There were some doubts about defending national champion Florida when the Gators lost three of four games less than a month ago, but Florida will enter the NCAA Tournament the way it started the season, as the top team.
Ranked No. 1 in preseason after returning all five starters from last year's national title team, Florida on Sunday received the No. 1 overall seed in the 65-team NCAA Tournament, which begins with a play-in game Tuesday.
Florida is trying to become the first team to repeat as national champions since Duke did it in 1992, but the Gators are not heavy favorites, with two freshmen-laden teams -- Ohio State and North Carolina -- among the teams with a shot to unseat the Gators.
The top seeds: Florida (Midwest), North Carolina (East), Ohio State (South) and Kansas (West) were awarded the No. 1 seeds, with Florida scheduled to meet Kansas, the No. 4 overall seed, in the national semifinals if the seeds hold up.
Evidently, the first-round loss to Cal in the Pac-10 significantly affected UCLA's seeding. Selection committee chairman Gary Walters said that Kansas would have received the No. 1 seed in the West even if it had lost to Texas in Sunday's Big 12 championship game. The Bruins ended the season with losses to the seventh- and eighth-place teams in the conference.
The snubs: Syracuse, Drexel, Kansas State, Missouri State, Florida State and Air Force were the most noteworthy snubs, with Syracuse being the most surprising omission. Few thought the Orange were even on the bubble, based on their 10-6 record in the Big East and their recent win over Big East champion Georgetown.
"I am a friend of (Syracuse coach) Jim Boeheim," Walters said, "and I hope I am still a friend of his."
He noted that the Big East's unbalanced schedule affected Syracuse, which did not play either of the conference's top two teams, Georgetown and Pittsburgh, on the road.
Drexel probably ranks as the second-biggest snub. The Dragons had road wins against Creighton, Villanova and Syracuse, but they finished fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Kansas State was also left out despite finishing alone in fourth in the Big 12 and getting to the conference tournament semifinals. Texas Tech, which finished a game behind K-State in the standings and lost to K-State by 21 points on Friday, did get in.
Air Force (23-8) seemed like a lock to make the field just a week ago. On Jan. 16, the Falcons were 17-1 and ranked No. 11, and their current RPI ranking of 32 is the best of any team not in the NCAA field. But the Falcons lost their final four games to drop out of contention.
Missouri State was left out again despite a win over Wisconsin and a third-place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Florida State was sent to the National Invitation Tournament even though four of its Atlantic Coast Conference losses came when guard Toney Douglas was sidelined with an injury.
Lucky qualifiers: Illinois, Stanford and Arkansas made the field despite reservations about each.
The Illini finished in a three-way tie for fourth in the Big Ten, and Arkansas was 7-9 in Southeastern Conference play. Stanford lost six of its final nine games.
Best first-round matchups: Indiana vs. Gonzaga (rematch of last season's second-round game won by Gonzaga), Michigan State vs. Marquette (Marquette coach Tom Crean was Tom Izzo's assistant at Michigan State for four years), Winthrop vs. Notre Dame (Winthrop could be this year's George Mason).
Odds and ends: Several familiar teams will play their opening games at Sacramento's Arco Arena, including the top two finishers in the Pac-10, UCLA and Washington State, and West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga.
The West Regional, with UCLA, Kansas and Pittsburgh, looks like the toughest regional.
The ACC got the most teams into the tournament (seven), and the Big East, Big Ten and Pac-10 got six apiece.
Despite George Mason's trip to the Final Four last season, the so-called mid-major conferences got only six of the 34 at-large berths, which is two fewer than they had last year.
Many consider Winthrop the team most likely to follow George Mason's path to unexpected postseason success, but the Eagles received only a No. 11 seed, despite some impressive wins this season.
Despite being ranked 13th in the coaches' poll released Sunday, Nevada received only a No. 7 seed.
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