By Ray Bennett
Sunday March 11th, 2012
After a week of thrilling conference tournaments, the road to New Orleans has been paved. For the next three weeks, 68 teams will fight for a chance to win the Division I National Championship.
The NCAA announced the field of 68 teams for the 74th Division I Men's Basketball tournament on Sunday. Beginning on Tuesday with the First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, those teams will try to win six or seven consecutive games for a chance to be crowned Division I National Champions.
For the second consecutive year, the 68 teams are separated into 16 team regions: The East, West, Midwest and South. The winners of those regions will then play in the Final Four, which will take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The number one overall seed in this year's tournament is the Kentucky Wildcats out of the Southeastern Conference. The Wildcats, coached by John Calipari, had an overall season record of 32-2 this season, winning the regular season SEC title. Kentucky was ranked number one in the Associated Press media and USA Today coaches polls nine times out of seventeen weeks, being in the top spot for the last seven.
Kentucky will play out of the South Region, playing the winner of Mississippi Valley State/Western Kentucky for their 2nd Round game. The winner of that game will play the winner of a game between South Region number eight Iowa State out of the Big XII and last year's National Champion UConn Huskies, seeded at number nine.
The South Region also includes ACC power Duke as a number two seed. They'll play Patriot League Champion Lehigh in the 2nd round. The winner will play either Notre Dame (7) or Xavier (10).
Other matchups in the South also feature Mountain West Tournament Champions New Mexico (6) playing Pac-12 Tournament winner Colorado (11), Big XII Tournament runner-up Baylor (3) against Tournament newcomer South Dakota State (14) out of the Summit League, Missouri Valley At-Large Wichita State (5) versus Colonial champion and 2011 Final Four participant VCU (12) and Big Ten school Indiana (4), who is in the Tournament for the first time since 2008, playing Western Athletic Conference winner New Mexico State (13).
Big Ten regular season and tournament champions Michigan State will be the top seed out of the West Region. The Spartans, with an overall record of 27-7, are the only team out of the four top seeds to win their conference tournament.
Michigan State will play their 2nd round game against Northeast Conference Champion Long Island. Big XII Tournament champion Missouri is the number two seed out of the West. They will face Norfolk State, making their first tournament appearance out of the Mideastern Athletic Conference.
Other matchups in the West include Memphis (8), champions out of Conference-USA playing Atlantic-10 school Saint Louis (9), Big East At-Large Marquette (3) playing either Brigham Young or Iona as the fourteen seed, SEC regular season runner-up Florida (7) squaring Virginia (10) out of the ACC, Ohio Valley champion Murray State (6) facing Mountain West team Colorado State (11) and Mountain West Tournament victor New Mexico (5) versus Long Beach State (12) out of the Big West.
The 32-2 Syracuse Orange, the Big East regular season champions, was named the East Region's number one seed. Syracuse will face off against UNC Asheville out of the Big South Conference in their 2nd Round opener. Big Ten Tournament runner-up Ohio State was named the number two seed in the East. They will play Loyola (MD), making their first tournament appearance since 1994, out of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The East Region also features Big XII At-Large Kansas State (8) facing C-USA At-Large Southern Miss (9), perennial tournament contender Gonzaga (7) playing Big East school West Virgina (10), ACC tournament winners Florida State (3) against A-10 tournament champion St. Bonaventure (14), Big East Tournament runner-up Cincinnati (6) doing battle with Big XII school Texas (11), Big Ten power Wisconsin (4) playing Montana (13) out of the Big Sky Conference and Vanderbilt (5), who defeated Kentucky in the SEC title game on Sunday, going up against Ivy League champion Harvard (12), who are playing in their first tournament since 1946.
The North Carolina Tar Heels, the regular season champions out of the ACC, will head the Midwest Region as their top seed. North Carolina will start their tournament run against either Southland champion Lamar or America East champion Vermont. Big XII regular season winner Kansas is the two seed out of the Midwest. The Jayhawks draw Detroit out of the Horizon League for their 2nd Round matchup.
The remaining matchups in the Midwest Region include MVC tournament winner Creighton (8) playing Alabama (9) out of the SEC, West Coast Conference champion Saint Mary's of California (7) facing Big Ten At-Large Purdue (10), Big East power Georgetown (3) drawing Belmont (14) out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, MWC runner-up San Diego State (6) up against North Carolina State (11), Big Ten regular season co-champion Michigan (4) facing Ohio out of the Mid-American Conference and A-10 regular season champions Temple (5) playing either California or South Florida as a twelve seed.
The Tournament officially begins on Tuesday with the first two games of the First Four at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. The first half of 2nd Round games start on Thursday at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the KFC Yum! Center Louisville, Kentucky. 3rd Round games will be played at those locations on Saturday
The other half of 2nd Round games start on Friday and are located at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee and the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Those locations will finish out the 3rd Round on Sunday March 18th.
The Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight will be held on March 22-25. The TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts and US Airways Center in Phoenix, Arizona will hold the East and West Region's part March 22nd and 24th. The Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Missouri and Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia will hold the Midwest and South Region's portion of the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight March 23rd and 25th.
The Final Four in New Orleans will begin with the National Semifinal games on March 31st. The National Championship game will be held two days later on April 2nd pitting the winner of the East/West matchup against the winner of the Midwest/South game.
CBS will once again team with Turner Broadcasting for television coverage of the NCAA Tournament. Tru TV will air the First Four games. CBS, TBS, TNT and Tru TV will broadcast the 2nd and 3rd round games, with the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight airing the following week on CBS and TBS. The Final Four and National Championship game will air for the 31st consecutive year on CBS.
