An injury hurts as much as a loss in the days before the brackets are drawn up for the NCAA Tournament. Syracuse endured both and will have to rack up major frequent-flier miles to make a run to the Final Four.
Kansas, Kentucky and Duke won their conference tournaments and the top seeding that goes with a title when the selection committee rolled out its 65-team bracket last night.
The Orangemen, meanwhile, were ranked fourth among the four No. 1 seeds and sent West after losing early in the Big East Tournament after center Arinze Onuaku injured his right quadriceps.
Their road to the Final Four, set for April 3-5 in Indianapolis, will have to go through Salt Lake City. No team has lost its first game in a conference tournament and gone on to win the national title.
"We're proud to be a No. 1 seed," Coach Jim Boeheim of Syracuse said. "This team has worked extremely hard, been consistent all year. Obviously, the tournament is always going to be challenging. It'll be challenging right off the bat."
The tournament will start Tuesday with an opening-round game between Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Winthrop. The tournament, with Kansas the No. 1 overall seed, will go into full swing on Thursday.
The Big East led the field with eight teams, which tied its own record and is the third time it has put that many teams in the field.
But winning the toughest conference's regular-season title wasn't the accomplishment it might have been for Syracuse. The Orangemen (28-4) lost to Georgetown in the Big East quarterfinals. That pushed them down, below Duke, which was expected to vie with West Virginia for the final No. 1 spot.
Winning the ACC Tournament helped Duke vault over Syracuse.
"Once again, we're talking about the entire season," selection chairman Dan Guerrero said. "We place value on that. Obviously, the big center for Syracuse got banged up. That's an issue to some degree."
Several traditional powers didn't make the tournament, including North Carolina, UCLA, Indiana, Connecticut and Arizona, which saw its NCAA-leading string of appearances stopped at 25 years. It will mark the first time since 1966 that all five of those programs failed to make the tournament.
Kansas (32-2) was awarded the No. 1 overall seed based on an 18-1 record against Big 12 opponents and will open Thursday against No. 16 Lehigh in the Midwest Regional. No. 1 seeds are undefeated in the first round since 1985, when the field first was expanded to 64 teams.
Last week, Guerrero said that the committee wouldn't include teams' performances in their last 12 games -- a longtime staple of its expansive criteria that was deemed as carrying too much weight. How closely the committee toed that line, however, was still in question.
Onuaku hasn't practiced since the injury but is expected back for Syracuse's opener on Friday against No. 16 Vermont in Buffalo.
"They get to play closest to home in the first and second rounds," Guerrero said. "I anticipate they'll do well."
Along with UTEP, Minnesota and Florida were considered among the bubble teams most at-risk.
Led by freshman John Wall, Kentucky (32-2) won its 26th SEC Tournament and is in good position for its eighth national title. Kentucky, winner of 13 of its last 14 games, will open Thursday against East Tennessee State.
Among the bubble teams missing the tournament were Virginia Tech, Illinois and Mississippi State, which lost twice in overtime to Kentucky, including 75-74 in the SEC Tournament final yesterday.
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