Michigan, Duke, Arizona, Iowa State headline preliminary seeds from NCAA selection committee

Michigan is the No. 1 overall seed in the preliminary rankings by the committee that will select the 68-team men's field for the NCAA Tournament.

The Wolverines, who headline the AP Top 25, were joined by Duke, Arizona and Iowa State as the 1-seeds in Saturday's reveal show on CBS.

Selection committee chairman Keith Gill, the Sun Belt commissioner, said there was separation between the top three teams and the fourth No. 1 seed — with the Cyclones edging UConn and Houston for it.

Gill said the committee originally had UConn as a 1-seed when it adjourned work Wednesday, only to see the Huskies lose to Creighton at home later that night. Throw in Iowa State's head-to-head win against Houston on Monday, and it swung the vote to the Cyclones.

''It was really close with those three teams," Gill said. ''We talked about Iowa State and UConn and Houston. The head-to-head between Iowa State and Houston got there, and then the UConn and Houston (comparison): UConn's three best wins are better than Houston's three best wins. So when the committee was looking at that, I think (it) weighted those wins a little higher.''

The Huskies and Cougars were the fifth and sixth seeds to headline the list of teams that would be No. 2 regional seeds, followed by Illinois and Purdue.

Reigning national champion Florida was the No. 9 seed to lead the regional 3-seeds, followed by Kansas, Nebraska and Gonzaga.

Saturday's reveal is a snapshot of where things stand with a month left until Selection Sunday. Generally the teams listed above the cutline for a top-four regional seed stay there, with minor fluctuations when it comes to eventual seeding.

Overall, 108 of 128 teams (84.4%) who have appeared in the preliminary reveal since the debut show in 2017 have ended up as top-16 seeds by Selection Sunday; that data excludes 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of that year's tournament.

That includes at least 11 teams every year, peaking at 15 of 16 in 2017, 2022 and 2023. That figure has been 14 of 16 for each of the past two years.

As for the headliners, 25 of 32 teams (78.1%) that had a 1-seed in the preliminary rankings ultimately remained on the top line, including at least three of four every year and all four in 2023.

Only one team listed as high as a 2-seed has failed to remain inside the top 16: Villanova in 2021, which was a 2-seed in the preliminary reveal but finished as a regional 5-seed.

The Final Four will be held in Indianapolis, with the national semifinals set for April 4 and the championship two days later at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.

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