Villanova is the No. 1 seed in the East region, but will be challenged by Wisconsin, SMU and Duke. (2:31)

Defending national champion Villanova is the No. 1 overall seed in the 2017 NCAA tournament. The Wildcats are a top seed for the third time in school history.

Joining Nova as No. 1 seeds are Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga.

In the East Region, the Wildcats will begin the defense of their title in Buffalo, New York, on Thursday night against the winner of a play-in game between Mount St. Mary's and New Orleans. In the second round, either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin would await.

But lurking down the bracket, Duke is the No. 2 seed in the East.

If 10th-seeded Marquette can get through No. 7 South Carolina in the East -- no easy task considering the game will be played in Greenville, South Carolina -- the Golden Eagles would likely face the Blue Devils and coach Mike Krzyzewski. Marquette, in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013, is coached by former Duke player and assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski.

Kansas is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and will play in Tulsa, Oklahoma, against the winner of North Carolina Central and UC Davis. UC Davis is making its first NCAA tournament appearance.

The second round in Tulsa could have a matchup of blue bloods with Kansas taking on Michigan State -- if the Spartans can win an 8-9 game against Miami.

The Jayhawks lost their Big 12 tournament opener to TCU without suspended star Josh Jackson. Kansas missed out on a chance to get revenge on Iowa State in the conference tournament but might get another crack at the Cyclones in the Sweet 16.

The Cyclones, the 5-seed in the Midwest, beat Kansas in overtime in Lawrence in February and closed the regular season with nine wins out of 10. They will have to get past Nevada and possibly Purdue for a trip to the regional semifinals.

Louisville is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, and Oregon is the 3. Ducks coach Dana Altman could face his old team, Creighton, in the second round. Altman spent 16 seasons at Creighton before leaving after the 2009-10 season.

North Carolina took the top seed in the South. The Tar Heels won the ACC by two games but were bounced from the conference tournament in the semifinals by Duke. The Tar Heels play Texas Southern first, with Arkansas or Seton Hall waiting in the second round in Greenville, South Carolina.

The South Region is dripping with blue and championship history.

The No. 2 seed is Kentucky, and No. 3 is UCLA. Along with North Carolina, those teams have 25 total championships.

The Wildcats will face in-state neighbor and tournament newcomer No. 15 Northern Kentucky, located about an hour north of Lexington. They will play Friday in Indianapolis.

When Kentucky's pairing was announced, the Wildcats were traveling home from Nashville, Tennessee, after winning the SEC tournament hours earlier. They seemed unfazed upon seeing the bracket as they settled onto couches, chairs and the floor in coach John Calipari's living room, where the team usually watches the selection show.

"A few things started leaking on Twitter about it," senior forward Derek Willis said. "When I was walking up the driveway, that's when I found out where we had gotten seeded. We just take what we get and go from there."

Butler, which has the highest seed in school history at No. 4, will be playing in nearby Milwaukee, Wisconsin, against Big South champion Winthrop.

Butler coach Chris Holtmann faced Winthrop at his only other head-coaching stop, Gardner-Webb.

"We were in the same league, and I think they won it one or two years, maybe my first year [at Gardner-Webb]," Holtmann said after the pairings were announced. "I think [coach] Pat [Kelsey] came on in my last or final year there."

Minnesota's first NCAA bid in four seasons under Richard Pitino -- son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino -- makes this the first time a father and son have each taken a team as a head coach to the same NCAA tournament.

Seeded No. 5 in the South Region, the Gophers face a dangerous first-round foe in Middle Tennessee, but they are playing in Milwaukee, about a five-hour drive from Minnesota's campus.

Wichita State, ranked 20th in the nation in the latest Associated Press poll, was given a No. 10 seed in the South.

"I'm just glad [the selection committee] didn't forget about us," Shockers coach Gregg Marshall said only somewhat tongue-in-cheek. "I was starting to think they might forget about us and not put us in at all."

In the West, Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed for the second time in school history, and it comes with some memories -- but not all of them good.

Gonzaga will face No. 16 seed South Dakota State on Thursday in Salt Lake City. The other time the Bulldogs received a No. 1 seed was 2013. And they were sent to Salt Lake City. And they were upset in the round of 32 by Wichita State as the Shockers made a run to the Final Four. This time, the Bulldogs could face eighth-seeded Northwestern in the second round.

Northwestern, in the NCAA tournament for the first time, will face Vanderbilt and first-year Commodores coach Bryce Drew in the opening round.

