A topsy-turvy season in college basketball delivered a few more twists when the bracket came out Sunday.
Exhibit A: Oregon is a No. 1 seed.
Exhibit B: Monmouth and Valparaisoaren’t part of March Madness, but Michigan and Syracuse are.
, when the committee named Pac-12 champion Oregon a top seed in the West, ACC runner-up Virginia a top seed in the Midwest and Tom Izzo’s Spartans, champs of the Big Ten, a 2-seed.
The teams will decide it on the court beginning Tuesday with a pair of opening-round games. The main draw begins Thursday at eight sites. The Final Four will be April 2 and 4 in Houston.
In a season in which six teams held the top spot in The Associated Press poll — one short of the record — there was no doubt that there would be some debate about who deserved the four top spots. That Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conference champions Kansas and North Carolina earned two of the spots wasn’t that surprising. The rest of the field raised eyebrows.
The head of the selection committee, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, lauded Oregon’s third-rated strength of schedule (as of Sunday) and No. 2 ranking in the RPI, along with its regular-season and tournament titles in the Pac-12. He said Michigan State was the fifth overall seed.
“Very close. It was a vigorous debate,” Castiglione said. “We know how good a team they are. … It was just a close call, and the committee felt Michigan State was fifth.”
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 won only 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 ineligible.
Among those sitting out include Monmouth, which played a killer nonconference schedule but didn’t get rewarded; St. Mary’s, which won the West Coast Conference regular-season title but fell to Gonzaga in the tournament; and Valpo, which ranked 49th in the RPI but had only four wins against top-100 teams.
“We are happy for the teams that will participate in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and wish them the best of luck,” Monmouth coach King Rice said in a statement. “We are disappointed that we were not selected but are excited to continue our season as part of the National Invitational Tournament.”
Of the at-large teams, 25 came from the Power 5 conferences, with 11 from smaller conferences. Of the last eight teams to make it, the count was 4-4, with Michigan, Vanderbilt and Syracuse among the most hotly debated bigger teams.
“In the past, the committee has taken teams with wins, especially road wins,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. “I’m not sure there’s anyone on the bubble who had as good of road wins as we did.”
“We are happy for the teams that will participate in the 2016 NCAA Tournament and wish them the best of luck,” Monmouth coach King Rice said in a statement. “We are disappointed that we were not selected but are excited to continue our season as part of the National Invitational Tournament.”
Of the at-large teams, 25 came from the Power 5 conferences, with 11 from smaller conferences. Of the last eight teams to make it, the count was 4-4, with Michigan, Vanderbilt and Syracuse among the most hotly debated bigger teams.
“In the past, the committee has taken teams with wins, especially road wins,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim. “I’m not sure there’s anyone on the bubble who had as good of road wins as we did.”
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