NCAA Tournament matchups to watch

On Sunday evening, this year’s bracket was revealed. The big problems the committee seems to have come in the seeding arena, where seeds after the top-4 seem to be handed out in arbitrary, confusing, and often contradictory ways.

If Maryland wins Thursday, they will play the victor of the 3-seed Florida State and 14-seed Florida Golf Coast contest. The Shockers have one of their best teams, one quite capable of going deep, especially if they had received a seed that better reflects their ability.

Breakdown: Kansas earns a No. 1 seed for a ridiculous 13th time and starts close to home in Tulsa against the victor of NC Central and UC Davis’ play-in game. Top-seeded Kansas will have a home-state edge if it makes it to the regional in Kansas City, Missouri.

The West Region’s top two teams are from the West for the first time since 1991.

No. 13 Winthrop vs.

Monmouth, regular-season champion in the MAAC, lost to Sienna in the conference tournament semifinals, and that was that. The Cylcones, who reached last year’s Sweet 16, have won 10 of their past 12 games, including victories over Kansas and Baylor.

The bracket is finally out, and the manic first two days of the NCAA Tournament have been set. Butler is coming off a first-round loss in the Big East tournament against Xavier.

■ Would it have killed the committee to seed North Carolina Central 15th and keep it out of the First Four? If they were matched up, Wichita State would be a 6- or 7-point favorite, if not more. Chris Mack’s team has star guard Trevon Bluiett (17.6 points per game), and Xavier beat Butler in the Big East tourney.

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A few lines to monitor: Middle Tennessee State vs. Minnesota, UNC Wilmington vs. Virginia and East Tennessee State vs. Florida. Get through that game, and the Wildcats could face a tough test in either No. 4 Florida or fifth-seeded Virginia.

The Gators have had trouble scoring of late, and East Tennessee State held opponents to under 70 points per game this season. And in it, I referred to Wichita State as “underseeded”.

While seeing which bubble teams make the tournament and how they react is always fun, it’s also exciting to see teams with a guaranteed spot go bananas when they see themselves on the big screen. What’s more, Rhode Island rides into the tournament with all kinds of momentum after capturing the Atlantic 10 tournament.

That run, combined with the fact that they played what many felt was the country’s most hard non-conference schedule, was enough to convince the selection committee that 15 losses was an acceptable number in this case.

Stay away from: No. 3 OR should make it to the Sweet 16, but a season-ending injury to big man and shot-blocker extraordinaire Chris Boucher might be tough to overcome.

UNC-Wilmington gets their second crack at an ACC team, after falling to Duke a year ago.