2009 Selection Sunday, NCAA Tournament Seeding and Brackets Announced

2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket: When it was all set and done, the Big East staked claims to being the strongest conference in the NCAA for the 2008-09 season with three of the four number one seeds coming from the conference. Louisville who won the regular season and conference tourney was the first number 1 seed announced placed in the Mid-West Region, with Connecticut (West Region) and Pittsburgh (East) also earning number 1 NCAA tourney seeds.

North Carolina was a number 1 seed for a record xx time. Despite what many pundits believed, Arizona was able to continue their streak of team with the most consecutive NCAA tournament appearances by getting a 12 seed to play in the Mid-West region with a 19-13 record.

The ACC, Big East, and Big Ten each had 7 teams earn 2009 NCAA tournament bids with the Big-12 and PAC-10 each having 6 teams qualify, the Atlantic 10 and SEC with 3 each, and the Horizon and Mountain West Leagues had 2 teams qualify. Of the 34 at-large bids to the 2009 NCAA tournament, 30 came from Power conferences and only 4 from non-power conferences continuing a downward trend for the non-power conference at-large bids.

The last 6 teams to make the tournament this year were: Arizona, Wisconsin, Dayton, Maryland, Michigan, and Minnesota. The 2009 NCAA tournament is also the first time since 1992 that the Kentucky Wildcats will not be playing in the NCAA tournament. The two biggest bubble teams which did not qualify for the tournament were San Diego State (23-9) and Saint Mary's (26-6) with the Auburn Tigers also having a strong case for getting an at-large bid for this years tourney but getting left on the table.

2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket - Mid-West Region

1 - Louisville Cardinals (28-5) - Big East
2 - Michigan State (26-6) Big Ten
3 - Kansas Jayhawks (25-7) Big Twelve
4 - Wake Forest (24-6) - ACC
5 - Utah (24-9) Mountain West
6 - West Virginia (23-11) Big East
7 - Boston College (22-11) ACC
8 - Ohio State Buckeyes (22-10) Big Ten
9 - Siena Saints (26-7)
10 - USC Trojans (21-12) - PAC 10
11 - Dayton (26-7) Atlantic 1
12 - Arizona Wildcats (19-13) - PAC 10
13 - Cleveland State (25-10)
14 - North Dakota State (26-6) - Summit Champions
15 - Robert Morris (24-10) - NEC
16 - Play In Game (Alabama St (X-X) vs Morehead State(17-15) - OVC)

2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket - West Region

1 - Connecticut Huskies (27-4) - Big East
2 - Memphis Tigers (31-3) - Conference USA
3 - Missouri Tigers (28-6) - Big 12
4 - Washington Huskies (25-8) - PAC 10
5 - Purdue Boilermakers (25-9) - Big 10
6 - Marquette (24-9) - Big East
7 - California Bears (22-10) - PAC 10
8 - BYU (25-7) Mountain West
9 - Texas A+M Aggies (23-9) Big 12
10 - Maryland Terps (20-13) - ACC
11 - Utah State (30-4) WAC
12 - Northern Iowa (23-10) Missouri Valley
13 - Mississippi State Bulldogs (23-12) SEC
14 - Cornell (21-9) - IVY
15 - Cal St Northridge (17-13) Big West
16 - Chattanooga (18-16) - Southern

2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket - East Region

1 - Pittsburgh Panthers (28-4) - Big East
2 - Duke Blue Devils (28-6) - ACC
3 - Villanova Wildcats (26-7) - Big East
4 - Xavier (25-7) Atlantic 10
5 - Florida Sate (25-9) - ACC
6 - UCLA Bruins (25-8) - PAC 10
7 - Texas Longhorns (22-11) - Big 12
8 - Oklahoma State (22-11) - Big 12
9 - Tennessee Volunteers (21-12) - SEC
10 - Minnesota Golden Gophers (22-10) - Big 10
11 - VCU Rams (24-9) CAA
12 - WIsconsin (19-12) Big 10
13 - Portland State (23-9) Big Sky
14 - American University (24-7) Patriot
15 - Binghamton Bearcats (23-8)
16 - East Tennessee State University ( 23-10)

2009 NCAA Tournament Bracket - South-East Region

1 - North Carolina Tarheels (28-4) - ACC (20 Straight Appearances)
2 - Oklahoma Sooners (27-5) - Big 12
3 - Syracuse (26-9) - Big East
4 - Gonzaga (26-5) - West Coast Conferences (10
5 - Illinois Fightin Illini (24-9) Big 10
6 - Arizona St (24-9) - PAC 10
7 - Clemson (23-8) - ACC
8 - LSU Tigers (26-7) - SEC
9 - Butler Bulldogs (26-5) - Horizon
10 - Michigan (20-13) - Big 10 - First Appearance in 10 Years
11 - Temple Owls (22-11)
12 - Western Kentucky (24-8) - Big Sky
13 - Akron Zip (23-12) Mid-American
14 - Stephen F. Austin (24-7 ) Southland
15 - Morgan St (23-11) - MEAC
16 - Radford (21-11) Big South

Refs:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/teams
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/memphis-tigers-2/
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/louisville-cardinals/
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com/north-carolina-tar-heels-2/
http://www.collegehoopsvideo.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=221
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney09/news/story?id=3982772
http://www.sec.com
http://www.acc.com
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/clubhouse?teamId=41