Bluebloods flood region
North Carolina, Kentucky, UCLA grouped together
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s run to the regular-season crown in the rugged Atlantic Coast Conference was enough to secure the Tar Heels yet another No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
And they’re hardly the only blueblood program in a top-heavy South Region.
UNC earned a top seed for a nationalbest 16th time despite falling to rival Duke in the ACC Tournament semifinals. It marked the second straight No. 1 seed for the Tar Heels (27-7), who lost to Villanova in last year’s championship game on a last-second 3-pointer.
“I’m very pleased with what our team accomplished,” coach Roy Williams said Sunday night, “because they don’t give those (top seeds) away, you have to earn them.”
North Carolina opens Friday against No. 16 seed Texas Southern in Greenville, S.C., in a bracket that features Kentucky and UCLA.
Those three programs have won 24 national championships and hold records for most titles (UCLA, 11), Final Fours (UNC, 19) and tournament wins (Kentucky, 121).
The Tar Heels finished two games up in the ACC, which broke its record with nine NCAA bids, before losing 93-83 to the Blue Devils. But that could be a good omen: UNC’s 2005 and 2009 title runs under Williams started after a loss in the ACC Tournament semifinals.
Second-seeded Kentucky (29-5) won the Southeastern Conference regular-season and tournament titles. The Wildcats — who open with Northern Kentucky — have a potential Sweet 16 matchup with third-seeded UCLA (29-4), which beat the Wildcats in December to end their 42-game winning streak at Rupp Arena.
If Kentucky meets UNC in the regional final, it would be a rematch of a wild December game won by the Wildcats, 103100, behind 47 points from star freshman Malik Monk.
“One team should’ve beat us when we had a guy go for 67 (points),” Kentucky coach John Calipari said of Monk, “and then (UCLA) beat us and beat us good. The score wasn’t indicative of how bad they beat us. Hopefully we’re a better team for both of those games.”
OFFENSE ABOUNDS: There’s the potential for some big totals with five teams from the top 20 nationally in scoring — and it starts with UCLA’s crowdpleasing flow. With freshman Lonzo Ball leading the way, UCLA leads the country in scoring offense (90.4) and is third in KenPom.com’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings (122.7 points per 100 possessions) entering its opener against 14th-seeded Kent State. THE TURNAROUND VS. UPSET VETS: Last year, Minnesota had an 8-23 season that had plenty of people questioning the program’s direction under Richard Pitino. Now the Gophers (24-9) are back in the tournament for the first time since 2013 as the region’s No. 5 seed.
“We believed that we’d let our play do the talking, and we sat there and we took it like you need to do,” Pitino said. “All the doubt that was swirling around, it comes with the territory. But I thought internally, our guys truly believed.”
They’ll face 12-seed Middle Tennessee (30-4), which pulled last year’s openinground upset of second-seeded Michigan State.
“Every year you see a 12-5 upset,” Middle Tennessee senior forward Reggie Upshaw said, “and to have that 12 seed, we know the history behind it.”