Gonzaga tabbed as NCAA men's basketball selection committee's top overall seed; Auburn, Arizona, Kansas right behind

Gonzaga was the overall 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament men's basketball selection committee's bracket preview for the second straight season, revealed early Saturday afternoon.

The committee announced its top 16 seeds, with Auburn, Arizona and Kansas rounding out the 1-seeds after the Zags.

«The margin between Gonzaga and Auburn is razor thin, as is the gap between Auburn and Arizona,» committee chair Tom Burnett said.

Burnett said the committee pointed to Gonzaga's wins over Texas Tech, UCLA and Texas — all of whom were selected as part of the top 16 — gave Mark Few's program the edge for the overall No. 1 spot.

Baylor, Kentucky, Purdue and Duke were the 2-seeds, with Burnett saying Baylor and Kentucky were right there with Kansas in the discussion for the final 1-seed.

«You could make a case for all three teams, as Baylor has more Quadrant 1 wins than anyone and Kentucky doesn't have any losses outside of the first quadrant,» he said. «Some head-to-head games involving those three teams certainly was a topic of conversation but as things stand today, we have Kansas with a slight edge.»

The 3-seeds were Villanova, Texas Tech, Tennessee and Illinois, while Wisconsin, UCLA, Providence and Texas were the 4-seeds.

Burnett said Alabama, Houston and Ohio State were the next three teams under consideration. The Cougars entered Saturday ranked No. 4 in the NET, No. 2 BPI and No. 7 at KenPom — but Burnett said their lack of a single Quadrant 1 win kept them off the 4-line.

The biggest talking point coming out of the bracketing process was the committee placing Villanova as the 3-seed in the East Region, which will be played at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The Wildcats play several home games at Wells Fargo every