Harvard gets a 12-seed, UMass a 6-seed in NCAA Tournament
Tommy Amaker's Harvard team won its third straight Ivy League crown this season.
Four New England teams learned their NCAA Tournament seeds and opponents Sunday evening (Sorry Taylor Coppenrath fans, Vermont didn't make it this year).
Harvard, Providence, UMass, and UConn all landed safely in the field of 68. In something of an oddity, three of the teams ended up in the East region. Here's where each ended up:
Harvard: No. 12 in East, will face No. 5 Cincinnati.
UMass: No. 6 in Midwest, will face winner of Iowa/Tennessee
Providence: No. 11 in East, will face No. 6 North Carolina
UConn: No. 7 in East, will face No. 10 Saint Joseph's
The winner of Harvard-Cincinnatti would face the winner of the matchup between No. 4 Michigan State and No. 13 Delaware. The Crimson (26-4) became the first team to punch their ticket to the tournament two weeks ago, when they beat Yale on the road to clinch the Ivy League championship.
UMass is making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. If UMass wins, a second-round matchup would pit the Minutemen against No. 3 Duke or No. 14 Mercer.
The tournament kicks off Tuesday and Wednesday with games in Dayton, Ohio narrowing the field to 64 teams. The real madness begins Thursday, with second-round games starting at noon and extending into Friday. By next weekend's end, we'll be down to the Sweet 16.
You can view the entire NCAA Tournament bracket, in printable form, here.
Starting Monday, you can enter Boston.com's bracket challenge in both the standard format and by round.
Material from the Globe's Julian Benbow and Michael Whitmer was used in this report.
- Joe Sullivan, Globe Sports Editor
- Julian Benbow, College sports reporter
