The Z-Bracket: 2011 edition

I am pleased and proud to present the 2011 Z-Bracket; for the ninth time, I'll use the Z-Ratings (also known as the Bradley-Terry system, and KRACH in the college hockey world), to draw up this year's NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship. The tournament may have undergone some changes in format from years past, but the Z-Bracket can change with it, while still remaining transparent in construction. The basis for everything that follows is the Z-Ratings through 13 March, produced from all 5,248 games between Division I schools. (Summary of previous brackets | Jump to this year's bracket)

(Update, Monday afternoon, 14 March: Added discussions of big seeding discrepancies between Z-Bracket and committee, and comparison under bells and whistles.)
(Update, late Monday evening, 14 March [actually Tuesday morning]: Added bracket simulations; a bit more discussion on the at-large "snubs"; discussion of Butler's seed.)

Selecting the field

Step 1: the automatic bids.

The Great West Conference is still ineligible for an automatic bid. As always, we extend these invitations to thirty conference tournament champions and the Ivy League ~~regular season~~ playoff winner.

Team Conference Rank Team Conference Rank

Ohio State Big Ten 1 Long Island Northeast 92

Kansas Big 12 2 Bucknell Patriot League 98

San Diego State Mountain West 3 Indiana State Missouri Valley 111

Duke Atlantic Coast 7 Wofford Southern 117

Connecticut Big East 8 Akron Mid-American 118

Kentucky Southeastern 19 St. Peter's Metro Atlantic Athletic 127

Utah State Western Athletic 22 Morehead State Ohio Valley 134

Old Dominion Colonial Athletic 27 Northern Colorado Big Sky 143

Richmond Atlantic 10 37 Boston University America East 157

Washington Pacific-10 39 Hampton Mid-Eastern Athletic 161

Gonzaga West Coast 43 UC Santa Barbara Big West 175

Memphis Conference USA 46 UNC Asheville Big South 179

Belmont Atlantic Sun 57 Arkansas - Little Rock Sun Belt 197

Butler Horizon League 58 Texas - San Antonio Southland 227

Princeton Ivy League 59 Alabama State Southwestern Athletic 315

Oakland Summit League 78

Step 2: the at-large bids.

The rest of the field is filled out with the 34 37 highest ranked teams not already in. For the new-but-I'm-not-so-sure-it's-improved 2011 tournament, these teams are:

Team	Rank	Team	Rank	Team	Rank
Pittsburgh	4	West Virginia	20	Xavier	34
Notre Dame	5	UNLV	21	Illinois	35
Brigham Young	6	Texas A&M	23	Penn State	36
Syracuse	9	Villanova	24	George Mason	38
Texas	10	Arizona	25	Virginia Tech	40
Louisville	11	Kansas State	26	UCLA	41
Purdue	12	Missouri	28	Florida State	42
Wisconsin	13	Temple	29	Clemson	44
Cincinnati	14	Marquette	30	Georgia	45
North Carolina	15	Michigan	31	Colorado	47
Georgetown	16	Vanderbilt	32	Northwestern	48
Florida	17	Michigan State	33	Boston College	49
St. John's	18

Teams in italics were not selected for the actual tournament field. The teams that made the NCAA tournament but were left out here are: Tennessee (50), UAB (52), Virginia Commonwealth (67), and Southern California (70).

I am 100 percent on board with the cognoscenti of the Self-Proclaimed Worldwide Leader, who have pilloried the Selection Committee for the way it handled the bubble. Neither USC nor VCU should have come close to sniffing a bid. They are, respectively, eighteen and twenty-one places below the Z-Bracket cut line. UAB is actually much closer, but they might have ended up on the right side of the line had they won a game or two in the Conference USA tournament. And Tennessee is the first team out here, so no big deal to me on that one.

