Geography used in NCAA Tournament process may send Kansas to Cleveland

Many of the bracket principles used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee are unbreakable, until they are.

For instance, geographic considerations.

The surest bet when the 68-team bracket is revealed Sunday when the program starts at 5 p.m. on CBS (Ch. 5), is that Kentucky will be the overall No. 1 seed and be placed in the Midwest Regional. The Midwest semifinal and title game are in Cleveland, the closest site to Lexington, Ky.

After that, it’s a guessing game when it comes to the other No. 1 seeds, and where and how geography will play a role in assigning the better seeds.

For argument’s sake, make Villanova, Virginia and Wisconsin the other No. 1 seeds. Kansas might have been part of the conversation had they won the Big 12 Tournament, but the Jayhawks fell to Iowa State and lost an opportunity to add a tournament title to a resume that already included a regular-season championship of the game’s top-ranked conference.

Keep Kansas on the second line, along with Duke, Arizona and Gonzaga.

Duke is the team that falls from the projected No. 1. The Blue Devils didn’t win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season or tournament. Making Duke a No. 1 seed without either of those credentials becomes a stretch.

Wisconsin, which plays for the Big Ten Tournament title Sunday against Michigan State, moves into the projected fourth No. 1 spot. Put the Badgers in the West, where they launched last year’s Final Four run.

Let’s put Pac-12 champion Arizona in the West as a second seed.

We’re left with three teams — KU, Duke, Gonazga — for three sites: Cleveland, Houston and Syracuse.

Here’s where strict adherence to geography and sending a team to the closest site based on air miles could be loosened.

Kansas is closer to Houston than Cleveland. Duke is closer to Cleveland than Syracuse. And Gonzaga, in Spokane, Wash., is a long plane ride from all three sites.

But if the committee puts Gonzaga in Houston, it would save the Zags a time zone. Kansas is closer to Cleveland than Syracuse, so the Jayhawks go there, leaving Duke for upstate New York.

Nobody wants to be assigned to the Midwest, where undefeated Kentucky looms. The Jayhawks were non-competitive against the Wildcats in a 32-point loss in November.

This is one scenario the committee is surely considering, but there are many, and for all the certainty of Kentucky, there is less so about the other top seeds heading into the selection.

This much is certain: If Kansas gets assigned to Cleveland, there won’t be talk of Kentucky, at least publicly. Kansas coach Bill Self put the stiff arm up after Saturday’s loss.

“Our goal is to win a two-game tournament, that’s it,” Self said. “And the next weekend your goal is to win a two-game tournament.

“And then if you’re lucky enough to play the next weekend, it’s the same thing.”

For Kansas, that first two-game tournament is sure to start Friday in Omaha, Neb.

Another big question, as always occurs with the final at-large teams, is what bubble team got pushed out of the tournament on Saturday when Wyoming defeated San Diego State to win the Mountain West Tournament.

The Cowboys wouldn’t have made the field as an at-large team. But they’re now in as an automatic qualifier, and a team toward the end of the at-large list — Temple, Mississippi, Tulsa, UCLA — is now off the board.

More championship games remain, including Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference title game against Arkansas on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. But the Wildcats have such a lead on college basketball they could lose and not have to fret about geography.

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 9:08 PM with the headline "Geography used in NCAA Tournament process may send Kansas to Cleveland."