PHILADELPHIA — The NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee named its top 16 teams in seed order on CBS on Saturday and Seton Hall was given the No. 3 seed in the South behind Baylor and Louisville.
Seton Hall (17-5, 9-1) is hoping to open in Albany for its first two games, but would not play the East Regional at Madison Square Garden if they did indeed land in the South.
“When we come in this building, it’s a special place for us,” Seton Hall guard Myles Powell said last month after a win over St. John’s at the Garden. “We feel like this is our second home. We’ll be looking forward to coming back here in the [NCAA] Tournament.”
The top four overall seeds are Baylor, Kansas, Gonzaga and San Diego State.
Andy Katz of NCAA.com has Seton Hall opening in Albany against No. 14 Bowling Green. Katz has the Pirates opposite No. 6 Iowa and No. 11 Mississippi State in a potential second-round matchup.
Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com projects Seton Hall opening against No. 14 Little Rock opposite No. 6 LSU and No. 11 Texas Tech.
Katz has Rutgers as the No. 7 seed in the East playing No. 10 Houston in Greensboro, N.C. The Scarlet Knights are opposite No. 2 Duke and and No. 15 Wright State. Duke, like Seton Hall, is hoping to play the East Regional at the Garden.
Palm has Rutgers as the 8 in the East against No. 9 Stanford, opposite No. 1 San Diego State and No. 16 South Dakota State.
The NCAA Selection Committee seeds look like this:
South
1-Baylor
2-Louisville
3-Seton Hall
4-Auburn
Midwest
1-Kansas
2-Dayton
3-Florida State
4-Michigan State
West
1-Gonzaga
2-West Virginia
3-Villanova
4-Oregon
East
1-San Diego State
2-Duke
3-Maryland
4-Butler
The Big East has three projected teams among the top 16 seeds with Seton Hall and Villanova at 3 seeds, and Butler a 4.
“I think all of that exposure is great for the sport,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said Thursday ahead of the bracket reveal and Saturday’s Seton Hall-Villanova game at Wells Fargo Center. “The exposure of the tournament is great for the sport. We’re in competition with the NBA for viewers and everything we do to highlight that, I think is important.
“It doesn’t really mean anything to the teams, but it’s great for the fans.”
Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.