On the other hand, nobody is going to weep for Northwestern over their exclusion, and Boston College is only marginally more worthy of sympathy. Neither the Wildcats nor the Eagles (both of whom are coached by ex-Ivy League guys) will get any pity from me. But Colorado and Virginia Tech both got hosed. For crying out loud, I am sick and tired of hearing about the canard that is the "non-conference strength of schedule." A game is a game is a game, regardless of whether or not you play an opponent every year via the league.

The counter-protest is being taken up by, among others, Jerry Beach and Joe Sheehan, who would probably love nothing more than to have Jay Bilas, Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis, and Dick Vitale paraded in front of CAA headquarters and then ceremonially beheaded. I was initially frustrated with those knocking Colorado and Virginia Tech, especially the "us vs. them" attitude they seemed to have toward the "power" leagues. But with the benefit of twenty-four hours of hindsight, I can give much more deference to their rationale. Unlike yours truly, they are not evaluating the at-large teams in a vacuum; they are giving deference to teams like UAB and VCU because of the difficulty they have in scheduling. I can't fault them too much for doing so, and it's a problem in need of a remedy. But I think it's something that should be handled by the conferences and the NCAA as a whole, and not the selection committee. That said, I think the one point on which we're all in accord is Gene Smith's horrible job with the media. I wanted to scream "ATFQ" at Smith - that's an acronym from my days of Navy training. It stands for "answer the fucking question," which Smith steadfastly refused to do with the interviewers from both CBS and ESPN.

One last thing: does anybody have a contact for Randy Bennett, head coach of St. Mary's?

Seeding the teams

The newly restructured "first round"

Before we can seed the teams, we have to determine the teams and pairings for the so-called "First Four." The only guidance given in the Principles and Procedures is that the teams to be matched up are the four lowest ranked teams in the field (e.g. field rankings 65 through 68), and the last four at-large teams. Beyond that, we have nothing to go on. This indicates that the selection committee has plenary power to seed and place the first-round participants - and therefore, so do I. That being the case, the fundamental principle of the development of the Z-Bracket is transparency, so I am going to list out my criteria for handling the four first-round games:

Within each of the two groups of participants, the four teams will be initially paired 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3.
The seed that teams in the "First Four" will play for is determined by the field ranking of the higher-ranked team. That ranking will also determine precedence for the placement of the winners of the first-round games into the "main" 64-team bracket.
Teams scheduled to play Wednesday, March 16 MUST be assigned to a Friday/Sunday pod for the second and third rounds. Teams playing on Tuesday, March 15 can be sent to either a Thursday/Saturday or Friday/Sunday pod.
In the event that other principles create conflict (particularly those concerning intra-conference matchups), the First Four pairings may be altered, but only as a last resort.

Fortunately, the last four at-large teams all hail from different conferences, so I can use the preferred pairings. This gives us the following First Four games: Georgia v. Boston College; Colorado v. Northwestern; Arkansas - Little Rock v. Texas - San Antonio; and UNC Asheville v. Alabama State, the first sub-300 ranked team in the history of the Z-Bracket to make the field.

Creating the seed list

The Principles and Procedures seem to abandon all mention of the "S-Curve." Of course, I never used it here anyway; we'll use the rankings themselves to assign seeds, subject to the rules laid about above for the handling of the eight teams playing in Dayton. Teams slated to meet in the first round are listed in the same cell.

