Photo by Aaron Cranford
By AARON CRANFORD
Twenty-three teams already qualified for the NCAA Championship, but Monday, the remaining at-large teams were decided with the ACC dominating the seeding.
Notre Dame was awarded the number one seed, while UCLA was given the second seed. Twenty-five at-large teams made the tournament, with the ACC claiming five of the 16 seeded positions in the field of 48. The conference with the second most seeded teams was the Pac 12 with four.
While the seeded teams will wait until Sunday to kick off their tournament play, the First Round begins Thursday.
One of Thursday’s best matchups features UNLV and UC Irvine, while Akron and Ohio State meet in a interstate battle.
Check out the full NCAA Championship Bracket here. After the jump, take a look at all the First Round matches:
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP (FIRST ROUND)
Thursday (Teams written second are hosting)
Akron vs. Ohio State
Bucknell vs. UNC Wilmington
Hartwick vs. Penn State
St. Francis (Brooklyn) vs. Old Dominion
Monmouth vs. Xavier
Denver vs. Oregon State
Tulsa vs. Saint Louis
UMBC vs. Wake Forest
Oakland vs. Kentucky
Furman vs. UAB
Fordham vs. Dartmouth
UNLV vs. UC Irvine
FGCU vs. Coastal Carolina
James Madison vs. North Carolina
SIUE vs. Northwestern
CSU Fullerton vs. San Diego
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What do you think of the NCAA Tournament field? Any notable snubs? Who do you see as favorites?
Share your thoughts below.
So…Fullerton beats Irvine for the Big West Championship, after which Irvine is ranked 40 spots higher, and gets a first round match — at home — against an opponent ranked 44 spots below them. Meanwhile, Fullerton gets to go on the road against a team ranked one spot above them (with #2 UCLA waiting if they win).
Makes sense to me.
Irvine beat Fullerton twice on the season. Irvine also has 14 wins on the season, including wins against ranked opponents. And, Irvine has a RPI ranking of 16 in the country.
Fullerton had only 10 wins on the season, only 3 wins in conference and their RPI ranking was 56. One game doesn’t give them a home game.
I’m glad it makes sense to you.
Cranford clearly only covers the ACC as I haven’t seen a College Soccer article or weekend recap that doesn’t feature the ACC. As for the ACC getting the 5 seeded teams in the 16, that’s all well and good, but the best team in the ACC (Maryland) is now in the Big 10 who has three of the top five seeds.
Go Maryland!
Hello!
I attended the ACC tournament this past weekend, so while I provided scores for all the tournaments across the country, my focus was on the ACC tournament because I was there.
However, if you do read all of my coverage for SBI, then you would have read this: http://bit.ly/B1GTer, which is when Maryland clinching the Big Ten regular-season title was featured.
The recap before that one (http://bit.ly/1zCAjsP) did not feature an ACC team. Thanks for the feedback, though.
Hey Aron, Akron U has had the best program overall for the last decade but you and this site have provided ZERO coverage of them other than scores the second half of this season. Your biased coverage is certainly understandable but make an effort
So Stanford (Conf: 6-1-3; Overall:13-2-3) WINS the Pac-12 and are ranked #6, but UCLA (Conf: 6-2-2; Overall: 11-4-4) is ranked #2? Head-to head they tied twice. Explain that to me.
It’s simple, UCLA is better. 😉
Zot Zot! #RipEmEaters!