The message is not new, but it may never have been stronger. When the NCAA men’s basketball tournament committee completed its selections Sunday evening–a process that was unusually simple at the top and muddled in the middle–the reward for risk-taking was clear.
North Carolina, Duke, Kansas and defending champion Arizona separated themselves from the pack weeks ago, and each formally earned a No. 1 seed in the 60th tournament, which begins Thursday morning. When the time came to make the hair-splitting decisions, with more than 70 teams considered for the 34 at-large positions, one factor was often decisive. “Who are you willing to play?” asked C.M. Newton, the chair of the tournament committee.
A policy of recognizing challenging non-conference scheduling created a tournament of inclusion. The result is a field with eight conferences sending four or more schools, but none with more than five. A first-time appearance for Illinois-Chicago, added to Midwestern Collegiate tournament champion Butler and Detroit, gave the league an unprecedented three representatives.
UIC, the ninth seed in the East, will meet North Carolina-Charlotte on Thursday at Hartford, Conn., with the winner facing the task of taking on North Carolina, which will oppose 16th-seeded Navy. A No. 1 seed has never lost a first-round game since the 64-team bracket was introduced in 1985. The Flames overcame a first-round loss to Wright State in the MCC tournament with their earlier non-conference victory over Michigan State and one-point loss to Illinois.
The Flames are one of four schools to reach the field for the first time. The Atlantic 10, with five entries, earned as many spots as the Big Ten and one more than the Pacific-10.
Miami, which faltered late in the season, will make its first appearance since 1960. San Francisco will play for the first time since the school temporarily dropped the sport in the early 1980s. Jim Harrick, who coached UCLA to the 1995 championship, will lead Rhode Island into the field one season after his resignation as coach of the Bruins. Nevada-Las Vegas will make its first appearance since the Jerry Tarkanian era ended with NCAA probation.
The brackets offer the possibilities of rematches of several dramatic games. Princeton, which gained more credibility from its loss at North Carolina than it did from its 26 victories, could earn another chance against the Tar Heels in an East semifinal. The Tar Heels, who were jolted by their national semifinal loss to Arizona last spring, could meet the Wildcats in a national semifinal. Duke and Kentucky, who produced a breathless regional championship game six years ago, could be matched in the South final.
Purdue’s consolation prize following its loss to Michigan in the inaugural Big Ten championship game was a No. 2 seed in the Midwest, higher than the tournament-champion Wolverines (No. 3 in the South) and regular-season co-champions Michigan State (No. 4 in the East) and Illinois (No. 5 in the West).
Newton said strength of schedule had become a point of emphasis. “The message has been sent for a number of years,” he said, “not one or two or three. It has been sent since I can remember. It’s not just enough to schedule them. That’s what Illinois-Chicago and Detroit did, and Western Michigan did. They just didn’t schedule. They won some.”
The Boilermakers will meet Delaware, the America East champion, at the United Center on Friday, with the winner facing St. John’s or the Detroit Titans, who are making their first appearance since 1979. Illinois will meet South Alabama on Thursday at Sacramento for the chance to face Maryland or Utah State.
Michigan State will meet Eastern Michigan on Thursday at Hartford in a matchup of two of the state’s five representatives. If Michigan State reaches the second round, the Spartans may face one of the most intriguing tests of the first weekend. Their second-round opponent could be the fifth-seeded Princeton Tigers, who must first beat UNLV in the Rebels’ first tournament appearance since 1991.
Strength of schedule spared Indiana, which has lost four of its last five games including a 48-point loss at Michigan. The Hoosiers, who were rated 25th in the computer rankings used by the committee, were selected over Iowa despite two losses to the Hawkeyes. Indiana, No. 7 in the East, will attempt to end a three-game NCAA tournament losing streak when the Hoosiers meet Oklahoma on Thursday at Washington.
