NCAA Tournament 2015: Breaking down the seeds by region
Kentucky, Villanova, Duke and Wisconsin round out the top four seeds. Here’s how all the regions shake out, in descending order.
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The NCAA Tournament field is all set, and March Madness is officially here.
Kentucky is the clear-cut favorite to win the whole tournament, as will be the case with any Power 5 conference team that goes 34-0 in the regular season. However, these Wildcats aren’t as invincible as some have made them out to be. They’ve had several games against opponents that came right down to the wire, and overlooking teams in the Big Dance can be fatal for even the heaviest of favorites.
Realtime Bracket Game
Then there’s the other Wildcats. Villanova ran through the regular season with a 32-2 mark, good enough to earn the No. 2 overall seed in the tournament, and the top seed in the East. A late-season slide cost Virginia a No. 1 seed, and they’re arguably the biggest threat to win the whole tournament as a No. 2 seed.
Wisconsin claimed the top seed in the West, but with No. 2-seeded Arizona lurking, we could be in for an Elite Eight rematch between those two programs. Last year, the 2-seeded Badgers beat the 1-seeded Wildcats in overtime to advance to the Final Four, so Arizona will be looking to return the favor this year.
Duke took the No. 1 seed in the South to round out the top four seeds. They have 2-seeded Gonzaga in their region, but 3-seeded Iowa State may be the Blue Devils’ biggest threat to prevent Coach K from reaching his 12th Final Four appearance.
Here’s how all of the regions were seeded from 1-16:
| Seed | East | Midwest | South | West |
| 1 | Villanova | 1 Kentucky | 1 Duke | 1 Wisconsin |
| 2 | Virginia | 2 Kansas | 2 Gonzaga | 2 Arizona |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 3 Notre Dame | 3 Iowa State | 3 Baylor |
| 4 | Louisville | 4 Maryland | 4 Georgetown | 4 North Carolina |
| 5 | Northern Iowa | 5 West Virginia | 5 Utah | 5 Arkansas |
| 6 | Providence | 6 Butler | 6 SMU | 6 Xavier |
| 7 | Michigan State | 7 Wichita State | 7 Iowa | 7 VCU |
| 8 | North Carolina State | 8 Cincinnati | 8 San Diego State | 8 Oregon |
| 9 | LSU | 9 Purdue | 9 St. John's | 10 Oklahoma State |
| 10 | Georgia | 10 Indiana | 10 Davidson | 10 Ohio State |
| 11 | Dayton/Boise State | 11 Texas | 11 UCLA | 11 Ole Miss/BYU |
| 12 | Wyoming | 12 Buffalo | 12 Stephen F. Austin | 12 Wofford |
| 13 | UC Irvine | 13 Valparaiso | 13 Eastern Washington | 13 Harvard |
| 14 | Albany | 14 Northeastern | 14 UAB | 14 Georgia State |
| 15 | Belmont | 15 New Mexico State | 15 North Dakota State | 15 Texas Southern |
| 16 | Lafayette | 16 Hampton/Manhattan | 16 Robert Morris/North Florida | 16 Coastal Carolina |
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