Seed Rk FR Team Seed Rk FR Team Seed Rk FR Team Seed Rk FR Team

1 1 1 Ohio State 5 17 17 Florida 9 33 33 Michigan State 13 58 51 Butler

2 2 Kansas 18 18 St. John's 34 34 Xavier 59 52 Princeton

3 3 San Diego State 19 19 Kentucky 35 35 Illinois 78 53 Oakland

4 4 Pittsburgh 20 20 West Virginia 36 36 Penn State 92 54 Long Island

2 5 5 Notre Dame 6 21 21 UNLV 10 37 37 Richmond 14 98 55 Bucknell

6 6 Brigham Young 22 22 Utah State 38 38 George Mason 111 56 Indiana State

7 7 Duke 23 23 Texas A&M 39 39 Washington 117 57 Wofford

8 8 Connecticut 24 24 Villanova 40 40 Virginia Tech 118 58 Akron

3 9 9 Syracuse 7 25 25 Arizona 11 41 41 UCLA 15 127 59 St. Peter's

10 10 Texas 26 26 Kansas State 42 42 Florida State 134 60 Morehead State

11 11 Louisville 27 27 Old Dominion 43 43 Gonzaga 143 61 Northern Colorado

12 12 Purdue 28 28 Missouri 44 44 Clemson 157 62 Boston University

4 13 13 Wisconsin 8 29 29 Temple 12 45
49 45
49 Georgia
Boston College 16 161 63 Hampton

14 14 Cincinnati 30 30 Marquette 46 46 Memphis 175 64 UC Santa Barbara

15 15 North Carolina 31 31 Michigan 47
48 47
48 Colorado
Northwestern 179
315 65
68 UNC Asheville
Alabama State

16 16 Georgetown 32 32 Vanderbilt 57 50 Belmont 197
227 66
67 Arkansas - Little Rock
Texas - San Antonio

Key:
Rk = overall ranking by the Z-Ratings.
FR = Field ranking - the ranking of the team among the field of 68.

Let's talk just a bit about some of these seedings, shall we?
San Diego State as a #1. Given that the committee placed the Aztecs in the West and with the lowest No. 1 seed, they might have been the No. 5 overall team in the committee's eyes. But a 29-2 season, including 14-2 in the No. 7 conference, with the only two losses to BYU with Brandon Davies? Even without the benefit of these ratings, I'd have SDSU in the top four in the nation.
Florida as a #5. I agree with Pat Forde that the actual bracket has Florida too high. The SEC was, relatively speaking, down this year, and for that, the Gators suffer here.
Utah State as a #6. The Aggies get the "Charlie Sheen justification": DUH! WINNING! Um, twenty-eight and three? Utah State might be (from my perspective) the most mis-evaluated team I've seen over the last nine years.
Butler as a #13. I don't think the committee seeded the Bulldogs so high based on their run to last year's national final; I bet it was more because of their hot streak down the stretch. But the Z-Ratings don't recognize those games as any more important than Butler's five Horizon League losses, including one to Youngstown State.
I think the committee did a good job with the Big East teams, recognizing the superior quality of that league. And down below the bracket, I'll have something to say about differences in evaluation between two mid-major conferences near and dear to my heart.

Establishing the bracket

The regionals for 2011: East (Newark); Southeast (New Orleans); Southwest (San Antonio); and West (Anaheim).

Once again, we use the bracketing principles established by the selection committee. They are:

No intraconference matchups in the first three rounds, unless nine or more teams from a conference are selected (this applies to the Big East, which sent a tournament-record eleven).
The first three teams from a conference go to different regionals.
Teams seeded Nos. 1 thru 5 will not be put at a severe "home-court disadvantage" in the first round.
A team cannot play in an arena where it has played more than three regular season games, excluding conference tournaments (i.e. any home court).
A team cannot play at a site where its school is hosting. No assignments are precluded in the regionals; for the second and third rounds, Arizona can't be put in Tucson and Georgetown cannot be in Washington, DC.
Only one team from a conference can be among the top four or bottom four seeds in a region, unless a conference has five or more teams in those groupings of lines (i.e. the Big East).
If two teams from the same region are in contention for the same slot, the one with the higher rating remains in its region. (The guidelines say "true seed," formerly "S-Curve"; we instead use our ratings, as they produced our seeds.)
If necessary, a team's seed can be adjusted up or down one spot to meet the principles. (We'll definitely need this one.)
If all these principles fail to reconcile the bracket, we can have intraconference matchups as early as the second round, in conferences with five or more participants.

We also adhere to the bracketing procedure outlined in the championship handbook. I will once again state that the three "additional considerations" listed after the procedure (relating to rematches of games from the regular season and last year's championship, and moving teams out of their natural region an inordinate number of times) and are not used in the construction of the Z-Bracket.

