of the NCAAs.

Not this time. The Blue Raiders (28-5) are headed to the tournament, helped along by another upset when Mississippi knocked off Florida in the SEC championship game Sunday. Middle Tennessee had beaten the Rebels.

After a season of upsets, Oklahoma State's Ford doesn't expect anything to change in the NCAAs.

"More than any year I can remember, I don't think seeding really matters. I really don't," he said. "After [the first round], I think it's throw it up in the air. ... Even a lot of the No. 1 seeds have some tough second-round games."