The number 1 seeds in the 2012 NCAA Final Four Tournament have been chosen, and Kentucky, Syracuse, North Carolina and Michigan State have nailed the top honors.
But with a bumper crop of underwhelming at-large entrants , the defining quality of this year’s bracket on Selection Sunday was the weakness of the teams whose bids were in doubt, including those like Iona, North Carolina State and California that made it.
This year’s tournament expansion allowed for an increase in at large teams and virtually assured that more teams would enter the big dance that have no real chance at winning. Last season, the field expanded to 68 teams from 65, setting up one opening-round game in each region to complete the bracket. In those games, the last four at-large teams are matched against the last four automatic qualifiers to vie for the four No. 16 seeds.
Among the eight teams playing to get into the field of 64 will be Western Kentucky, Vermont and South Florida.Iona was among the biggest surprises in the field of 68. The Gaels, who will face Brigham Young on Tuesday in the West Region’s opening round, had no wins against teams in the top 50 of the Ratings Percentage Index, four losses to teams outside the top 100 and a strength of schedule that ranked 144.
The second notable team this year was Duke, who slipped to a number 2 seed. The Blue Devils were placed number 1 last year and expected to do the same this year, instead watching the honor go to their ACC rival University of North Carolina.
Are you ready to fill out your brackets?