Step 1: Place the No. 1 seeds, and pair the regional winners for the national semifinals.

Ohio State to the East; Kansas to the Southwest; San Diego State in the West; Pittsburgh to the Southeast. This yields a Final Four of East vs. Southeast and Southwest vs. West.

Step 2: Place the No. 2 seeds.

Notre Dame is placed in the East. BYU cannot be placed opposite SDSU in the West, and since they must be bracketed to play Thursday and Saturday due to religious requirements, they must go to the Southeast. Duke ends up in the Southwest and Connecticut is sent West.

Step 3: Place the No. 3 seeds.

Syracuse to the Southeast (must avoid Notre Dame and Connecticut); Texas to the East. As the second big 12 team, the Longhorns must be bracketed away from Kansas, and they cannot go in the West because Purdue can't be placed in the East (due to Ohio State); Louisville must go to the Southwest to avoid the other Big East teams in the bottom halves; and as mentioned, Purdue ends up in the West.

Step 4: Place the No. 4 seeds.

Wisconsin is limited to the Southeast and West; they go to New Orleans. Cincinnati to the East; North Carolina to the West (must avoid Duke); and Georgetown to the Southwest.

Step 5: Check for conflicts and balance in the Nos. 1 through 4 seeds.

We sum the field rankings of the top four teams in each region, and there should be a difference of no more than five between the highest and lowest. Right now, we have the East at 30 and the West at 38, so we need to do some shuffling. I'm going to apply Occam's razor and conduct a single move - swap Connecticut and Notre Dame on the No. 2 seed line. The Fighting Irish do lose out somewhat on this (in terms of distance), but they'd be getting on a place to the regional either way - and they have a potentially more favorable Elite Eight matchup. This shifts the regional sums to 32, 33, 35, and 36, so we are in good shape.

Step 6: Assign first and second round sites.

Cleveland, OH: Ohio State, Syracuse
Tulsa, OK: Kansas, Texas
Tucson, AZ: San Diego State, Georgetown
Washington, DC: Pittsburgh, Connecticut
Chicago, IL: Notre Dame, Louisville
Denver, CO: Brigham Young, Wisconsin
Charlotte, NC: Duke, Purdue
Tampa, FL: Cincinnati, North Carolina

Step 7: Place the No. 5 through 16 seeds.

Keep in mind that from this point on, the teams are placed according to the site of their second/third round pod (since, by their seeding, they're expected to be gone by the end of the first weekend).

Step 7a: Place the No. 5 seeds. (Available sites: Denver, Tampa [2], Tucson)

Florida to the East; St. John's to the West. Kentucky is going to the Southwest in order to place West Virginia in the Southeast. This allows for a potential Big East matchup to take place in the regional semifinal (against Pittsburgh) vice the second round (versus Georgetown).

Step 7b: Place the No. 6 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Tulsa)

UNLV to the East; Utah State to the Southwest; Texas A&M to the Southeast, and Villanova to the West, which again puts the possible all-Big East game in the ~~third~~ fourth round.

Step 7c: Place the No. 7 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington)

Arizona to the Southeast; Kansas State to the West; Old Dominion to the East; Missouri to the Southwest.

Step 7d: Place the No. 8 seeds. (Available sites: Cleveland, Tucson, Tulsa, Washington)

Temple to the Southeast; Marquette to the East (and we're done with the Big East); Michigan to the Southwest and Vanderbilt to the West (must be separated from Kentucky).

Step 7e: Place the No. 9 seeds. (Available sites: Cleveland, Tucson, Tulsa, Washington)

The very next team placed is Vanderbilt's opponent; Michigan State is forced into the West due to the Big Ten teams in the other three top halves. Xavier to the East. Illinois and Penn State are the first two bumps of the 2011 Z-Bracket; to get them into the bottom half, they both have to go down to the No. 10 line. In their place we bring up Richmond and George Mason. We can't place the Spiders against Temple, so they are put in the Southwest. And so, as much as it pains me to do this (due to my Hofstra ties), I have to put George Mason in the Southeast and into a Washington pod - effectively at home, much as they were in 2006.

