Top overall seed Florida gets to stay close to home to start play in the NCAA tournament’s South Region.
The Gators (32-2) will stay in their home state to play in Orlando on Thursday. They’ll face the winner of a First Four game between Albany and Mt. St. Mary’s out of Maryland. That game will be played Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.
Florida has won a school-record 26 straight games, the last coming Sunday to win the Southeastern Conference championship against Kentucky.
The Gators reached a regional final last year before falling to national runner-up Michigan.
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Kansas earned a relatively short trip for the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
The Jayhawks (24-9) received the No. 2 seed in the South Region and will play 15th-seeded Eastern Kentucky (24-9) on Friday in St. Louis in the second round of the tournament.
With star freshman Andrew Wiggins, Kansas captured its 10th-straight Big 12 regular-season title but lost to eventual champion Iowa State in the tournament semifinals to dash any hopes of a No. 1 seed.
The Jayhawks will likely be without 7-footer Joel Embiid until the tournament’s second weekend. The Big 12 defensive player of the year has a stress fracture in his lower back.
Eastern Kentucky beat Belmont in the Ohio Valley Conference final to earn its eighth NCAA tournament appearance and first since 2007.
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Third-seeded Syracuse will meet 14th-seeded Western Michigan in the second round of the NCAA tournament’s South Region.
The teams will meet Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y.
The game will give the Orange (27-5) a chance to reverse their late-season fade. They were 25-0 and No. 1 in the country last month, but lost four of six to close the regular season then fell to North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament quarterfinals.
Syracuse reached the Final Four last season, losing to national runner-up Michigan.
The Broncos (23-9) are in the field for the first time since 2004 after beating Toledo for the Mid-American Conference championship.
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UCLA will open the NCAA tournament as a No. 4 seed against Tulsa in San Diego on Friday.
The Bruins (26-8), in their first season under coach Steve Alford, upset No. 4 Arizona 75-71 in the Pac-12 tournament championship on Saturday to earn the league’s automatic berth. UCLA is the fourth seed in the South, and Tulsa is the 13th seed.
Tulsa (21-12) closed with 11 consecutive victories under second-year coach Danny Manning. The Golden Hurricane secured their berth by winning the Conference USA tournament as the second seed to earn its first NCAA tournament berth since 2003.
Manning played on a national championship winning team at Kansas in 1988.
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Virginia Commonwealth will open the NCAA tournament in San Diego against Stephen F. Austin, which has won 28 in a row.
The Lumberjacks (31-2) won the Southland Conference tournament to earn a No. 12 seed, and their first NCAA tournament berth since 2009.
VCU (26-8) lost to Saint Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 championship on Sunday. The Rams, a fifth seed, will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament. They have won at least one game in each of their first three trips, including advancing to the Final Four in 2011.
The game, to be played Friday, is part of the South Regional, where overall top seed Florida is the top seed.
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Sixth-seeded Ohio State meets 11th-seeded Dayton in the second round of the NCAA tournament’s South Region.
The teams will meet Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y.
The Buckeyes (25-9) have been one of the most up-and-down teams in the field, rising to No. 3 nationally after a 15-0 start only to lose five of six and fall out of the Top 25.
Ohio State lost to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament semifinals.
The Flyers (23-10) lost in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals to keep them on the NCAA bubble. Dayton last made the tournament in 2009.
The schools are located about an hour apart, with their last meeting coming in the NIT in 2008.
Dayton is coached by Archie Miller, the brother of Arizona coach Sean Miller.
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Johnny Dawkins is taking Stanford to the NCAA tournament for the first time.
The Cardinal (21-12) earned the 10th seed in the South Region and will open tournament play Friday in St. Louis against seventh-seeded New Mexico (27-6).
Stanford received its 17th NCAA berth but first since 2008, shortly before Dawkins was hired from Duke’s staff to replace Trent Johnson.
Stanford and New Mexico are playing for the first time since 2001-02 and the winner will face the Eastern Kentucky-Kansas winner.
The Cardinal were routed by UCLA in the Pac-12 semifinals while New Mexico knocked off San Diego State to win its third straight Mountain West tournament title.
The Lobos - who were upset by Harvard last year - reached the tournament in coach Craig Neal’s first season.
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A strong showing in its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament helped Pittsburgh earn a high seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Panthers (25-9) received the No. 9 seed in the South Region and will open tournament play against No. 8 seed Colorado (23-11) on Thursday in Orlando.
The winner will most likely face top overall seed Florida in the third round.
Pitt - which had no bad losses on its resume - boosted its tournament credentials by knocking off 14th-ranked North Carolina in the ACC quarterfinals and lost by three to eventual champion Virginia in the semifinals.
Colorado, which lost to Arizona in the Pac-12 semifinals, is headed to the NCAA tournament for the third straight year - the first time the Buffaloes have done that.
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