One of the hot topics entering the 2016 NCAA tournament was the last No. 1 seed entering Sunday.
After clinching conference tournament titles on Saturday night, Kansas (30-4) and North Carolina (28-6) appeared destined to be No. 1 seeds while the other spots had some openings after Villanova’s loss to Seton Hall and Virginia falling to the Tar Heels. Oregon (28-6) won the Pac-12 tournament title in convincing fashion over Utah to give them 12 top-50 wins on the season and a very strong case as well.
Michigan State winning the Big Ten tournament title on Sunday further complicated matters for the committee as many viewed the Spartans as one of the strongest teams in the country.
The committee choosing to go with Virginia (26-7) over Michigan State (29-5) in the Midwest Region as the No. 1 seed is easily the most controversial No. 1 pick. The Cavaliers have one key difference over the Spartans and that is ten top-50 wins as opposed to seven for Michigan State. But one could argue on the flip side that Michigan State only has one loss outside the top 50 while Virginia has four.
I believe that Michigan State is the better team playing better basketball and should have received the No. 1 seed over Virginia. The Spartans won the Big Ten tournament title while the Cavaliers didn’t win either the ACC regular season title or conference tournament title while losing road games to Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, George Washington and Florida State.
We’ll potentially get an answer to this dilemma during the Elite Eight at the United Center in Chicago if Virginia and Michigan State both make it that far.
Kansas was an obvious No. 1 seed, as was North Carolina, and the committee rewarded Oregon for the number of quality wins that they have this season.