Huskies join Illini, N.C., Duke as No. 1 seeds

INDIANAPOLIS — If the process of seeding the top teams is any indication, this could be one big buzzer-beater of an NCAA tournament.

As expected, Illinois, once-beaten and top-ranked in the polls, was given the No. 1 overall seed.

The rest wasn't so cut and dried: Less than an hour before announcing the brackets on national television, the 10 committee members were still debating in an Indianapolis hotel suite. Two of the four No. 1 seeds were still undecided.

It wasn't until the last two conference tournament games ended, about 45 minutes before the selections went public, that the committee finally gave the top seeds to the Illini, North Carolina, Duke and Washington — the surprise of the group.

"I don't know if it's a record, but my blood pressure was going up every five minutes we were waiting," selection committee chairman Bob Bowlsby said.

Bowlsby acknowledged there were about a half-dozen contingency plans considered, and many of those were being sorted out in conference tournament championships.

Had Kentucky beaten Florida for its third straight Southeastern Conference title, it would have been a No. 1 seed. The Wildcats lost — and were dropped to a No. 2.

Had Duke lost to Georgia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, Wake Forest could have sneaked in as a No. 1. The Yellow Jackets made it interesting, but that one wasn't to be, either.

Bowlsby's committee eventually picked Washington, the Pac-10 champ, as a No. 1 seed.

"I'm not going to lie and say I thought we were going to get a No. 1 seed," Huskies forward Bobby Jones said. "But then I woke up today, and I started watching the shows. People were saying we could get it. I started believing them."

The Huskies (27-5) joined some elite company. Big Ten champion Illinois (32-1) was assigned to the Chicago regional. North Carolina (27-4), the ACC regular-season champ, will be at Syracuse, Duke (25-5) will be in Austin and Washington will go to Albuquerque.

It's the sixth time in eight years two teams from the same conference were seeded No. 1. The last time was 2003, when Oklahoma and Texas of the Big 12 were No. 1 seeds.

No conference has ever had three No. 1s.

Duke opens against Delaware State, while the Tar Heels face the winner of Tuesday's play-in game between Oakland and Alabama A&M.