UConn, Houston, Purdue, UNC males’s No
Mar 17, 2024, 05:57 PM ET
Protecting national champ UConn, a day gotten rid of from winning the Big East tournament and improving to 31-3, was picked as the males’s No. 1 general seed Sunday during the NCAA competition choice show.The Huskies, who have actually won 7 in a row and finished 7-2 this season against groups in the Associated Press Top 25, are signed up with on the 1 line by Houston, Purdue and North Carolina, three teams that have been regularly in the top 10 during 2023-24 but lost in their particular conference competitions last week.UConn will open its title defense at Barclays Center in Brooklyn against Stetson on Friday. Need to the Huskies advance, they will play either Florida Atlantic or Northwestern.”It is difficult no matter where you are,”UConn coach Dan Hurley told ESPN’s Bracketology panel after the choice program. “There’s so much depth in college basketball nowadays. This time of year comes down to who plays the best to their identity.” For the Cougars and Boilermakers, Sunday’s choices mark the 2nd
time in as several years they landed at No. 1. They were signed up with last season by Alabama and Kansas, which both heard their names called this season however not on the leading line.Houston will have to browse the similarity Duke, Kentucky and Marquette in the South Area if the Cougars are able to make their first Final 4 since 2021. The Cougars were rewarded for being the Big 12 regular-season champions and reaching the conference competition title game before losing to Iowa State. They will deal with No. 16 seed Longwood, the Big South champion, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the preliminary Thursday. Houston will be a No. 1 seed for the third time in school history.”Longwood is a champ– that’s what I know about them,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said in his media
accessibility after the choice program when asked about the Cougars’very first challenger.”They just won a championship.”For North Carolina, its No. 1 seed is the 4th and final, and followed much argument in the middle of the committee. The Tar Heels will open Thursday in
Spokane, Washington, against a winner from Tuesday’s First 4.”There was a great deal of conversation, obviously, North Carolina got it, “Charles McClelland, the chair of this year’s committee, said on CBS’selection program. “We took a look at some head to heads, but in general, North Carolina had a stunning season. They did what they were supposed to do in the regular season.”Editor’s Picks 2 Associated Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis, talking to press reporters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, after the program, concurred with McClelland.”
We’re a No. 1 seed
because of
the work this team has actually done this season,”he stated.”I’m proud of how they have actually worked all season, how they have actually played, how they have actually prepared
and how– from the start of the season– they have actually wished to be a group. “Purdue will likewise play a First Four advancer. The 29-4 Boilermakers will begin their run Friday in Indianapolis. Purdue, which lost in the preliminary last season to
Fairleigh Dickinson, has won six of its previous 7 games. “Our objective was to solve back where we were in 2015, and obviously, play better and win games,”Purdue coach Matt Painter told reporters in West Lafayette, Indiana, following the choice program. “But this is a genuine homage to our guys. … You do not begin as a No. 1 seed the next year. You have to make it, and our guys have actually made it. “Purdue’s road could consist of a matchup with No. 4 seed Kansas or No. 5 seed Gonzaga, two groups accustomed to much better seeds this time of year, just to reach the Sweet 16. And to reach the Last 4, the road might go through No. 2 seed Tennessee or No. 3 seed Creighton, which are both coming off disappointing looks in their conference tournaments.Hurley’s group has been the most dominant for much of the season, and the Huskies kept that rolling last week at Madison Square Garden. Purdue had the best collection of wins and Houston was No. 1 in a lot of metrics, but their upsets in the Big Ten and Big 12 competitions,
respectively, loomed big in the committee room Sunday.With a number of upsets in the conference tournaments this weekend, and numerous automatic quote teams taking spots from bubble groups, McClelland called this year’s choices among “the most tough “in years.The Big East was amongst the conferences that were well represented on the outside part of the cut line. And Hurley, in speaking to press reporters in Storrs, Connecticut, after the choice program, disagreed with St. John’s and Seton Hall, 2 conference competitors of the Huskies, not making the tournament.”I’m most likely just a little ashamed for the league, for such a proud league,” Hurley stated of the Big East, which wound up with 3 tournament groups, including Marquette and Creighton. “The entire thing is simply sort of a shell game. And it just really comes down to what the committee worths.”Both the SEC and Big 12 placed 8 teams in the field, while the Big Ten and Mountain West each had six.The Associated Press added to this report.