Defending national and Big East champion Villanova is the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, with Duke lurking at No. 2 in the East. Rounding out the 1-seeds are Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga. Adam Hunger/USA TODAY Sports

No major conference team had waited as long as Northwestern to get its first NCAA bid.

The Commodores, meanwhile, take a lot of baggage into the tournament: 15 losses, the most ever by an at-large team.

Vanderbilt has won seven of its past nine games and 10 of 14. The Commodores notched six top-50 wins, three against Florida and one at Arkansas. They also beat Iowa State.

That earned Vanderbilt the 9-seed in the West Region and the 33rd seed overall in the tournament.

Arizona is the No. 2 seed in the West, the first time in 26 years the top two teams in the West Region are actually from the Western part of the United States.

Florida State is the No. 3 seed. An interesting first-round opponent awaits the Seminoles in Orlando, Florida: Florida Gulf Coast, as Dunk City is back in the NCAAs.

"Tell them that we love being on upset alert," said FSU junior point guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes. "Even when we were on our six-game run against ranked teams [where they went 5-1], no one believed in us."

Syracuse, a controversial bubble team that made it to the Final Four last year, was left out this time -- its No. 84 ranking in the RPI and lack of solid road wins dooming its hopes.

"Last year, we had the same number of losses [14] and the committee chose to go with teams that had wins," said Orange coach Jim Boeheim, whose team's losses this season included blowouts against St. John's and Boston College. "This year, it was virtually the same committee, but they were emphasizing the losses you had."

Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Conference was left out, as the selection committee again mainly shunned the little guys, giving all four of the final bubble spots to teams from the six biggest conferences.

"I'm pretty upset, mad-slash-sad, shocked," said ISU point guard Paris Lee, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year. "Everybody in that locker room is human. Everybody is hurt."

Illinois State coach Dan Muller said: "It is idiotic to me."

The Final Four is April 1 and 3 in Phoenix.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>The 2017 NCAA tournament field is set. The bracket was released Sunday evening. Villanova is the top overall seed, followed by Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga on the top line. Here is the entire bracket:

[Fill out your NCAA tournament bracket here | Printable version]

Villanova will be the 1-seed in the East regional after capping off a 31-3 season with Big East regular-season and tournament titles. The Wildcats are the defending national champion, and with five key players back from last year’s squad, Jay Wright’s team looks like a prime contender to repeat.

Kansas will head to the Midwest regional as the second 1-seed. The Jayhawks won a 13th straight Big 12 regular season title, topping the conference standings by a whopping four games. If they advance to the Sweet 16, they’ll be accompanied by a large contingent of their own fans in Kansas City.

North Carolina claimed the third 1-seed despite an ACC semifinal loss to Duke. The Tar Heels, however, won the regular season crown by two games, and went 27-7 overall against an extremely tough schedule. Wins over Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Notre Dame, Florida State and Wisconsin kept UNC on the top line over other contenders.

The fourth No. 1 went to Gonzaga despite competition from Duke and Arizona. The Bulldogs very nearly completed an unbeaten regular season, but lost their final game to BYU. They rebounded to bulldoze their way through the West Coast Conference tournament, though, and the committee felt their body of work merited a second 1-seed in five years.

Duke’s late charge failed to earn it a No. 1-seed. The Blue Devils won four games in four days at the ACC tournament in Brooklyn, beating Louisville, North Carolina and Notre Dame along the way. They stayed on the 2-seed line, however, and will head to the East region where they could match up with Villanova in the Elite Eight.

Below are all the matchups. The East champion will meet the West champion in the Final Four, while the South champion will meet the winner of the Midwest.

Here is the full 1-through-68 seed list. Kansas State and USC were the last two teams in:</s>For pure drama, best wait 'til the shots start flying.

Though it was no surprise when that school's name popped into the NCAA Tournament bracket, it was a reminder that, yes, this is March Madness — that time of year where anything can happen. The Wildcats, longtime losers in the Big Ten, were officially invited to the tournament for the first time in school history, and the group-hugging, selfie-taking reaction from the players (and others) when their name came up showed how much the accomplishment really meant.

"When I came here four years ago, it was a belief in a day like today," said coach Chris Collins, whose team won 23 games on its way to the tournament.

Another set of Wildcats — the ones from Villanova — were given the tournament's top overall seed. The defending champions were joined by Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga on the "1'' line — a quartet that produced very little in the way of head scratching.

