The NCAA field

The road to the national championship ends April 2 in San Antonio. North Carolina will try to defend its title as the No. 2 seed in the West. Virginia is the overall No. 1 seed, Villanova No. 2, Kansas No. 3 and Xavier No. 4: SOUTH

1. Virginia (31-2)

2. Cincinnati (30-4)

3. Tennessee (25-8)

4. Arizona (27-7)

WEST

1. Xavier (28-5)

2. North Carolina (25-10)

3. Michigan (28-7)

4. Gonzaga (30-4)

EAST

1. Villanova (30-4)

2. Purdue (28-6)

3. Texas Tech (24-9)

4. Wichita State (25-7) MIDWEST

1. Kansas (27-7)

2. Duke (26-7)

3. Michigan State (29-4)

4. Auburn (25-7)

The ins and outs

• No fewer than 12 of the 68 teams in the tournament have been named either in the FBI investigation of college basketball or in media reports that allege coaches and others have directed payments and improper benefits to recruits and players.

• UCLA, St. Bonaventure, Arizona State and Syracuse received the last four at-large berths.

• Baylor, Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and USC were the first four teams left out.

• Lipscomb will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

• Texas Southern was deemed the last seed (68). The Tigers started the season 0-13 and have a 15-19 record. They won the SWAC title.

By the numbers

9: Bids given to the Atlantic Coast Conference, including three of the top six seeds — Virginia (1), North Carolina (5) and Duke (6). The SEC was next with eight teams getting a bid, followed by the Big 12 with seven.

3: Teams from the Pac-12 in the NCAA Tournament. Two of those were among the last four in. Arizona (16) is the highest-rated. UCLA (41) and Arizona State (43) also made it to the Big Dance.

2: Mountain West teams in the field — Nevada (27) and San Diego State (45).

1985: Automatic qualifiers College of Charleston (Colonial) and Loyola Chicago (Missouri Valley) have waited 33 years between appearances, the longest among all the tournament teams that have played in it.