NCAA tournament 2017 - South preview: predictions, players to watch, top teams

One of the debates over NCAA tournament seeding included ACC rivals North Carolina and Duke -- which was more worthy of a No. 1 seed?

The NCAA tournament selection committee gave the Tar Heels the nod as the No. 1 seed in the South despite Duke beating Roy Williams' team two out of three times, including a semifinal matchup in the ACC tournament.

Mark Hollis, the chair of the committee, said North Carolina winning the ACC regular season title was a factor in addition to Duke starting from the No. 4 seed line entering last week.

"North Carolina was a solid No. 1 seed and Duke started the week as the top-ranked team on the No. 4 line," Hollis said. "They worked their way up. They had the biggest jump going from the No. 4 line to the No. 2 line. But they couldn't go further than No. 2."

The Tar Heels have earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament for a record 16th time and the seventh under Williams. North Carolina opens the tournament against No. 16 seed Texas Southern on Friday in Greenville, S.C.

Williams, who said his team's goal "was not to win the ACC tournament but to play on the last Monday of the season (in the title game)," has advanced to the Elite Eight or beyond in each of the previous six seasons as a No. 1 seed. He is 26-0 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

5 PLAYERS TO KNOW

North Carolina G Justin Jackson: The Tomball, Texas, native leads North Carolina in scoring at 18.3 points per game and in 3-pointers with 85. A junior, he is second in assists (84) and fourth in rebounds (4.7). He is setting career highs in scoring average, three-point percentage (.385), three-pointers and rebounds.

Kentucky G Malik Monk: The freshman standout averaged 21.2 points a game in the regular season, which ranks in the top 20 nationally. Monk, the SEC Player of the Year, has scored in double figures all but one game and he has 17 scored 20 or more points.

Middle Tennessee State F JaCorey Williams: The Conference USA Player of the Year, who sat out last year after transferring from Arkansas, averaged a team-best 17.5 points a game and 7.4 rebounds a game in the regular season.

UCLA G Lonzo Ball: The 6'6" freshman guard has averaged 14.6 points, 7.7 assists and 6.1 rebounds while leading UCLA to a 29-4 record. Ball is the engine for UCLA's offensive production with his court awareness, passing ability and athleticism.

Butler F Andrew Chrabascz: The senior finished the regular season second on the team in scoring (11.1 points per game), assists (3.2) and steals (24), while finishing third in rebounding (4.6 per game). He became the 38th player in Butler history to score 1,000 career points during the season.

4 NUMBERS TO NOTE

90.4: Points per game scored by UCLA, which tops the nation.

60.5: Amount of points allowed a game by No. 6 seed Cincinnati. That number ranks fourth nationally.

3.92: The turnover-to-assist ratio by Cincinnati guard Troy Caupain, ranking No. 3 in the nation. He has 153 assists and only 39 turnovers.

8.13: Seton Hall forward Angel Delgado's defensive rebounds per game rate as the eighth most in the nation.

3 EARLY UPSETS

No. 12 Middle Tennessee State over No. 5 Minnesota: The Blue Raiders know how to win in March Madness as an underdog. That's dangerous for a higher-seeded team going up against them. They won as a No. 15 seed last year, knocking off Michigan State in the first round before falling to eventual Final Four participate Syracuse.

No. 10 Wichita State vs. No. 7 Dayton: Wichita State won the Missouri Valley regular season title and the conference tournament and bring a 15-game winning streak to Indianapolis. The Shockers are a balanced team with five players averaging between 9.2 and 11.8 points per game, led by sophomore forward Markis McDuffie.

No. 13 Winthrop vs. No. 4 Butler: Winthrop finished the regular season 26-6, winning the Big South title for the first time since 2010. The Eagles won a Division I-best 12 road games. This is their first NCAA Tournament appearance in seven years. Butler is coming off a first-round loss in the Big East tournament against Xavier.

2 TEAMS TO BEAT

UCLA won 10 straight games before losing to Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals. The Bruins adjust well after setbacks, including when they lost at home to Arizona in the regular season. Their 10-game winning streak soon followed. Lonzo Ball has the ability to lead the Bruins deep into the tournament with his playmaking ability alone.

Kentucky is a talented No. 2 seed. The Wildcats, always a threat with John Calipari coaching them, has the most NBA talent in the tournament with three players forecasted to go in the first round of the NBA draft -- PG De'Aaron Fox, SG Malik Monk and C Bam Adebayo.

1 GAME WE NEED TO SEE ...

Kentucky against UCLA in a potential Sweet 16 matchup would be a rematch of a regular-season game won by the Bruins in Lexington, Ky., when John Calipari's team was ranked No. 1 in the nation. UCLA's freshman duo of Lonzo Ball and T.J. Leaf played a big part in beating Kentucky and snapping the Wildcats' 42-home-game winning streak.