Duke, Michigan State, Two Pac-10 Teams Get No. 1 Seeds – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/14/2000 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
INDIANAPOLIS – Duke and Michigan State, top seeds last season, and%^$Stanford and Arizona, both from the Pac-10, were selected Sunday as the No. 1%^$seeds for the NCAA tournament.%^$
Cincinnati, which had been ranked No. 1 in the AP poll for 12 weeks but lost%^$center Kenyon Martin to a broken leg last week, was seeded second.%^$
Duke, seeded No. 1 for the third straight year and the national runner-up%^$last season, was the top team in the East. The Blue Devils (27-4) will play%^$16th-seeded Lamar, the only team in the field with a .500 record, on Friday in%^$Winston-Salem, N.C.%^$
Michigan State (26-7), which reached the Final Four last season, was No. 1%^$in the Midwest and will play No. 16 Valparaiso on Thursday in Cleveland.%^$
Arizona (26-6), the Pac-10 champion, was No. 1 in the West and will play No.%^$16 Jackson State on Thursday in Salt Lake City.%^$
Stanford (26-3), which lost twice to Arizona this season, was selected as a%^$No. 1 seed for the first time and will play in the South, opening against No.%^$16 South Carolina State on Friday in Birmingham, Ala.%^$
Temple, a team considered by many as a possible No. 1 seed, was No. 2 in the%^$East and will play Lafayette on Friday in Buffalo, N.Y.%^$
The other No. 2 seeds were Cincinnati in the South, Iowa State in the%^$Midwest and St. John’s in the West.%^$
Three conferences had six teams selected – Big 10, Big 12 and Southeastern -%^$and the Big East had five. Conference USA and the Pac-10 had four teams each,%^$while the Atlantic Coast Conference had only three teams selected for the%^$second straight year.%^$
The other games in Winston-Salem will be No. 4 Illinois against No. 13%^$Pennsylvania, No. 5 Florida against No. 12 Butler, and No. 8 Kansas against No.%^$9 DePaul.%^$
The rest of the schedule in Buffalo will be: No. 3 Oklahoma State-No. 14%^$Hofstra, No. 6 Indiana-No. 11 Pepperdine, and No. 7 Oregon-No. 10 Seton Hall.%^$
In addition to Stanford-South Carolina State, the rest of the games in%^$Birmingham will be: No. 4 Tennessee-No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette, No. 5%^$Connecticut-No. 12 Utah State, and No. 8 North Carolina-No. 9 Missouri.%^$
The other South bracket will be in Nashville, Tenn., where Cincinnati plays%^$No. 15 North Carolina-Wilmington, No. 3 Ohio State faces No. 14 Appalachian%^$State, No. 6 Miami goes against No. 11 Arkansas, and No. 7 Tulsa plays No. 10%^$UNLV.%^$
In Salt Lake City, No. 4 LSU plays No. 13 Southeast Missouri State, No. 5%^$Texas faces No. 12 Indiana State, and No. 8 Wisconsin goes against No. 9 Fresno%^$State.%^$
The other West bracket, in Tucson, Ariz., features St. John’s against No. 15%^$Northern Arizona, No. 3 Oklahoma-No. 14 Winthrop, No. 6 Purdue-No. 11 Dayton,%^$and No. 7 Louisville-No. 10 Gonzaga.%^$
In addition to the Michigan State-Valparaiso game in Cleveland, No. 4%^$Syracuse faces No. 13 Samford, No. 5 Kentucky goes against No. 12 St.%^$Bonaventure, and No. 8 Utah plays No. 9 Saint Louis.%^$
Iowa State plays No. 15 Central Connecticut State in Minneapolis, No. 3%^$Maryland faces No. 14 Iona, No. 6 UCLA goes against No. 11 Ball State, and No.%^$7 Auburn plays No. 10 Creighton.%^$
On March 23 and 25 the West Regional will be in Albuquerque and the Midwest%^$will be in Auburn Hills, Mich. On March 24 and 26 the East Regional will be in%^$Syracuse, N.Y., while the South will be in Austin, Texas.%^$
The Final Four is April 1 and 3 in Indianapolis.%^$
For the first time in many years North Carolina was a team on the bubble.%^$The Tar Heels’ selection extended their record of consecutive tournament%^$appearances to 26 years. The second longest streak also continued, with Arizona%^$making its 16 consecutive appearance.%^$
Three schools – Central Connecticut State, North Carolina-Wilmington and%^$Southeast Missouri State – are making their first appearances in the%^$tournament.%^$
The longest wait that ended Sunday belonged to Hofstra, which had not been%^$in the field since 1977. The other waits of over 20 years that ended belonged%^$to St. Bonaventure (1978) and Appalachian State and Indiana State, which made%^$their last appearances in 1979.%^$
That Appalachian State team was coached by Bobby Cremins, who retired%^$earlier this season at Georgia Tech, while the Indiana State team was led by%^$Larry Bird and lost in the championship game to Michigan State and Magic%^$Johnson.%^$
Fresno State is in for the first time since 1984, and coach Jerry Tarkanian%^$hasn’t been in the tournament since leading UNLV to the Final Four in 1991 as%^$the Runnin’ Rebels tried to repeat as national champions.%^$
Tulsa and Iowa State, both with 29-4 records, have the most victories of%^$those in the field, while Lamar (15-15) and Jackson State (17-15) have the most%^$losses.%^$
The at-large teams with highest seeds were St. Bonaventure, which lost to%^$Temple in the Atlantic 10 championship game, and Indiana State, the%^$regular-season champions of the Missouri Valley Conference, both No. 12 seeds.%^$
Among the teams which did not get at-large bids but were under consideration%^$were: Vanderbilt, which would have given the SEC seven teams and might have%^$been knocked out when Arkansas went on a surprise run to the conference%^$tournament title, Villanova and Notre Dame of the Big East, Brigham Young of%^$the Mountain West, and Southwest Missouri State of the Missouri Valley%^$Conference.%^$
%^$By STEVE HERMAN%^$
AP Sports Writer%^$