Step 7f: Place the No. 10 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington)

We take up Illinois and Penn State first, since they were bumped down. The Illini go to the Southwest (the West, with a Chicago pod, is unavailable due to Purdue's presence) and the Nittany Lions go East. That leaves us with Washington in the West (can't be placed with Arizona) and Virginia Tech in the Southeast (as the third ACC team, they can't be in the same region as UNC, even though they're on the other side of the bracket).

Step 7g: Place the No. 11 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Tulsa)

UCLA to the Southeast; Florida State to the West; Gonzaga to the Southeast; Clemson to the East. Tulsa may be closer to Westwood than Chicago, but it's a plane ride either way, and if UCLA had been placed in the East, it would have forced either Florida State or Clemson to be bumped down in favor of a First Four winner.

Step 7h: Place the No. 12 seeds. (Available sites: Denver, Tampa [2], Tucson)

The winner of the Georgia - Boston College game goes into the Southeast. Memphis to the East. We now come to the case of the winner of Colorado vs. Northwestern. Since the Big Ten and the Big 12 both have more than five teams in the field, I'm going to place the winner of this game in the West, where Northwestern could meet Michigan State in a regional semifinal. Belmont ends up in the Southwest.

Step 7i: Place the No. 13 seeds. (Available sites: Denver, Tampa [2], Tucson)

Butler to the East; Princeton to the West; Oakland to the Southeast; Long Island to the Southwest.

Step 7j: Place the No. 14 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Tulsa)

Bucknell to the Southeast; Indiana State to the Southwest; Wofford to the East; Akron to the West. Wofford is not in the Charlotte pod because putting them there would put Purdue at a "potential home court disadvantage."

Step 7k: Place the No. 15 seeds. (Available sites: Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Washington)

St. Peter's to the East; Morehead State to the Southwest; Northern Colorado to the West; Boston University to the Southeast. Once again, the rule regarding home-court disadvantage is invoked to prevent Northern Colorado from playing in Denver.

Step 7l: Place the No. 16 seeds. (Available sites: Cleveland, Tucson, Tulsa, Washington)

Hampton to the Southeast; UC Santa Barbara to the West; the UNC Asheville/Alabama State winner to the East; and the Arkansas - Little Rock/Texas - San Antonio to the Southwest.

Step 8: Re-check the entire bracket for conflicts.

We have minimized the number of possible Big East matchups in the regional semifinals at three, and as stated above, there is the one possible pairing of Big Ten teams in the Sweet Sixteen. I present the 2011 Z-Bracket below:

EAST (Prudential Center, Newark) SOUTHWEST (Alamodome, San Antonio)

1 Ohio State Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, OH BOK Center
Tulsa, OK Kansas 1

16 16

8 Marquette Michigan 8

9 Xavier Richmond 9

5 Florida St. Pete Times Forum
Tampa, FL McKale Center
Tucson, AZ Kentucky 5

12 Memphis Belmont 12

4 Cincinnati Georgetown 4

13 Butler Long Island 13

3 Texas BOK Center
Tulsa, OK United Center
Chicago, IL Louisville 3

14 Wofford Indiana State 14

6 UNLV Utah State 6

11 Clemson UCLA 11

7 Old Dominion Verizon Center
Washington, DC Time Warner Cable Arena
Charlotte, NC Missouri 7

10 Penn State Illinois 10

2 Connecticut Duke 2

15 St. Peter's Morehead State 15

FINAL FOUR
(Reliant Stadium, Houston)
East v. Southeast
Southwest v. West

SOUTHEAST (New Orleans Arena, New Orleans) WEST (Honda Center, Anaheim)

