Villanova lands No. 1 seed after Big East title

Villanova will attempt to celebrate its 30-year anniversary of winning the NCAA Tournament in style.

Except the Wildcats won't be an underdog.

They're the top dog.

Villanova, which was a No. 8 seed when it shockingly won it all in 1985, received the top seed in the East Region after bulldozing through Xavier 69-52 for its second Big East title Saturday night.

The Wildcats' first Big East Tournament crown in 20 years earned them their second No. 1 seed in school history. They'll take their school-record 15-game winning streak into their opening game against Lafayette on March 19. The winner of that game will play either NC State or LSU in the third round.

Virginia, which has dropped two of its last three games and has struggled to score since the injury to Justin Anderson, was given a No. 2 seed. Anderson returned for the ACC Tournament, but the Cavaliers lost to North Carolina in the semifinals. UVA will face OVC winner and 15th-seeded Belmont in the second round and the victor will clash with either No. 7 seed Michigan State or 10th- seeded Georgia in the Round of 32.

Third-seeded Oklahoma squares off with America East winner and No. 13 seed Albany, while No. 4 seed Louisville battles with Big West victor and 13th- seeded UC Irvine in second-round action.

Missouri Valley Conference champion and No. 5 seed Northern Iowa faces Mountain West Conference winner and 12th-seeded Wyoming in other second-round play. No. 11 seed Dayton will host a first-round game when it battles with Boise State and the winner will play No. 6 seed Providence to round out the second-round games.

[SportsNetwork.com]