[NCAA DIVISION I MEN’S TOURNAMENT] The Pac-12 dominated the NCAA Division I Men’s Tournament draw with three of the top four seeds: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Washingtonand No. 4 California. After having just one team seeded in 2012, six West Coast teams — the three Pac-12 teams and UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge from the Big West — wereseeded. For more on the West Coast’s rise, plus men’s soccer parity and Sunday’s costly conference tournament losses.
NCAA Division I Men:
WEST COAST’S RISE. The Pac-12 dominated the NCAADivision I Men’s Tournament draw with three of the top four seeds: No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Washington and No. 4 California. (ACC regular-season co-champion Notre Dame is the No. 3 seed.)
Afterhaving just one team seeded in 2012, six West Coast teams — the three Pac-12 teams and UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine and Cal State Northridge from the Big West — were seeded.
Since it hadsix seeds in 2003 — the first year the NCAA had 16 seeds — the West Coast has never had more than three seeds until this year.
There are four teams from the West Coast in the entire2012 field; there are nine in 2013 — the six seeds, plus Stanford, WCC champion Loyola Marymount and WAC champion Seattle.
(Seattle is one of two postseason newcomers along withQuinnipiac, which won the MAAC.)
PARITY REIGNS. This fall’s college seasonhas been marked by parity. Five of the six ACC teams come into the postseason with five or more ties.
USF won the new American Athletic Conference championship in a shootout over UConnfor its eighth tie of the season. Quinnipiac won both its MAAC games in shootouts to also finish the regular season with eight ties.
That parity is reflected in the tournament draw astraditional powerhouses Akron, Indiana, UConn and North Carolina all play first-round matches with a Akron-Indiana matchup Thursday’s marquee first-round matchup.
UCLA’s No. 1 seedlanded the Bruins in a 12-team bracket that also includes Akron, IU and UConn and three other former NCAA champions.
SUNDAY LOSSES COSTLY. Among theteams that did not get tournament bids were UIC (16-4-0) and Saint Louis (14-5-2), which both fell in conference finals on Sunday. Both had won their conference regular-season titles.
UICwas perfect in the Horizon League and carried a 10-game winning streak into Sunday’s final against Milwaukee. SLU was unbeaten (7-0-2) in the Atlantic-10.
UIC and SLU will want to quicklyforget what was a miserable weekend. Both teams played in finals that had to be moved to new locations because bad weather made it impossible to play at the scheduled tournament venues.
Parity meant that there were lots of close calls in 2013. Saint Louis (ranked No. 21) was one of two teams in last week’s Soccer America Top 25 along with No. 25 UAB to not get a postseason bid.
Six teams in last week’s RIP Index top 40 did not get in: Gonzaga, Furman, N.C. State and Xavier, plus UAB and UIC.
Conference tournament winsby USF, Indiana and Drexel were costly to bubble teams. USF might not have otherwise made the NCAA Tournament. Drexel came into the week ranked No. 94 in the RPI even though it won the CAAregular-season title. IU’s only hope was winning the Big Ten title because of its losing record.
They all beat teams assured of making the postseason 48: UConn, Michigan State and William& Mary.
FIRST ROUND
Thursday, November 21
Elon vs. Clemson
Connecticut vs. Quinnipiac
Akron vs. Indiana
Delaware vs. St. John’s
Wisconsin vs. Milwaukee
VCU vs. Navy
Louisville vs. Denver
Old Dominion vs. Drexel
Penn vs. Providence
North Carolina vs. USF
Coastal Carolina vs. ETSU
Northwestern vs. Bradley
William & Mary vs.George Mason
Penn State vs. St. Francis (N.Y.)
Stanford vs. Loyola Marymount
Creighton vs. Seattle
SECOND ROUND
(1) UCLA vs. Elon/Clemson winner
(16) UMBC vs. Connecticut/Quinnipiac winner
(9) Marquette vs. Akron/Indiana winner
(8)Virginia vs. Wisconsin/Milwaukee winner
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(3) Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin/Milwaukee winner
(14) Wake Forest vs. VCU/Navy winner
(11)Michigan State vs. Louisville/Denver winner
(6) Georgetown vs. Old Dominion/Drexel winner
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(5) Maryland vs. Penn/Providence winner
(12) UC Irvine vs. North Carolina/USF winner
(13) Charlotte vs. Coastal Carolina/ETSU winner
(4) California vs. Northwestern/Bradley winner
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(7) New Mexico vs. William & Mary/George Mason winner
(10) UC Santa Barbara vs. Penn State/St. Francis (N.Y.) winner
(15) CSUNorthridge vs. Stanford/Loyola Marymount winner
(2) Washington vs. Creighton/Seattle winner
Time to expand the tournament to 64.
Umm. Delaware made the tournament and you mentioned them twice as not making it. Oops. Apologies in order. SLU not making it is a crime. Makes no sense.