1 Pittsburgh Verizon Center
Washington, DC McKale Center
Tucson, AZ San Diego State 1

16 Hampton UC Santa Barbara 16

8 Temple Vanderbilt 8

9 George Mason Michigan State 9

5 West Virginia Pepsi Center
Denver, CO St. Pete Times Forum
Tampa, FL St. John's 5

12 12

4 Wisconsin North Carolina 4

13 Oakland Princeton 13

3 Syracuse Quicken Loans Arena
Cleveland, OH Time Warner Cable Arena
Charlotte, NC Purdue 3

14 Bucknell Akron 14

6 Texas A&M Villanova 6

11 Gonzaga Florida State 11

7 Arizona Pepsi Center
Denver, CO United Center
Chicago, IL Kansas State 7

10 Virginia Tech Washington 10

2 Brigham Young Notre Dame 2

15 Boston University Northern Colorado 15

FIRST ROUND (UD Arena, Dayton) - Tuesday FIRST ROUND (UD Arena, Dayton) - Wednesday

Georgia (to Southeast #12) (to East #16) UNC Asheville

Boston College Alabama State

Colorado (to West #12) (to Southwest #16) Arkansas - Little Rock

Northwestern Texas - San Antonio

Bells and whistles

Before we get to the bracket simulator results, let's do a side-by-side on two teams:

	Team A	Team B
Ranking	39	38
Record	25-4	26-6
SOS	101	90
BSWP	.8422	.8194
Natural Z-Bracket seed	10	10
NCAA seed	12	8

In the interests of time, I've truncated the simulation of each bracket to one million repetitions each. Even though my program can iterate through the bracket about 7,000 times per second, that still means it takes a really long time to get through ten million plays. Anyway, here are the results: 2011 Z-Bracket | 2011 NCAA tournament. The two simulations are closely aligned at the top; each says there's roughly a one in two chance that either Ohio State or Kansas will hoist the gold trophy in Houston.

Acknowledgements

As always, thanks are due to Ken Pomeroy, who supplies the data generate the men's basketball Z-Ratings. This would be a lot harder without his raw data files. Of course, I must again pay homage to our roots in Cornell hockey - the KRACH, John Whelan, and Ken Butler.

Unlike last year I've got no dog in the fight this time around - so just enjoy the tournament.

Z-Ratings Center | Matt's home page

Team	Conference	Rank	Team	Conference	Rank
Ohio State	Big Ten	1	Long Island	Northeast	92
Kansas	Big 12	2	Bucknell	Patriot League	98
San Diego State	Mountain West	3	Indiana State	Missouri Valley	111
Duke	Atlantic Coast	7	Wofford	Southern	117
Connecticut	Big East	8	Akron	Mid-American	118
Kentucky	Southeastern	19	St. Peter's	Metro Atlantic Athletic	127
Utah State	Western Athletic	22	Morehead State	Ohio Valley	134
Old Dominion	Colonial Athletic	27	Northern Colorado	Big Sky	143
Richmond	Atlantic 10	37	Boston University	America East	157
Washington	Pacific-10	39	Hampton	Mid-Eastern Athletic	161
Gonzaga	West Coast	43	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	175
Memphis	Conference USA	46	UNC Asheville	Big South	179
Belmont	Atlantic Sun	57	Arkansas - Little Rock	Sun Belt	197
Butler	Horizon League	58	Texas - San Antonio	Southland	227
Princeton	Ivy League	59	Alabama State	Southwestern Athletic	315
Oakland	Summit League	78

