NCAA Selection Commitee Reveals Top 16 Teams

In similar fashion to the NCAA football playoff selection committee, the NCAA basketball selection committee has released their top sixteen seeds a month before the NCAA tournament is announced. The NCAA football playoff selection committee releases their rankings mid way through the season and each week following. In comparison, this ranking release will be the only one from the Selection Committee until the second Sunday in March. Below are the teams the selection committee would consider the top sixteen in the country.

1) Villanova

2) Kansas

3) Baylor

4) Gonzaga

5) North Carolina

6) Florida State

7) Louisville

8) Oregon

9) Arizona

10) Virginia

11) Florida

12) Kentucky

13) Butler

14) West Virginia

15) UCLA

16) Duke

Although this list is the top sixteen, the teams would have been seeded differently when it came to the actual bracket assignment. Below is the regional seedings

East Region (New York City)

1- Villanova

2-Louisville

3-Kentucky

4- UCLA

Midwest Region (Kansas City, MO)

1-Kansas

2-Florida State

3-Arizona

4-Duke

West Region (San Jose, California)

1-Gonzaga

2-Oregon

3-Virginia

4- West Virginia

South Region (Memphis, TN)

1-Baylor

2-North Carolina

3-Florida

4-Butler

According to the NCAA the reason for reseeding these teams is that

Using a new policy adopted last summer, the committee asked Villanova for their preferred regional location, and the Wildcats selected the East regional in New York City. The other No. 1 seeds were assigned to regional sites using geographic proximity from their campuses. Kansas, the second-ranked team on the overall seed list, was sent to the Midwest regional in Kansas City, while fellow Big 12 Conference member Baylor is the top seed in the South regional in Memphis. The fourth No. 1 seed, unbeaten Gonzaga, was assigned to the West regional in San Jose.North Carolina is closer to New York City, but the committee assigned them to Memphis to avoid the top No. 2 team being in the same region as the overall No. 1 seed, per the committee’s bracketing principles.

What do you make of the NCAA's initial rankings? Let us know below.