NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Reveals Men’s Basketball Top 16 Seeds

With Selection Sunday a little less than a month away, the NCAA selection committee, meeting in Indianapolis this week, has unveiled its current top-16 seeds in the NCAA tournament ahead of an action-packed slate of college basketball.

Unsurprisingly, top programs Michigan, Duke and Arizona represent three of the committee’s No. 1 seeds. Notably, Iowa State, who on Monday defeated the previously fourth-ranked Houston Cougars, captured the last No. 1 seed in the selection committee's initial top 16 preview with March Madness less than a month away.

Here’s how the whole top 16 played out.

NCAA selection committee’s top 16 seeds reveal

Rank	Team (Record)	Region
1	Michigan Wolverines (25–1)	Midwest
2	Duke Blue Devils (24–2)	East
3	Arizona Wildcats (24–2)	West
4	Iowa State Cyclones (23–3)	South
5	UConn Huskies (24–3)	South
6	Houston Cougars (23–3)	Midwest
7	Illinois Fighting Illini (22–5)	East
8	Purdue Boilermakers (21–5)	West
9	Florida Gators (20–6)	Midwest
10	Kansas Jayhawks (20–6)	East
11	Nebraska Cornhuskers (22–4)	South
12	Gonzaga Bulldogs (26–2)	West
13	Texas Tech Red Raiders (19–7)	South
14	Michigan State Spartans (21–5)	West
15	Vanderbilt Commodores (21-5)	East
16	Virginia Cavaliers (23–3)	Midwest

What the top 16 reveal means for rest of the regular season

The first mild surprise from the selection committee was Iowa State earning the fourth No. 1 seed. Committee chair Keith Gill said that initially, UConn held that spot in their conversations but fell to No. 5 after a home loss to Creighton on Wednesday night. Gill said Houston (No. 6), UConn and Iowa State were all in consideration for that final No. 1 spot, but pointed out both the Huskies’ and Cyclones’ elite wins as separators over Houston at this stage.

Among the intriguing storylines worth monitoring heading toward Selection Sunday are some critical location-driven conversations for what regions teams get sorted into. A pair of No. 2 seeds in Saturday’s draw got sorted into less-preferred regions: Houston would love to land in the South to play Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in their home city, while Illinois could have a strongly pro-Illini crowd if sent to Chicago. Potentially complicating things for each is conference balancing: The committee traditionally wouldn’t send a No. 1 and No. 2 seed from the same league to the same region. If Iowa State were the No. 1 in the South and Michigan No. 1 in the Midwest as projected, it will be challenging for Houston and Illinois to get their preferred paths.

An early indicator of the importance of Wins Above Bubble (or WAB) to the committee: All 16 teams in the projected bracket were in the top 17 in WAB, with Alabama at No. 11 the only team left out. That could be simply due to the Tide having seven losses, or perhaps Alabama no longer having center Charles Bediako after he was ruled ineligible by an Alabama court earlier this month weighed into the committee’s evaluation of the Tide. Gill said there wasn’t a “material change” in Alabama’s standing based on Bediako given its performance without him, but that it was something that was discussed in the committee room.

Overall though, limited surprises from the committee in their initial look at where things stand. It does seem that the top three No. 1 seeds (Michigan, Duke and Arizona) are well-positioned to stay there, even as all three face gauntlet schedules down the stretch. But it’s always important to remember that this reveal represents a snapshot in time: We’ll have changes to teams’ résumés throughout the day Saturday and beyond as we march toward Selection Sunday.

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