With the brackets set, the action begins Tuesday and Wednesday with opening-round games that will include matchups between the last at-large teams invited into the draw: No. 11 seeds Providence vs. Southern California and Kansas State vs. Wake Forest.

The tournament gets into full swing Thursday, with the Final Four set for April 1 and 3 in Phoenix. Villanova, which won the title last year on a buzzer-beating jump shot by Kris Jenkins, will open its quest for back-to-back titles against the winner of an opening-round game between New Orleans and Mount Saint Mary's.

"I want the guys to enjoy it tonight, and then tomorrow, we're just one of 68 teams," Villanova coach Jay Wright said.

Though Kansas was the overall second seed, it opened as the favorite in Las Vegas, at 8-1. North Carolina and Villanova were next at 9-1, followed by Gonzaga, Duke and Kentucky at 10-1.

Overall, the bracket produced more small quibbles than true blockbusters.

If there was any debate about the top, it was about whether Duke (27-8) really belonged as a No. 1 instead of a No. 2, which is where it ended up. The Blue Devils won four games in four nights at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and have beaten the rival Tar Heels (27-7) twice. But Mark Hollis, the chair of the selection committee, beat back that debate quickly, telling the commentators on CBS (who dragged out the bracket reveal for more than a half hour) that Duke entered the week as a No. 4 seed.</s>The Latest on Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament (all times Eastern):

The No. 1 in West is Gonzaga, but it’s the 8-9 game in Salt Lake City that has historical significance. Eighth-seeded Northwestern, in the NCAA tournament for the first time, will face Vanderbilt with first-year coach Bryce Drew.

No major conference team had waited as long as Northwestern for their first NCAA bid.

Arizona is the No. 2 in the West, and Florida State is the No. 3 seed. Interesting first-round matchup for the Seminoles in Orlando: Florida Gulf Coast. Dunk City is back in the NCAAs.

Gonzaga is a No. 1 seed for the second time in school history, and it comes with some memories — not all of them good.

Gonzaga will face No. 16 seed South Dakota State on Thursday in Salt Lake City. The other time the Bulldogs received a No. 1 seed was 2013. And they were sent to Salt Lake City. And they were upset in the round of 32 by Wichita State as the Shockers made a run to the Final Four. This time, the Bulldogs could end up facing tournament first-timer Northwestern in the second round.

This is a different Gonzaga squad led by West Coast Conference player of the year Nigel Williams-Goss. The Bulldogs have five players averaging in double figures scoring, but the question will be how they handle a close game. Aside from its loss to BYU, Gonzaga’s only had one game decided by less than 10 points since Dec. 3.

Kansas missed out on a chance to get revenge on Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament when it lost to TCU on Friday.

The Jayhawks might get another crack at the Cyclones in the Sweet Sixteen.

As the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region, Kansas will play in Kansas City — where Iowa State won the league tournament on Saturday — if it gets through the first two rounds.

The Cyclones, the fifth seed in the Midwest, beat Kansas in overtime in Lawrence in February and closed the regular season with nine wins out of 10. They’ll have to get past Nevada and possibly Purdue for a trip to the regional semifinals.

Given how many Kansas and Iowa State fans annually make the three-hour trip to Kansas City for the Big 12 tournament, tickets could be a hot item if the Jayhawks and Cyclones get a chance to renew their rivalry at the Sprint Center.

North Carolina takes the top seed in the South. The Tar Heels won the ACC by two games, but were bounced from the conference tournament in the semifinals by Duke. The Tar Heels play Texas Southern in game one, with Arkansas or Seton Hall waiting in the second round in Greenville, South Carolina.

This is a region dripping with blue and championship history.

The second seed is Kentucky and No. 3 is UCLA. Along with North Carolina, those teams have 25 total championships.

Kentucky was still flying when the initial NCAA Tournament bracket was announced and probably didn’t learn until landing that it was a No. 2 seed and matched against in-state neighbor and newcomer Northern Kentucky, No. 15 seed.

The No. 8 Wildcats were heading back to Lexington after beating Arkansas 82-65 for the Southeastern Conference Tournament title on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Coach John Calipari and players usually head to his house after returning to watch the Selection Show, but weren’t back in time this year to discover they’re headed to Indianapolis — at least, not in front of assembled media stationed in the coach’s living room.

Little about the seeding or placement was a surprise, though Kentucky’s run through the SEC had stoked talk radio and social media buzz about possibly earning a No. 1 seed.

Kansas is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and will play in Tulsa, Oklahoma, against the winner of North Carolina Central and UC Davis. Davis is making its first NCAA appearance ever.

