| 2018 NCAA FINAL FOUR @ San Antonio, Texas [Alamodome] |
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| First Semifinal | Second Semifinal | ||
| #11-South Atlanta, GA Hosted by Georgia Tech (ACC) Phillips Arena |
#3-West Los Angeles, CA Hosted by Pepperdine U. (WCC) Staples Center |
#1-East Boston, MA Hosted by Boston College (ACC) TD Garden |
#1-Midwest Omaha, NE Hosted by Creighton U. (Big East) CenturyLink Center |
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| Loyola University Chicago Ramblers (32-5) | University of Michigan Wolverines (32-7) | Villanova University Wildcats (34-4) | Kansas University Jayhawks (31-7) |
| Missouri Valley Conference – Champs Chicago, Illinois 2nd Final Four (’63) 1-time champion def #6 Miami (Fla) 64-62 #3 Tennessee 63-62 #7 Nevada 69-68 #9 Kansas St. 78-62 |
Big Ten Conference – Champs Ann Arbor, Michigan 8th Final Four (’64, ’65, ’76, ’89, ’92, ’93, ’13) 1-time champion def #14 Montana 61-47 #6 Houston 64-63 #7 Texas A&M 99-72 #9 Florida St 58-54 |
Big East Conference – Champs Villanova, Pennsylvania 6th Final Four (’39, ’71, ’85, ’09, ‘16) 2-time champions def #16b Radford 87-61 #9 Alabama 81-58 #5 West Virginia 90-78 #3 Texas Tech 71-59 |
Big 12 Conference – Champs Lawrence, Kansas 15th Final Four (’40, ‘52, ’53, ’57, ’71, ’74, ’86, ’88, ’91, ’93, 02, ’03, ’08, ’12) 3-time champions def #16 Penn 76-60 #8 Seton Hall 83-79 #5 Clemson 80-76 #2 Duke 85-81 (OT) |
Five can win pool and 18 are still alive in race to finish
LEGOLAND IN CARLSBAD, CA (smt)- On the road to San Antonio, all four teams managed to get the automatic bid as their conference tournament champion. Coincidentally, Loyola-Chicago and Michigan both won their tournaments a week before Selection Sunday and face each other in the first semifinal. The Big Ten, in an effort to get their tournament at Madison Square Garden, held their tourney a week earlier than usual. That’s because Madison Square Garden hosts the Big East tournament, which was won by Villanova. Both Villanova and Kansas won the day before Selection Sunday, earned #1 seeds, and will face each other in the second semifinal. This left only the SEC with their championship on Selection Sunday (oh yeah, the Pac 12 final was also on Saturday though it’s debatable if they are still one of the Big Five conferences after their poor showing) as more one-bid leagues have the championship on Selection Sunday.
Both Loyola-Chicago and Michigan faced their expected seeded teams in the first weekend but then faced #7 and #9 seeds in the second weekend. Both have also won just one championship and are in the midwest United States. Both Villanova and Kansas have faced their expected seeded teams within one rank (2/3, 4/5, 8/9) and will face each other, the best possible matchup. Villanova has won all four games in double-digits while Kansas has won their last three games by four points, needing overtime vs. Duke.
As we look forward to crowning our 22nd different champion in 24 years, 18 entries are still hoping to finish in the top 6. The difference between 1st and 6th is $545. No one picked Loyola-Chicago but Continue reading