NCAA Tournament: No. 1 seed with toughest path to the Final Four

Tar Heels get toughest draw among 1-seeds in NCAA Tournament

The 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket is set, and the top seeds in each region now know what teams they’ll have to go through in order to get to this year’s Final Four in Minneapolis.

Duke, Virginia, North Carolina and Gonzaga were named 1-seeds in the East, South, Midwest and West, respectively. Each region undoubtedly presents its own set of challenges for the tournament’s top seeds.

But make no mistake about it; not all regions were created equal.

The tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, Duke, landed in an East region that has Michigan State — winner of the Big 10’s regular season and conference tournament — opposite the Blue Devils as the tourney’s top 2-seed. The Spartans are followed by 3-seed LSU, fourth-seeded Virginia Tech — who did manage to beat Duke in the teams’ only matchup of the season in late February — and the Mississippi State Bulldogs as the 5-seed.

Michigan State seems to have gotten the short end of the stick among the tournament’s 2-seeds, drawing Duke despite being the most highly regarded No. 2. The Spartans don’t match up particularly well with the Blue Devils, and offer a pretty favorable potential Elite 8 game for Duke. Neither LSU nor Virginia Tech are as good as Michigan State, and pose even less of a threat to Duke than the Spartans do.

The Virginia Cavaliers got the second overall No. 1 seed, and drew Tennessee, Purdue and Kansas State as their No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seed, respectively. While Tennessee could certainly pose a problem for the Cavaliers in a potential Elite 8 matchup, neither Purdue nor a Kansas State team that may be without its best player in senior forward Dean Wade will likely thwart the Cavaliers’ hopes of a Final Four.

In the West region, West Coast Conference powerhouse Gonzaga is paired with No. 2 seed Michigan, who lost to in-state rival Michigan State on Sunday for the third time this season. Big 12 co-champion Texas Tech is the region’s 3-seed, and Florida State is the 4-seed. Gonzaga’s path is most likely to be hindered by fourth-seeded Florida State, who could face the Bulldogs in the Sweet 16. Beyond that, neither Texas Tech nor Michigan are an easy out, and both could pose problems for the tournament’s fourth-ranked No. 1 seed.

The toughest path to the Final Four is in the Midwest region where No. 1 North Carolina is slated for potential games with fifth-seeded Auburn or fourth-seeded Kansas — in Kansas City, no less — in the Sweet 16, and a rematch with Kentucky in the Elite 8. Auburn won the SEC Tournament on Sunday in blowout fashion over Tennessee, and Kentucky beat the Tar Heels in late-December at the CBS Sports Classic in Chicago.

Also in the Midwest region is upstart AAC champion Houston, who’s won 31 games this season, but would no doubt be a big underdog to Kentucky if the two teams meet in the Sweet 16. On top of that, North Carolina will likely face a good-shooting Utah State team in the second round that boasts five players 6-feet-8 and taller, three of which measure at least 6-feet-10-inches.

On paper, it certainly appears as if the Tar Heels have the toughest road to the Final Four among the tournament’s four No. 1 seeds. Upsets and bad matchups can quickly change a bracket’s outlook, though, as we’re seen many times in the past. A region that once looked like the toughest, can easily become the weakest.

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