The Jayhawks lost their Big 12 Tournament opener without suspended star Josh Jackson.

The second round in Tulsa could have a matchup of blue bloods with Kansas taking on Michigan State — IF the Spartans can get out of the 8-9 game against Miami.

Louisville is the No. 2 seed in the Midwest, and Oregon is the 3.

Defending national champion Villanova is the No. 1 overall seed, a top seed for the third time in school history. The Wildcats will begin defense of their title in Buffalo against the winner of the play-in game between Mount St. Mary’s and New Orleans on Thursday night. In the second round, either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin awaits.

But lurking down the bracket: Duke is the No. 2 seed in the East.

Who will be the No. 1s? That’s the big question as the NCAA committee gets set to reveal the tournament field of 68.

Duke’s late surge to an Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title has the Blue Devils in the conversation. The Blue Devils won four games in four days in New York, including victories against Louisville, North Carolina and Notre Dame.

Conventional wisdom has Villanova as a lock to be No. 1 overall. The experts have Kansas as a solid No. 1. Then it gets a little less certain.

Gonzaga has only one loss. North Carolina was the best team in the ACC during the regular season. Out in the Pac-12, Arizona seems to have the best case. And then there’s Duke with eight losses. No top seed has ever lost that many games.

If there was any doubt about Michigan making the NCAA Tournament going into the week, it’s completely gone now.

Michigan upset No. 24 Wisconsin 71-56 to win the Big Ten Tournament. After beating Illinois, No. 13 Purdue and Minnesota, the Wolverines already knew they were in but this victory helps their seeding even more.

The incredible run through the Big Ten Tournament came after Michigan’s plane aborted takeoff and slid off the runway Wednesday night. No one was injured, but the team had to fly to D.C. Thursday morning and played its first game a couple of hours after landing.

Throughout the tournament, Michigan showed off its depth of offensive options from senior point guard Derrick Walton Jr. and swingman Zak Irvin to forwards D.J. Wilson and Moe Wagner.

Walton led eighth-seeded Michigan with 22 points Sunday and drew chants of “M-V-P” from the blue and gold-clad crowd as he stepped to the free throw line in the final moments.

As the buzzer sounded and teammates celebrated, Walton went down on one knee at midcourt and put his head on his hands.

Wisconsin, the second seed in the Big Ten Tournament, helped itself by reaching the final. Less so for top-seeded Purdue, which lost its opening game.

As the Big Ten and American Athletic Conference wrap up conference tournament championships, it is worth pointing out that the results of those games do not have much effect on the bracket. Michigan beat Wisconsin to win the Big Ten, but both of those teams were going to be in the field regardless. SMU is up big late on Cincinnati in the American final, but same goes for those teams. Both are in.

Even before those games tip the NCAA selection committee’s work was all but done. At most, the results of those games could mean one seed line up or down. The committee cannot make major changes this late in the game, unless some team steals a bid.

College basketball teams across the United States are about to find out how impressive their seasons really were. And 68 teams will have a shot to prove they’re even better, with a path toward winning the NCAA Tournament.

The Division I men’s basketball committee is selecting 36 at-large teams that will make up the field with 32 conference champions, revealing their picks Sunday night through a national television special watched by millions of people.

Teams are holding watch parties at universities as they learn the six- or seven-game path they must navigate to win a title.

The tournament begins Tuesday night with two First Four games in Dayton, Ohio, and culminates with the national championship game in Phoenix on April 3.</s>For pure drama, best wait until the shots start flying.

Though it was no surprise when that school's name popped into the NCAA Tournament bracket, it was a reminder that, yes, this is March Madness -- that time of year where anything can happen. The Wildcats, longtime losers in the Big Ten, were officially invited to the tournament for the first time in school history, and the group-hugging, selfie-taking reaction from the players (and others) when their name came up showed how much the accomplishment really meant.

"When I came here four years ago, it was a belief in a day like today," said Coach Chris Collins, whose team won 23 games on its way to the tournament.

Another set of Wildcats -- the ones from Villanova -- were given the tournament's top overall seed. The defending champions were joined by Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga on the "1" line -- a quartet that produced very little in the way of head scratching.

With the brackets set, the action begins Tuesday and Wednesday with opening-round games that will include matchups between the last at-large teams invited into the draw: No. 11 seeds Providence vs. Southern California and Kansas State vs. Wake Forest.

