Geoff JohnsonThe Michigan State Spartans have been named the number one seed in the West on your March Madness Bracket.
After the Michigan State Spartans defeated Ohio State 68-64 in the Big Ten title game, they earned the right to be a high seed.
“As it turned out, this game put the No. 1 seed into the field,” selection committee chairman Jeff Hathaway said.
The No. 2 seeds are Kansas, Duke, Missouri and Ohio State; and bubble teams Drexel, Seton Hall, Mississippi State and Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington. Iona, on the other side, surprised everybody as they made the tournament.
“They weren’t the last team in,” Hathaway said of Iona. “They had a very good nonconference strength of schedule; they were 44. I know a lot of people are going to try to compare them to Drexel, and Drexel was well over 200. … We think we got that one right. Obviously, a lot of people will debate it, and that’s what makes it fun.”
“There were 112 teams with more than 20 wins,” Hathaway added. “We talked a lot about parity at the high end of the field and about quality throughout the field. Bottom line, it was about who did you play, where’d you play them and how did you do?”
The biggest disappointment about the conference was the Pac-12, which was undeniable weak this year; they managed to put in two teams, but failed to deliver Washington at the end. This is the first time a regular-season champion of a power conference was left out.