Seed	Rk	FR	Team	Seed	Rk	FR	Team	Seed	Rk	FR	Team	Seed	Rk	FR	Team
1	1	1	Ohio State	5	17	17	Florida	9	33	33	Michigan State	13	58	51	Butler
	2	2	Kansas		18	18	St. John's		34	34	Xavier		59	52	Princeton
	3	3	San Diego State		19	19	Kentucky		35	35	Illinois		78	53	Oakland
	4	4	Pittsburgh		20	20	West Virginia		36	36	Penn State		92	54	Long Island
2	5	5	Notre Dame	6	21	21	UNLV	10	37	37	Richmond	14	98	55	Bucknell
	6	6	Brigham Young		22	22	Utah State		38	38	George Mason		111	56	Indiana State
	7	7	Duke		23	23	Texas A&M		39	39	Washington		117	57	Wofford
	8	8	Connecticut		24	24	Villanova		40	40	Virginia Tech		118	58	Akron
3	9	9	Syracuse	7	25	25	Arizona	11	41	41	UCLA	15	127	59	St. Peter's
	10	10	Texas		26	26	Kansas State		42	42	Florida State		134	60	Morehead State
	11	11	Louisville		27	27	Old Dominion		43	43	Gonzaga		143	61	Northern Colorado
	12	12	Purdue		28	28	Missouri		44	44	Clemson		157	62	Boston University
4	13	13	Wisconsin	8	29	29	Temple	12	45 49	45 49	Georgia Boston College	16	161	63	Hampton
	14	14	Cincinnati		30	30	Marquette		46	46	Memphis		175	64	UC Santa Barbara
	15	15	North Carolina		31	31	Michigan		47 48	47 48	Colorado Northwestern		179 315	65 68	UNC Asheville Alabama State
	16	16	Georgetown		32	32	Vanderbilt		57	50	Belmont		197 227	66 67	Arkansas - Little Rock Texas - San Antonio

EAST (Prudential Center, Newark)				SOUTHWEST (Alamodome, San Antonio)
1	Ohio State	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, OH		BOK Center Tulsa, OK	Kansas	1
16						16

8	Marquette				Michigan	8
9	Xavier				Richmond	9
5	Florida	St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL		McKale Center Tucson, AZ	Kentucky	5
12	Memphis				Belmont	12

4	Cincinnati				Georgetown	4
13	Butler				Long Island	13
3	Texas	BOK Center Tulsa, OK		United Center Chicago, IL	Louisville	3
14	Wofford				Indiana State	14

6	UNLV				Utah State	6
11	Clemson				UCLA	11
7	Old Dominion	Verizon Center Washington, DC		Time Warner Cable Arena Charlotte, NC	Missouri	7
10	Penn State				Illinois	10

2	Connecticut				Duke	2
15	St. Peter's				Morehead State	15
			FINAL FOUR (Reliant Stadium, Houston) East v. Southeast Southwest v. West
SOUTHEAST (New Orleans Arena, New Orleans)				WEST (Honda Center, Anaheim)
1	Pittsburgh	Verizon Center Washington, DC		McKale Center Tucson, AZ	San Diego State	1
16	Hampton				UC Santa Barbara	16

8	Temple				Vanderbilt	8
9	George Mason				Michigan State	9
5	West Virginia	Pepsi Center Denver, CO		St. Pete Times Forum Tampa, FL	St. John's	5
12						12

4	Wisconsin				North Carolina	4
13	Oakland				Princeton	13
3	Syracuse	Quicken Loans Arena Cleveland, OH		Time Warner Cable Arena Charlotte, NC	Purdue	3
14	Bucknell				Akron	14

6	Texas A&M				Villanova	6
11	Gonzaga				Florida State	11
7	Arizona	Pepsi Center Denver, CO		United Center Chicago, IL	Kansas State	7
10	Virginia Tech				Washington	10

2	Brigham Young				Notre Dame	2
15	Boston University				Northern Colorado	15
FIRST ROUND (UD Arena, Dayton) - Tuesday				FIRST ROUND (UD Arena, Dayton) - Wednesday
Georgia		(to Southeast #12)		(to East #16)	UNC Asheville
Boston College		(to Southeast #12)		(to East #16)	Alabama State
Colorado		(to West #12)		(to Southwest #16)	Arkansas - Little Rock
Northwestern		(to West #12)		(to Southwest #16)	Texas - San Antonio