INDIANAPOLIS — The Alabama Crimson Tide will be the overall top seed in the NCAA tournament after breezing through the end of a season, despite a murder case casting a shadow over the program the past two months.
The Crimson Tide earned the top spot during Sunday's selection show over Kansas and Houston, each of whom knocked out of their conference tournaments without the title and missing key pieces. The Purdue Boilermakers were selected for the final No. 1 seed.
It was a day full of good news for Alabama, which defeated Texas A&M to win the SEC tournament before gathering to watch the selection show.
The Tide will play in the South Region and will open Thursday in Birmingham, Alabama. They will face the winner of a First Four game between Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Southeast Missouri State.
The defending national champion Jayhawks suffered a 20-point loss to Texas on Saturday in the Big 12 tournament. The team was without without their coach, Bill Self, who suffered an undisclosed medical issue. He was later discharged from the hospital and expected to be back this week.
Kansas will look to become the first back-to-back NCAA champion since Florida in 2007.
Houston was without leading scorer Marcus Sasser, who went down with a groin injury on Saturday. The Cougars will square off with Northern Kentucky on Thursday.
The tournament begins on Tuesday with two games in the First Four, which is held at the University of Dayton.
Two of the teams that made it off the bubble included Mississippi State and Pitt, who will play each other on Wednesday in a First Four game.
The first round of the tournament gets into full swing on Thursday and Friday with 32 games spread over eight cities. The Final Four is set for April 1 and 3 at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Although not the overall No. 1 seed, Houston could potentially be playing what amounts to two home games at the Final Four.
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