Virginia earns No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed on Selection Sunday

Yep, that was a bit surprising. Most notably, Oklahoma (18-13) dropped from a four-seed to a No. 10 – the product of losing eight of its final 10 games. The committee usually places great value on winning away from home. That’s where part of the frustration kicks in, the not knowing.

U-M junior forward Moritz “Moe” Wagner has checked out these projections a little bit, but as usual, he likes to leave the rankings and numbers to everyone else. Yeah. Their best wins are against bubble teams Middle Tennessee, Utah and New Mexico State.

“It’s not pressure, it’s just an expectation, I guess”, Brunson said. Should have followed my gut and left the Trojans out. If Auburn were to advance, it would play either No. 6 Houston or the victor of the play-in game 11-seeded Arizona State-Oklahoma in the Round of 32.

Oh, by the way: Texas Southern has won seven straight. That means the NCAA Tournament bracket is ready and willing to be attacked with knowledge by your sharpie.

The Wildcats are listed at 25-to-1 to win the tournament at VegasInsiders.com. Rhode Island wound up getting the at-large bid that would have gone to Bonzie Colson and the Fighting Irish. But the program has been known as much for its early NCAA exits as it has for a 159-21 record with four Big East regular-season titles in the last five seasons. How is that a No. 7 seed?

UM coach Jim Larrañaga feels confident about his team because the Hurricanes were 8-4 on the road this season, one reason their RPI is No. 26.

The Musketeers will likely face the victor of No. 8 seed Missouri and No. 9 seed Florida State as the Tigers will be a team to watch thanks to the status of star freshman Michael Porter Jr.

3 seed in the South Region and will face No. 14 seed Wright State in its opening game in Dallas. Sporting four top-six seeds, the Big 12 held the requisite top-end power and depth to send Texas to the tournament despite a sub-.500 conference record. The Longhorns are looking to avenge the last meeting between the two teams, which resulted in an overtime loss at United Supermarkets Arena. Enough for an at-large bid. That easily topped the six teams the SEC has put into the tournament nine times, most recently in 2008. But should they have been surprised? It was 16-5, ranked No. 12 in the country and had wins over the top two teams in the conference, Texas Tech and Kansas. We find out. Yep, it matters.

“We use the phrase ‘full body of work, ‘ ” Rasmussen said.

Creighton beat Villanova two weeks ago. But this is true …

Coach Calipari will talk about Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament draw. The Sooners are, in fact, kind of reeling.

It gets even more daunting if the Bruins win. North Carolina made a nice push by beating Duke and reaching the ACC tournament title game, but it would have taken a win against Virginia for there to be a heavy discussion by committee members. Nevada, as a 7-seed, has two Quadrant I wins and two Quadrant 3 losses.