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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Ucla Has Point To Prove Chasing 1st Title In 20 Years, Bruins Top Ncaa Field Of 64

Associated Press

It was back to the ‘70s for UCLA, a No. 1 seed again in the NCAA tournament.

Two other venerable powers, Kansas and Kentucky, joined the Bruins as top seeds for the NCAA tournant. And, oddly, there was Wake Forest, whose only Final Four appearance came in 1962.

The 64-team field announced Sunday also included the likes of Colgate, Manhattan, Nicholls State and Florida International, with an 11-18 record that’s the worst in the tournament in 34 years.

“We had over 100 teams that were under consideration,” said Bob Frederick, athletic director at Kansas and chairman of the tournament selection committee. “During the course of the process, we took 63 secret ballots. We had 60 teams with 20 or more wins and 20 with 19 wins. We worked very hard….

“As late as 10:30 (Saturday) night we looked at an additional 24 teams and tried to subject them to the same scrutiny we subjected the others to. We wanted to make sure we didn’t leave anybody out.”

Play begins Thursday at regional sites and concludes at the Final Four in Seattle with the semifinals on April 1 and the championship April 3.

The final AP poll will be released Monday afternoon. UCLA received 65 of the 66 firstplace votes in the most recent poll and won all its games this week.

UCLA, the most dominant program in college basketball history, last won the national championship 20 years ago in coach John Wooden’s last game.

The Bruins go into the tournament as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press poll for the first time since 1975, when Wooden took the last of his 10 championships in 12 years. In all 10 of those title runs, UCLA entered the tournament ranked No. 1.

The Bruins (25-2), the Pac-10 champ and the top seed in the West, play their first game Friday against Florida International, winner of the Trans America Athletic Conference.

Kentucky (25-4) was made the No. 1 seed in the Southeast after defeating defending national champion Arkansas 95-93 in overtime to win the SEC championship. Kansas (23-5) was the top seed in the Midwest despite losing in the Big Eight conference tournament.

And Wake Forest (24-5), which beat North Carolina 82-80 in overtime to win its first ACC title since 1962, headed the East region.

The bracket is top-heavy with the customary powerhouse conferences such as the Big Eight and Big Ten. But mid-level conferences, which have complained that only their automatic entry gets a bid, did better. Extra bids this year went to the West Coast, Metro Atlantic and MidAmerica conferences.

“Some of these schools made an attempt to improve their schedule,” Frederick said. “We’ve tried to encourage them to do this. There are some larger schools in some of the bigger conferences that don’t necessarily do that, and have been hurt by that. But I think some of them got the message.”

Kentucky plays Mount St. Mary’s of Maryland (17-12), while Kansas takes on Colgate (17-12) and Wake Forest plays North Carolina A&T (15-14), all on Thursday.

The No. 2 seed in the East went to Atlantic 10 champion Massachusetts (26-4). The second seed in the Southeast was North Carolina (24-5), while Arkansas (27-6) got the No. 2 seed in the Midwest. Connecticut (26-4), which lost the Big East title game to Villanova, will travel to the West regional as the No. 2 seed.

Among the teams missing from the field were Georgia Tech (18-12) of the ACC, Iowa (19-11) of the Big Ten and Georgia (18-9) of the SEC.

George Washington, which beat Massachusetts twice in Atlantic 10 games and won at Syracuse while finishing 18-13, also was left out of the tournament.

“All of us feel bad about the teams that were left out,” Frederick said. “We know how important the tournament has become, not only to the fans and the coaches but also to the kids themselves.”

A deluge of television money has also made it a wildly lucrative venture for schools and conferences.

Three of the four No. 1 seeds went to schools with long histories of success in the NCAA tournament. UCLA has a record 10 national titles, while Kentucky’s five titles is tied for second-best with Indiana. Kansas has won the NCAA championship twice.

Wake Forest is the only one of the four No. 1 seeds without a national championship. Frederick cited North Carolina and Wake Forest as prime examples of what made seeding the teams “so tough, so very tough.”

“You have teams like Wake Forest and North Carolina who are so close to each other all year, and then they are semifinalists and finalists in the ACC tournament,” he said. “And it’s an overtime game by two points.”

The Big Ten led the way among conferences, with six teams making the tournament. The SEC, Big Eight and Pac-10 each had five tournament teams while the ACC and Big East got four bids.

Perhaps the most surprising entry was Manhattan, which had a 25-4 record but played none of the top 50 teams. The Jaspers lost the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference title game to St. Peter’s but got the MAAC’s first at-large bid.

“The committee looked very closely at Manhattan College because, obviously, there are a lot of teams in that category,” Frederick said. “We looked at their success against teams from 51 to 150. They were 9-3 against those teams. Teams in conferences like theirs play a lot of schools ranked between 51 and 150. Their record was better than the others.”

Oregon, an at-large selection, is making its first appearance since 1961. First-timers include Mount St. Mary’s, Colgate, Nicholls State, Gonzaga and Florida International.

One Chart: 1995 NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

MEMO: This is a siedabar that appeared with the story: Top guns The No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament: West - UCLA (25-2) Midwest - Kansas (23-5) Southeast - Kentucky (25-4) East - Wake Forest (24-5)

This is a siedabar that appeared with the story: Top guns The No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament: West - UCLA (25-2) Midwest - Kansas (23-5) Southeast - Kentucky (25-4) East - Wake Forest (24-5)