Kansas, Duke, Maryland, Cincinnati Lead the Field Of 65 – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2002
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%^$By MICHAEL MAROT
%^$AP Sports Writer%^$
%^$INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Duke was seeded No. 1 for the NCAA tournament for a%^$record fifth straight year Sunday, joined atop the regional brackets by%^$top-ranked Kansas, Maryland and Cincinnati.%^$
%^$Maryland earned its first top spot, despite losing in the Atlantic Coast%^$Conference tournament to unranked North Carolina State. Kansas also did not%^$win its conference tournament, losing in the title game Sunday to Oklahoma.%^$The Terrapins and Jayhawks won their regular-season league championships.%^$
%^$Only Cincinnati won both its regular season and tournament titles. Duke won%^$the ACC tournament.%^$
%^$For the first time, the NCAA selection committee allowed teams – grouped in%^$four-team “pods” – to stay closer to home for the first and second rounds%^$before returning to their assigned regionals.%^$
%^$Maryland (26-4) was seeded first in the East and will play in nearby%^$Washington on Friday against the winner of Tuesday’s opening-round game%^$between Alcorn State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and Siena of%^$the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.%^$
%^$The other matchup in that pod is eighth-seeded Wisconsin against%^$ninth-seeded St. John’s.%^$
%^$The other four teams in that part of the East Regional bracket will play%^$Thursday in St. Louis, Mo., with fourth-seeded Kentucky playing Valparaiso%^$and fifth-seeded Marquette going against Tulsa.%^$
%^$The lower part of the bracket features second-seeded Connecticut against%^$Hampton in Washington on Friday, along with seventh-seeded North Carolina%^$State against Michigan State, which has been in the last three Final Fours.%^$
%^$In Chicago on Friday, third-seeded Georgia meets Murray State and%^$sixth-seeded Texas Tech and coach Bob Knight play Southern Illinois.%^$
%^$In the Midwest Regional, Kansas (29-3), which had its 15-game winning streak%^$snapped by Oklahoma in the Big 12 tournament championship game on Sunday,%^$will play Holy Cross on Thursday in St. Louis. The other game in that pod is%^$eighth-seeded Stanford against Western Kentucky.%^$
%^$The other half of the upper bracket has fourth-seeded Illinois staying in%^$the area against San Diego State on Friday, while fifth-seeded Florida faces%^$Creighton.%^$
%^$Oregon, the Pac-10 regular-season champion, is seeded second and will play%^$Montana in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday, with seventh-seeded Wake Forest%^$against Pepperdine in the other game.%^$
%^$The other half of the lower part of the bracket is in Dallas on Friday, with%^$third-seeded Mississippi State against McNeese State, and sixth-seeded Texas%^$facing Boston College.%^$
%^$Duke (29-3) will open defense of its national championship as the No. 1 team%^$in the South, playing Winthrop on Thursday in Greenville, S.C., while%^$eighth-seeded Notre Dame faces Charlotte.%^$
%^$The other pod in that bracket will be in Sacramento on Thursday, with%^$fourth-seeded Southern California against North Carolina-Wilmington, and%^$fifth-seeded Indiana facing Utah.%^$
%^$Alabama is seeded second in the South and will also play in Greenville,%^$meeting Florida Atlantic, which is making its first tournament appearance.%^$The other game in that pod features seventh-seeded Oklahoma State against%^$Kent State.%^$
%^$Pittsburgh, which lost to Connecticut in the Big East championship game,%^$gets to stay home as the No. 3 seed, playing Central Connecticut State,%^$which has the nation’s longest current winning streak, on Friday. The other%^$game features another in-state team, Ivy League champion Pennsylvania,%^$against sixth-seeded California.%^$
%^$Cincinnati (30-3), the only team with 30 wins entering the tournament, is%^$No. 1 in the West Regional. The Bearcats open against Boston University in%^$Pittsburgh on Friday, with eighth-seeded UCLA facing Mississippi in the%^$other game.%^$
%^$The other part of the top half of the bracket will be in Albuquerque, N.M.,%^$on Thursday. Fourth-seeded Ohio State, the Big Ten tournament champion,%^$plays Davidson and fifth-seeded Miami faces Missouri.%^$
%^$Oklahoma’s first game after the upset of Kansas will be as a No. 2 seed in%^$Dallas on Friday against Illinois-Chicago, with seventh-seeded Xavier facing%^$Hawaii in the other game.%^$
%^$The other pod in the lower half features third-seeded Arizona against%^$Cal-Santa Barbara in Albuquerque, along with sixth-seeded Gonzaga facing%^$Wyoming.%^$
