- Huskies’ championship defense begins with game against No. 16 seed Stetson
- The NCAA tournament starts Tuesday and lasts almost three weeks
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UConn earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament after winning a national championship last season.
Purdue, Houston and North Carolina rounded out the field of 68 seeds, with the entire tournament field revealed Sunday night.
Tournament projections have varied more than ever this season, with Florida Atlantic expected to barely hold on to an at-large bid but received a No. 8 seed.
On the other side of the coin, Boise State had plenty of quality wins, but ended up as one of the last four teams in the field of 68, even though many thought the Broncos had room in outside the bubble.
Four teams have won 30 games this season in Division I, all winning either the No. 1 seed, UConn or Houston, or the No. 12 seed, James Madison or McNeese State.
UConn is the defending national champion and earned first place in this year’s category.
After losing as a No. 1 seed last season in the first round, Purdue is seeded again in March.
The NCAA Tournament begins Tuesday night with two “First Four” games, with the first full slate of games with different seeds facing off on Thursday.
Purdue was the No. 1 overall seed last season, but fell in the first round to Farleigh Dickinson. This season, the Boilermakers will face the winner of Grambling State and Montana State in the first round.
Top three seeds Purdue, UConn and Houston looked like locks heading into the weekend, with North Carolina clinging to the final No. 1 seed even though it didn’t win the ACC Tournament .
Teams that have had their bubbles burst include Oklahoma, St. Johns and Indiana State.
Big East contenders Providence and Seton Hall are also not in the tournament.
The No. 2 seeds are Iowa State, Tennessee, Marquette and Arizona.
NCAA selection committee chairman Charles McClelland said there have been five bid stealers this season, meaning if those teams hadn’t won their conference tournaments, they wouldn’t have not been among the 68.
The most famous of that quintet was New Mexico, which won the Mountain West Conference tournament on Saturday.
In theory, this means that Richard Pitino’s team may have cost his father Rick Pitino’s new team run by St. John’s, an NCAA tournament venue.
