Villanova has to be the favorite in Boston — the Wildcats reached Jay Wright's first Final Four coming out of there in 2009 — but a game against West Virginia in the round of 16 would be memorable. The NC State Wolkpack will play as a 9 seed in this year’s tournament, which will mark its first time back to the NCAA tourney since the 2014-15 season. The Ramblers are in the tournament for the first time in 33 years, but it's tough to pick against Jim Larranaga facing a lower-seeded team with several days to prepare. LAS VEGAS (AP) — Xavier came up just short of the Final Four a year ago, losing to eventual finalist Gonzaga in the Elite Eight. Kansas, by way of traveling to Wichita and potentially Omaha, has the easiest commute of any of the 1 seeds. Here are a few things to watch with the NCAA Tournament about to get underway:

— AGAIN AND AGAIN: Coach K, Self and Tom Izzo keep going back to the NCAA Tournament. Second, even though the West Coast Conference produced a team that played for the national title last season, the selection committee still considers it a one-bid league - unless Gonzaga fails to win the conference tournament. Duke gets to go to Pittsburgh to play Iona and, believe me, Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski is happy to be somewhere other than Charlotte, where North Carolina fans show up to root against the Blue Devils. 2 seed Purdue, which will handle Cal State Fullerton and should reach the round of 16 if only because Isaac Haas may be the world's largest human and he can play. Sixteen of the 68 schools in the field have won a national title: Arizona, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Loyola Chicago, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Syracuse, UCLA and Villanova. The selection committee apparently mixed up their Hurleys because the second-round matchup potentially will feature Rhode Island's Danny instead of Arizona State's Bobby, who helped Krzyzewski win two national titles a quarter-century ago. Dallas also will be a fun place to be because whoever wins the UCLA-St. Bonaventure game in Dayton, Ohio — The Bonnies are in Dayton, but not Oklahoma? The South is full of felines: Kansas State, Davidson, Arizona and Kentucky are all Wildcats. OSU won seven games against top-50 teams, including a sweep of Kansas, a win over 3 seed Texas Tech, a win at 5 seed West Virginia and a semi-road win at Florida State. 12 seeds: Murray State, Davidson, South Dakota State, New Mexico State. The selection committee was in wildcat mode when it put four in the same region: Kentucky, Davidson, Arizona, Kansas State. The team is set to play in the First Round in Charlotte, N.C. on Friday, March 16 against Texas A&M at 12:15 p.m. on CBS.
The field for the NCAA Division I Men's Tournament is announced. The top overall seed is Virginia, with Villanova, Kansas, and Xavier as the other #1 seeds.