Updated 06:36 PM EST, Sun, Dec 22, 2024

2014 NCAA Men's Final Four: Teams Punch Their Tickets to 'The Big Dance' Sunday Night

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The brackets will be set by the end of the day after the men's NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show reveals the brackets and seedings to determine who will be crowned the best in college basketball.

The landscape in college basketball has changed, with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) adding Syracuse University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Notre Dame University to the conference. The #11 Syracuse Orangemen looked dominant throughout the year, ranked number one at times during the season, but have hit a slide going into the ACC tournament, losing five of their last seven games, including Friday's ACC quarterfinal 66-63 loss to the North Carolina State University Wolfpack. Syracuse's defeat at the hand of the Wolfpack leaves them in danger of failing to attain a one seed in the tournament.

"I'm not concerned about our team," said Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim. "I think we've played well all year. I think we've struggled shooting, and I think that's pretty well-documented. But in spite of that, we won 27 games, so I'm pretty pleased with what these guys have done, and I believe we'll be a very good tournament team."

The Duke University Blue Devils, ranked 6th in the country, met the same fate in ACC title game, losing 72-63 to the #6 University of Virginia Cavaliers, failing to win their 20th conference title. Highly-touted freshman Jabari Parker scored 23 points, going 9-of-24 for the day, but it was not enough to prevent the Cavaliers from capturing their first ACC title in 38 years, putting them in solid position to catch the eye of the selection committee and possibly take a top seed in the Final Four tournament.

The Big East conference also saw changes, adding Creighton University, Xavier University, Marquette University, Butler University, and DePaul University to their conference after several teams bolted for the ACC or the American Athletic Conference (AAC). The third-ranked Villanova University Wildcats, much like Syracuse and Duke, saw their chances of earning a number one seed dwindle after being upset by the Seton Hall University Pirates in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

Villanova head coach Jay Wright downplayed earning a top seed in the Final Four tournament, rather focusing on preparing his team for the long journey to the national title rather than setting their sights on the number one seed.

"You've all heard me say this before: This was not about 1 seeds, 2 seeds. This was about we wanted to come to Madison Square Garden and win the Big East tournament," said Wright, who won the Big East Coach of the year award this season. "Winning the Big East tournament would mean much more to us than a 1 seed," said Villanova coach Jay Wright. "The NCAA tournament seedings, my belief is 1, 2, 3, it doesn't matter that much. You're going to play great teams."

The fifth-ranked University of Louisville Cardinals made a case for themselves as far as taking a top seed in the NCAA Final Four tournament after having disposed of the #21 University of Connecticut (UCONN) Huskies 71-61 in the inaugural AAC tournament.

Pitino believes that despite the AAC lacking as many traditional basketball powerhouses as the ACC, Big Ten, or Pacific-12 (Pac-12) conferences, as opposed to when Louisville was a part of the Big East conference, the school is in good position going into the Final Four tournament.

"I'm very impressed with our guys," said Pitino after the game. "What they've done to win a regular season, conference tournament the way we have done it, in the fashion we have done it fits the eye test. I can't talk about the strength of the league. If you want to blame anybody, blame football. Don't blame us."

The NCAA Basketball Championship Selection Show is set to start Sunday 6 p.m. on CBS and through live stream via NCAA.com. You can also download the March Madness Live app available for Apple, Android and Windows devices.

List of teams who have won their conference tournaments and received automatic bids to the NCAA Final Four tournament:

School

Conference

Albany (State University of New York)

America East

    American University

Patriot

    California Polytechnical State University

Big West

    Coastal Carolina University

Big South

    University of Delaware

Colonial

    Eastern Kentucky University

Ohio Valley

    University of Florida

SEC

    Gonzaga University

West Coast

Harvard University

Ivy League

    Iowa State University

Big 12

    University of Louisiana-Lafayette

Sun Belt

University of Louisville

American

    Manhattan College

Metro Atlantic

    Mercer University

Atlantic Sun

    Michigan State University

Big Ten

    University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Horizon

    Mount St. Mary's University

Northeast

University of New Mexico

    Mountain West

    New Mexico State University

WAC

    North Carolina Central University

MEAC

    North Dakota State University

Summit

    Providence College

Big East

    Saint Joesph's University

Atlantic-10

    Stephen F. Austin University

Southland

    Texas Southern University

SWAC

    University of Tulsa

Conference USA

    UCLA

Pac-12

    University of Virginia

ACC

    Weber State University

Big Sky

    Western Michigan University

MAC

    Wichita State University

Missouri Valley

    Wofford College

Southern

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