The Arizona Wildcats have earned the No. 1 seed in the West region of the NCAA tournament despite losing to UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament final and will play Big Sky champion Weber State on Friday.
The game will be at Viejas Arena, where Arizona beat San Diego State 69-60 on Nov. 14.
Arizona (30-4) held the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll for eight straight weeks before losing at California on Feb. 1.
The Wildcats are led by Nick Johnson (16.2 points) and Aaron Gordon (12.1 points, 7.8 rebounds).
Led by Kyle Tresnak’s 27 points, Weber State (19-11) beat North Dakota 88-67 on Saturday for the Big Sky tournament championship and its first NCAA berth since 2007.
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The Wisconsin Badgers earned the No. 2 seed in the West region and get to stay in their home state when they play No. 15 seed American in Milwaukee on Thursday.
Wisconsin got an at-large bid after losing 83-75 on Saturday to eventual Big Ten champion Michigan State.
The Badgers (26-7) come in having dropped two of their last three games. Frank Kaminsky leads Wisconsin with 13.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.
American (20-12) earned an automatic bid after winning the Patriot League tournament with a 55-36 victory against Boston University on Wednesday night.
The Eagles are led by Jesse Reed (13.9 points) and Tony Wroblicky (12.2 points, 7.3 rebounds). They are winless in two NCAA appearances.
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Doug McDermott and the Creighton Bluejays have earned the No. 3 seed in the West region and will face 14th-seeded Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday in San Antonio.
McDermott leads the nation in scoring at 26.9 points and was the unanimous Big East Conference Player of the Year. However, the Bluejays (26-7) were upset by Providence in the conference tournament final.
McDermott has 3,105 points, fifth on the all-time scoring list. He is trying to become the 11th player to be a three-time All-America and the first since Patrick Ewing of Georgetown and Wayman Tisdale of Oklahoma in 1985.
The Ragin’ Cajuns (23-11) earned an automatic bid as Sun Belt champions and are making their first NCAA appearance since 2005. They’re led by Elfrid Payton (19.1 points) and Shawn Long (18.7 points, 10.5 rebounds).
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Steve Fisher’s San Diego State Aztecs are in the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight year, earning the No. 4 seed in the West and a matchup against some old friends with 13th-seeded New Mexico State.
The Aztecs (29-4) and Aggies (26-9) will play Thursday in Spokane.
New Mexico State coach Marvin Menzies was on Fisher’s first staff after he was hired at SDSU in 1999. One of their first recruits, Aerick Sanders, is on Menzies’ staff.
Says Fisher: “There will be a San Diego State connection. We’ll look forward to the challenge.”
SDSU lost to New Mexico in the Mountain West tournament title game on Saturday. New Mexico State, with 7-5 center Sim Bhullar, routed Idaho for its third straight Western Athletic Conference tournament title.
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After getting bounced out of the Big 12 tournament by Baylor, the No. 17 Oklahoma Sooners look to rebound against North Dakota State to open the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma (23-10) had rolled into the conference tournament with three straight wins before the 78-73 quarterfinal loss to the Bears on Thursday.
The Sooners earned the No. 5 seed in the West Region and will open Thursday in Spokane, Wash. It’s their second straight trip to the NCAA tournament and 28th overall.
They’ll face the No. 12 seed Bison (25-6), who won the Summit League tournament championship to clinch the team’s second trip to the tournament. The also made it their first year of eligibility in 2009.
North Dakota State, which also won the league’s regular season title, rides a nine-game winning streak into the NCAA tournament.
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Baylor may have gotten off to a slow start in conference play, but victories in 10 of the last 12 games have propelled the Bears into the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 seed in the West.
Baylor (24-11) will face No. 11 Nebraska in San Antonio on Friday. The Bears return to the tournament after winning the NIT last season.
Baylor is coming off a loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 tournament final. Baylor finished tied for sixth in the regular-season conference standings, after going 2-8 to start league play.
The Huskers (19-2) are making their first tournament appearance since 1998, and seventh overall. They’ve never won in the tournament.
Nebraska, picked to finish last in the Big 10, surpassed expectations overall this season but fell 71-67 to No. 24 Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the Big 10 tournament.
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Last season the Oregon Ducks won the Pac-12 tournament to make the NCAA tournament. This year it wasn’t quite as easy.
After slumping to start conference play, the Ducks (23-9) finished the regular season with seven straight wins, including a 64-57 victory over Arizona in the finale. They beat rival Oregon State to open the conference tournament before falling to UCLA in the semifinals
Earning the No. 7 seed in the West, Oregon heads to Milwaukee to face BYU on Thursday. As an automatic bid last season, the Ducks advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 before losing to Louisville.
The 10th-seeded Cougars (23-11) have also surged late, winning eight of their last 10 games.
But BYU was hurt in the West Coast Conference championship game when the team lost point guard Kyle Collinsworth to a knee injury. The Cougars lost 75-64 to Gonzaga.
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Gonzaga is headed to the NCAA tournament. Again.
The perennial mid-major standout is making its 16th straight tournament appearance. This season the Bulldogs (28-6) visit San Diego to face Oklahoma State (21-12) on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Zags have advanced to the tournament’s round of 16 five times, and they’ve made it to the Elite Eight once. But they’ve never been to the Final Four.
Gonzaga defeated BYU 75-64 to win the West Coast Conference tournament.
Ninth-seeded Oklahoma State, which won national championships in 1945 and 1946, is making its 26th overall tournament appearance and second in a row as an at-large selection.
The Cowboys have bounced back since losing star guard Marcus Smart to a three-game suspension for shoving a fan at Texas Tech. Oklahoma State lost 77-70 in overtime to No. 10 Kansas in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
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