Virginia, Villanova, Xavier, and Kansas are the Top Seeds in NCAA Basketball Tournament

The selection committee has spoken and the 2018 NCAA Basketball Tournament field of 68 teams has been chosen and their names carved in stone. The #1 seeds are Virginia (31-2) in the South Region, Xavier (28-5) in the West Region, Villanova (30-4) in the East Region, and Kansas (27-7) in the Midwest Region. While an argument for possibly having #3 Michigan State (29-4) be the top seed in the Midwest, the Spartans did lose in the Big Ten tournament after winning the regular season championship while the Jayhawks won both the Big 12 regular season and tournament titles.

Virginia is the #1 overall seed; the Cavaliers are at the top of the polls and won the ACC regular season and tournament, beating North Carolina (25-10 and #2 in the West) 71-63.

Virginia’s strength is its superb defense; the Cavaliers allowed just 53.4 points per game, best in the country. Cincinnati (30-4, #2 in the South) could make for an interesting, and potentially low scoring game in the Elite Eight if it comes down to it. The Bearcats are another team that plays a stifling defense; they allowed 57.2 points per game, second only to Virginia. All four of Cincinnati’s losses came at the hands of teams in the tournament –Xavier, Florida (20-12, #6 in the East) Wichita State (25-7, #4 in the East) and Houston (26-7, #5 in the West). The Bearcats beat Wichita State in the American Conference tournament, and beat Houston two out of three including a 56-55 squeaker in the American Conference tournament title game. Also in the South keep an eye on Loyola of Chicago (#11 seed), a potential sleeper from the mid major Missouri Valley Conference. The Ramblers were 28-5 and closed out the season with a 10 game winning streak.

We got a chance to see Xavier in person early in the season, and came away impressed. That continued while catching some of their games on TV, but they would have really sold us on their chances of winning it all if they hadn’t lost to Villanova twice and Providence (21-13, #10 in the West) two out of three times including just last week in the Big East tournament. Providence and Xavier potentially could meet again in the Elite Eight.

Providence could be a surprise team in the West this year, but #3 seed Michigan is a team nobody wants to play now. The Wolverines, winners of the Big Ten tournament, have a nine game winning streak, and that includes wins over Ohio State (24-8, #5 in the West), Michigan State, and Purdue (28-6, #2 in the East). And then there is perennial contender Gonzaga , #4 in the West, 30-4 with a 14 game winning streak in the admittedly weak West Coast Conference.

There’s always some controversy over who gets in and who gets left out, and for us this year, we just don’t get Oklahoma. The Sooners are the #10 seed in the Midwest, with an 18-13 record including a miserable 2-9 on the road. They ended the season losing 11 of 15. USC (23-11), Middle Tennessee State (24-7) and Oklahoma State (19-14, winners of two of three against Oklahoma and two victories over Kansas) have been put forward as more deserving.