Florida Keeps No. 1 in Final AP Poll, Battle of the 12 and 16 Seeds
On Sunday, we saw the 68 teams selected for the 2014 Men’s NCAA Basketball Championship and that meant on Monday we’d view the final AP poll of the season. There weren’t too many surprises and at this point in time, it doesn’t really matter.
Florida grabbed its No. 1 overall seed for the Big Dance and followed this up on Monday, remaining No. 1 in the polls. The Gators ended their season with a perfect SEC record and a conference tournament win. But entering as the favorite in the polls doesn’t always bode well for tournament play.
According to CBS Sports, going back 1990, there’s only been four teams with a No. 1 ranking in the final poll that followed it up with a national championship win: Duke (1992 and 2001), UCLA (1995) and Kentucky (2012).
Scottie Wilbekin
Here’s a look at the Final AP Top 25 and their respective tournament seeds. In this final week, Memphis and SMU had been dropped.
1. Florida (No. 1, South)
2. Wichita State (No. 1, Midwest)
3. Virginia (No. 1, East)
4. Arizona (No. 1, West)
5. Louisville (No. 4, Midwest)
6. Villanova (No. 2, East)
7. Michigan (No. 2, Midwest)
8. Duke (No. 3, Midwest)
9. Iowa State (No. 3, East)
10. Kansas (No. 2, South)
11. Michigan State (No. 4, East)
12. Wisconsin (No. 2, West)
13. San Diego State (No. 4, West)
14. Syracuse (No. 3, South)
15. Cincinnati (No. 5, East)
16. Creighton (No. 3, West)
17. New Mexico (No. 7, South)
18. UConn (No. 7, East)
19. North Carolina (No. 6, East)
20. UCLA (No. 4, South)
21. Oklahoma (No. 5, West)
22. Ohio State (No. 6, South)
23. Baylor (No. 6, West)
24.VCU (No. 5, South)
25. Saint Louis (No. 5, Midwest)
Tuesday’s March Madness Games
Battle of the 16 seeds: Albany vs. Mount St. Mary’s
For those of us filling out our tournament brackets, we have until Thursday morning to turn them in, but tournament play will begin on Tuesday with the No. 16 seeds of Albany vs. Mount St. Mary’s. The winner will join the rest of the field and play Florida on Thursday.
These teams have been to the Big Dance before with Mount St. Mary at 1-4 for the tournament, previously winning their first round back in 2008 by defeating Coppin State (pre-68 team format). However, Albany (18-14, 9-7) is yet to win a game on this big stage.
Their two leading scorers hail from Australia and include Peter Hooley at 15.7 points per game, followed by Sam Rowley with his 11.5 points a game average.
Using an inside game, they won their second consecutive America East title by defeating Vermont and Stony Brook.
The Mountaineers (16-16, 9-7) had to battle top teams including Villanova and Michigan State this season and ended at even on a four-game win streak. They play a running game and like to shoot 3’s (797 attempts this season vs. Albany’s 431).
Rashad Whack sits as the team’s leading-scorer with his 17.7 points per game.
Mountaineer Sam Prescott said of his team, “We can get glossed over sometimes. We’re always open for the challenge. If they doubt us, it makes it even sweeter when we’re here.”
On Tuesday, Albany will get the win (-2.5, 141.5 o/u).
Battle of the 12 seeds: NC State vs. Xavier
These two teams are old rivals but now that they play in different conferences, their matchups have gone on hiatus. What a better place to revive it than the tournament?
Both teams bring players that are somewhat inexperienced playing in the Big Dance but last year North Carolina State (21-13, 9-9) was there and has two returning players. After seven consecutive years of appearances, Xavier (21-12, 10-8) missed last year and now in 2014, they’re back.
Matt Stainbrook
The Musketeers will have their fingers crossed that its center Matt Stainbrook, the Big East’s No. 2 rebounder, can overcome his sprained left knee and contribute to Tuesday’s game. He did play 15 minutes in their conference tournament game against Marquette but on the following day against Creighton, he only lasted 9 minutes. His contribution will be key.
The winner of this game will play No. 5 Saint Louis. That will be Xavier (-2, 142 o/u).
