Who will get top seeds in NCAA Tournament?

Published 7:50 pm Saturday, March 12, 2011

FORT WORTH, Texas — On Sunday, the NCAA will put to rest all of the rampant predictions of who will and won’t get into the 68-team men’s basketball tournament. After the “Selection Show” (3 p.m. PDT) we won’t have to guess anymore. Until then, here is one final prediction. A look at the top fo

ur seeds in each bracket of the NCAA Tournament, and the final four to get in:

East

1. Ohio State: Led by Jared Sullinger, this is the best team in the tournament.

2. North Carolina: Late push puts UNC high, but this team will break your heart. Roy Williams has had better teams.

3. Syracuse: Another solid Orange team is balanced scoring-wise and led by Rick Jackson’s double-doubles.

4. Wisconsin: Jon Leuer and Jordan Taylor are a lethal big-small combination. They average a combined 36 points per game.

Southeast

1. Kansas: Inside play of the Morris twins has KU with Final Four hopes despite it being a “rebuilding” year.

2. BYU: Don’t be fooled. The loss of Brandon Davies will hurt the Cougars against the big teams.

3. Florida: Four players average double figures, but the team shoots 67 percent from the line.

4. Arizona: Throwing a bone to the best team in a what was a down season for the Pac-10.

Southwest

1. Pittsburgh: Overall body of work as the regular-season champs of the brutal Big East puts it here.

2. Purdue: JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore combine to average 38 points and 13 rebounds. Imagine if they had Robbie Hummel.

3. Texas: Solid inside play from Jordan Hamilton gives the ‘Horns a realistic shot of the Final Four. Can they shoot it from outside?

4. UConn: Brilliant run to the Big East final led by Kemba Walker puts them here, but the Huskies will run out of gas quickly.

West

1. Duke: Defending national champ is ripe to be the first No. 1 seed eliminated.

2. Notre Dame: The Irish shoot nearly 40 percent from 3-point range.

3. San Diego State: Coach Steve Fisher’s best team since the Fab Five at Michigan.

4. Kentucky: Another group of talented players from coach John Calipari that won’t win it all.

Last four in …

Michigan State: The Spartans played a brutal schedule and will get in.

Colorado: A 21-13 record, with three wins against Kansas State and one against Texas, pushes it in.

Virginia Tech: Two wins in the ACC tournament pushed it over 20 wins and into the NCAA field.

Missouri State: Regular-season Missouri Valley champs lost in conference tournament finals, but deserve a spot.