The tournament gets into full swing Thursday, with the Final Four set for April 1 and 3 in Phoenix. Villanova, which won the title last year on a buzzer-beating jump shot by Kris Jenkins, will open its quest for back-to-back titles against the winner of an opening-round game between New Orleans and Mount Saint Mary's.

"I want the guys to enjoy it tonight, and then tomorrow, we're just one of 68 teams," Villanova Coach Jay Wright said.

Though Kansas was the overall second seed, it opened as the favorite in Las Vegas, at 8-1. North Carolina and Villanova were next at 9-1, followed by Gonzaga, Duke and Kentucky at 10-1.

Overall, the bracket produced more small quibbles than true blockbusters.

If there was any debate about the top, it was about whether Duke (27-8) really belonged as a No. 1 instead of a No. 2, which is where it ended up. The Blue Devils won four games in four nights at the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, and have beaten the rival Tar Heels (27-7) twice. But Mark Hollis, the chair of the selection committee, beat back that debate quickly, telling the commentators on CBS that Duke entered the week as a No. 4 seed.

And though the Blue Devils kept winning over the weekend, "they got stopped on the way by teams that won both their regular-season and conference tournaments [Kentucky and Arizona] and they were never compared to teams on the No. 1 line," Hollis said.

Teams that didn't make it off the bubble included Syracuse and Illinois State.

Syracuse was vulnerable because of its 84th ranking in the RPI and 2-11 record on the road. Still, the Orange ouster was notable because of the outcry when Jim Boeheim's team made the field with a similarly mediocre resume last year -- then made it all the way to the Final Four.

"Last year, we had the same number of losses [14] and the committee chose to go with teams that had wins," said Boeheim, whose team's losses this season included blowouts against lower-division St. Johns and Boston College. "This year, it was virtually the same committee but they were emphasizing the losses you had."

Illinois State's chances took a blow when it lost to Wichita State by 20 in the final of the Missouri Valley Conference. Also, it turns out Wichita State wasn't as highly regarded as many suspected -- the 20th-ranked team in the latest Associated Press poll only got a No. 10 seed.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari, whose Wildcats could face Wichita State in the second round, re-emphasized a point he made last year.

"When you mis-seed somebody, it hurts the seeds above them," he said. "You put a team at '8' that shouldn't be there, and the '1' looks at it like, 'Why are we playing this team?'"

With never-ending realignment turning more mid-major programs into true majors, the number of so-called little guys making the tournament continues to decline -- even if you do count Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference as one of those.

Led by the ACC with nine teams, then the Big East and Big Ten with seven each, the six biggest conferences took 32 of the 36 at-large spots this year.</s>Defending national champion Villanova is the No1 overall seed, a top seed for the third time in school history. The Wildcats will begin defense of their title in Buffalo against the winner of the play-in game between Mount St. Mary’s and New Orleans on Thursday night. In the second round, either Virginia Tech or Wisconsin awaits.

But lurking down the bracket: Duke is the No2 seed in the East.

Kansas is the No1 seed in the Midwest and will play in Tulsa, Oklahoma, against the winner of North Carolina Central and UC Davis. Davis is making its first NCAA appearance ever.

The Jayhawks lost their Big 12 tournament opener without suspended star Josh Jackson.

The second round in Tulsa could have a matchup of blue bloods with Kansas taking on Michigan State – if the Spartans can get out of the 8-9 game against Miami.

Louisville is the No2 seed in the Midwest, and Oregon is the 3.

North Carolina takes the top seed in the South. The Tar Heels won the ACC by two games, but were bounced from the conference tournament in the semifinals by Duke. The Tar Heels play Texas Southern in game one, with Arkansas or Seton Hall waiting in the second round in Greenville, South Carolina.

This is a region dripping with blue and championship history.

The second seed is Kentucky and No3 is UCLA. Along with North Carolina, those teams have 25 total championships.

The No1 in the West is Gonzaga, but it’s the 8-9 game in Salt Lake City that has historical significance. Eighth-seeded Northwestern, in the NCAA tournament for the first time, will face Vanderbilt with first-year coach Bryce Drew.

No major conference team had waited as long as Northwestern to get their first NCAA bid.

Arizona is the No2 in the West, and Florida State is the No3 seed. Interesting first-round matchup for the Seminoles in Orlando: Florida Gulf Coast. Dunk City is back in the NCAAs.
• This story will be updated as it develops.</s>March 12 (The Sports Xchange) - Defending champion Villanova was the overall top seed and one of four number one seeds in the NCAA basketball tournament field announced on Sunday.

