The Pacific-10 Conference managed to get five men’s teams in the tournament, with the lowest seed going to No. 10-seeded Arizona State.
While the Ducks head to Nashville, Tenn., as a No. 8 seed, Arizona, Stanford, California and Arizona State will find their way through the other three regions.
Arizona (25-3 overall, 17-1 Pac-10) earned the No. 1 seed in the West region, and will face No. 16-seed Vermont in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Vermont is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history after beating Boston, 56-55, for the America East Conference title and the conference’s automatic berth in the tournament.
The Catamounts (21-11 overall, 11-5 America East) are the third-best rebounding team in the nation with a +7.9 rebounding margin. Vermont has won 18 of its last 23 games, playing strong during most of the season.
The winner of Arizona-Vermont will face the winner of No. 8 Cincinatti-No. 9 Gonzaga on Saturday.
Joining Arizona in the West is rival Arizona State (19-11 overall, 11-7 Pac-10), which drew a No. 10 seed. The Sun Devils will face No. 7-seed Memphis (23-6 overall, 13-3 Conference USA).
Memphis’ last game was a loss to Louisville in the semifinals of the C-USA tournament. Memphis lost by three points on a last-second shot
by Louisville.
The winner of the Arizona State-Memphis game will face the winner of No. 2 Kansas-No. 15 Utah State.
Stanford (23-8 overall, 14-4 Pac-10) received a No. 4 seed in the South region, drawing No. 13-seed San Diego (18-11 overall, 10-4 West Coast Conference) in the first round.
San Diego earned the WCC automatic berth with a win over Gonzaga in the conference championship game after ending the regular season with a loss to Gonzaga.
It is the Toreros’ first NCAA berth since 1987, and the first under their current head coach.
The winner of the Stanford-San Diego game will face the winner of the No. 5 Connecticut-No. 12 Brigham Young game.
California (21-8 overall, 13-5 Pac-10) found a spot in the East region with a No. 8 seed. The Bears will face No. 9-seed North Carolina State (18-11 overall, 13-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) in the first round.
NC State finished the season with a loss to Duke in the ACC tournament title game. The Wolfpack gave up a 15-point lead and eventually lost the game by seven points.
In the Wolfpack’s last five games before the conference tournament, they shot 88 percent from the free-throw line, making 90 shots in 102 attempts. They are also a strong three-point shooting team, making 38 percent from behind the line in their 18 wins, while shooting only 29 percent in their 11 losses.
The winner of the California-NC State game will face the winner of No. 1 Oklahoma-No. 16 South Carolina State.
The Pac-10 teams have some room to breathe in their brackets, but cannot forget that March Madness often means upsets all around.