LAWRENCE, Kan. — There's still a lot of basketball to be played before the men's NCAA Tournament pairings are announced on Selection Sunday, March 13. Potential seeds figure to change as regular-season league races are decided and postseason conference tournaments are played.
One sign of possible uncertainty to come occurred Saturday, when the top six teams in last week's AP poll (Gonzaga, Arizona, Auburn, Purdue, Kansas, Kentucky) and seven of the top 10 all lost on the same day for the first time in poll history. The poll began in the 1948-49 season.
"I don't know that it really does much," KU coach Bill Self said Monday, asked about Saturday's happenings affecting seeding for the upcoming NCAAs. No. 9 ranked Texas Tech also lost.
"I think there are probably some teams that benefit from it. Duke (No. 7 last week, No. 4 this week) could benefit from it. You could make a case that other people that didn't lose could benefit from it.
"It seems to me whenever you are in a league and you play the top tier teams in your league on the road, there's always a good chance anybody can lose. That was even evidenced by Saint Mary's beating Gonzaga.
"I don't know that it does a lot in changing the big picture, but I think it does prove that in this particular year you could probably make a case (No. 1) Gonzaga has been better than everybody consistently. You maybe can make that case with (No. 2) Arizona. And of course (No. 5) Auburn's been terrific. You see now there are 10 or 12 teams or 16 or whatever it is, on a right night they can beat anybody that may be projected to be one of the top five or six teams. It'll be a fun (NCAA) Tournament."
Duke, by the way, was the only top 10 team to win on Saturday. The Blue Devils, who were No. 7, beat Syracuse, 97-72. Gonzaga lost to Saint Mary's, 67-57; Arizona lost to Colorado, 79-63; Auburn fell to Tennessee, 67-62; Purdue lost to Michigan State, 68-65; Kentucky lost to Arkansas, 75-73; KU lost to Baylor, 80-70.
Teams that could be vying for No. 1 or 2 seeds according to the New York Times: Gonzaga, Arizona, KU, Baylor, Kentucky, Auburn, Purdue and Duke.