The Wildcats (31-3), who beat Creighton in the Big East tournament championship game on Saturday, will play in the East Regional.

The other number one seeds were Kansas (28-4) in the Midwest, Gonzaga (32-1) in the West and North Carolina (27-7) in the South.

The 68-team NCAA men's tournament, nicknamed March Madness, begins on Tuesday with the championship game on April 3.

Kansas won the Big 12 regular-season championship before being upset by TCU in the conference tournament.

Gonzaga, the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament champion, lost only to Brigham Young this year.

North Carolina won the Atlantic Coast regular-season title before losing to Duke in the ACC tournament semi-finals.

In the East bracket, the other top four seeds after Villanova were number two Duke (27-8), number three Baylor (25-7) and number four Florida (24-8).

In the West, seeded behind Gonzaga were Arizona (30-4), Florida State (25-8) and West Virginia (26-8).

The South top four seeds included number two Kentucky (29-5), number three UCLA (29-4) and number four Butler (23-8).

In the Midwest, the second through fourth seeds were Louisville (24-8), Oregon (29-5) and Purdue (25-7).

Northwestern (23-11) made the NCAA field for the first time in school history. The Wildcats were the number eight seed in the West Regional.</s>Villanova took the overall top seed on Selection Sunday, with Kansas, North Carolina and Gonzaga joining the defending national champions on the No. 1 line for the NCAA Tournament.

Not many surprises there, though Duke — left at No. 2 despite a four-win-in-four-night performance in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament — and Syracuse and Illinois State, who got left out altogether, may have been searching for answers.

Northwestern was plenty happy: Though it was no surprise, the Wildcats were jumping up and down, taking selfies and celebrating after being officially invited into March Madness for the first time in the program’s history. The Wildcats were seeded eighth in the West, and will open against Vanderbilt on Thursday.

With the brackets set, the action begins Tuesday and Wednesday with opening-round games that will include matchups between the last at-large teams invited into the draw: No. 11 seeds Providence vs. Southern California and Kansas State vs. Wake Forest.

The Final Four is April 1 and 3 in Phoenix. Villanova, which won the title last year on a buzzer-beating jump shot by Kris Jenkins, will open its quest for back-to-back titles against the winner of an opening-round game between New Orleans and Mount Saint Mary’s.

— Wichita State, ranked 20th in the nation in the latest Associated Press poll, was given a No. 10 seed.

— Syracuse, a controversial bubble team that made it to the Final Four last year, was left out this time — its 84 ranking in the RPI and lack of solid road wins dooming its hopes.

— North Carolina got top seeding over Duke despite losing two of three to the Blue Devils, including in the ACC Tournament.

— Illinois State of the Missouri Valley Conference was left out, as the selection committee again mainly shunned the little guys, giving all four of the final bubble spots to teams from the six biggest conferences.

Early candidate for toughest region: The South, with North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA and Butler the top four seeds.</s>Villanova just won the Big East Tournament and all but surely locked up the No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA Tournament. The team’s 74-60 win over Creighton all but sealed the deal.

Jay Wright’s defending national champion squad entered the week in a tight battle with Kansas and North Carolina for the tourney’s top spot in the tourney. Both the Jayhawks and Tar Heels were upset in their conference tournaments, leaving the Wildcats alone on top.

Villanova will enter the tournament with a 31-3 record and a ton of momentum. The Wildcats have won five in a row and 12 of their last 13 games. On top of that, their resume is nearly impeccable.

The team is No. 1 in the RPI, its strength of schedule ranked 38th entering Saturday, it finished with a 15-3 conference record and was 13-0 in the non-conference, plus the three wins in the conference tournament. The Wildcats were 8-0 on neutral courts, and 9-2 on the road, while posting 5-2 record against the RPI top 25, 12-2 record against the top 50, 17-3 against the top 100 and 24-3 against the top 150. That’s the best resume you’re going to find this year.

There should be no doubt that Nova is the No. 1 seed, and North Carolina has distanced itself as the No. 2 overall. Kansas is still likely locked in to the No. 3 overall seed, while Gonzaga would appear to be hanging on to the final No. 1 spot. It would be a tremendous shock if that wasn’t how things played out.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — Kansas, North Carolina, Gonzaga join 2016 champ Villanova as No. 1 seeds in NCAA Tournament.
The field of 68 teams is announced. The overall top seed is defending national champion Villanova; the remaining #1 seeds are Kansas, North Carolina, and Gonzaga.