Three No. 1 seeds for the NCAA Tournament are locks: Kansas, Kentucky and Syracuse.
Results of conference tournaments will play a big role into which team will be selected as the final No. 1 seed. Lets take a look at the candidates’ current resumes:
Duke (26-5, 13-3)
Case for » The Blue Devils have been the best team in the ACC all season and have the second best RPI behind Kansas. Duke had a challenging non-conference schedule, defeating UConn and crushing Gonzaga.
Case against » But in that non-conference schedule, they also lost to Wisconsin and Georgetown — two teams in the middle of their respective conferences. One win over an RPI top-25 team and a loss to North Carolina State — the second worst team in a weak ACC — is the reason Duke may have to settle for a No. 2 seed.
Purdue (26-4, 14-4)
Case for » The Boilermakers have great non-conference wins over Tennessee and West Virginia and beat each of the other three ranked Big 10 teams — Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Case against » Purdue also lost to each of the Big 10 elite, splitting each matchup. But its biggest loss is being without star forward Robbie Hummel for the rest of the season.
West Virginia (24-6, 13-5)
Case for » The Mountaineers finished strong, defeating Villanova and Georgetown in their final two regular-season games. And they have a win over Ohio State, with Evan Turner in the lineup.
Case against » West Virginia may just have too many losses — somewhat understandable with the third toughest schedule in the country. A win over Purdue, Syracuse, Pittsburgh or a sweep of Villanova would have helped a lot, but losing to bubble teams Notre Dame and UConn is the reason they aren’t a No. 1 lock.
Ohio State (24-7, 14-4)
Case for » With Turner in the lineup, the Buckeyes have played like an elite team (21-4). Since the loss to West Virginia on Jan. 23, Ohio State has gone 10-1.
Case against » An early-season loss to then-ranked No. 4 North Carolina looks worse by the day. It’s also hard to just throw out the Buckeyes’ 3-3 record when Turner was out with an injured back or their shocking 29th ranking in the RPI.
