NCAA Tournament Bracket Announced; Ohio State Leads Field Of 68 As Top Overall Seed

The 2011 NCAA Tournament field is set. And now so are the channels, times and announcers that will be calling each game of March Madness. Get ready to watch more truTV than you’ve watched in a really long time.

Times for Third Round games will be announced after the conclusion of each day’s games. And remember, fans will also be able to access the games through NCAA March Madness on Demand.

SB Nation’s final 2011 NCAA Tournament bracketology, from Chris Dobbertean of our bracketology blog Blogging the Bracket, was not as right as he would like: Dobbertean missed three teams from March Madness’ 2011 bracket — UAB, Clemson, as you can see in our printable NCAA 2011 bracket. But did the Selection Committee do a good job of picking and leaving out bubble teams for this year’s edition of March Madness?

Clemson and UAB were both big surprises, each earning No. 12 seeds and a date in the First Four in Dayton on Tuesday. It’s likely that the Selection Committee saw the Blazers’ 12-4 record in Conference USA and decided to reward it, but their best win this season was probably over VCU. (And VCU was questionable to get in its own right, and only got a No. 11 seed!) Clemson, on the other hand, played mediocre ball in the ACC, and did little to distinguish itself.

Here is your 2011 NCAA Tournament field. We’ll have all sorts of links — including to a printable NCAA 2011 bracket, team capsule previews, and game previews — as Selection Sunday turns from prognostication via bracketology to predictions for filling out your bracket.

1 Ohio State vs. 16 UTSA/16 Alabama State

8 George Mason vs. 9 Villanova

5 West Virginia vs. 12 UAB/Clemson

4 Kentucky vs. 13 Princeton

6 Xavier vs. 11 Marquette

3 Syracuse vs. 14 Indiana State

7 Washington vs. 10 Georgia

2 North Carolina vs. 15 Long Island

It might not seem like much on its face, but Richmond’s 67-54 victory over Dayton that gave the Spiders the Atlantic 10’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth is the most consequential result of Selection Sunday so far.

That’s because while the Spiders had compiled a resume worthy of an at-large NCAA Tournament selection, Dayton had decidedly not. And with the win, Richmond prevented Dayton from sneaking into the 2011 NCAA Tournament as a bid thief and preserved one more at-large spot for a mid-level BCS league team like Virginia Tech or USC.

Even with the 2010-11 season’s historically weak bubble, there are a number of teams — Virginia Tech, USC, Georgia — that are right at the edge of the NCAA Tournament field. Those teams would all do well to watch the Atlantic 10 Championship today, because Dayton’s coming for its spot.

If Dayton can top Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Tournament final, the Flyers, who finished ninth in the Atlantic 10, will earn an automatic berth that is likely to shrink the bubble by one team. Our Chris Dobbertean has Virginia Tech as the last team in the field right now, so it follows that a Dayton win is bad news for the Hokies.