Kentucky garners No. 1 seed in the East

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/15/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Kentucky, which scorched the Southeastern Conference in the regular season and won the conference tourney crown in a tense overtime contest, was named as the top- seeded team in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky (32-2), survived that scare from Mississippi State on Sunday and has been selected a No. 1 seed for the 10th time in school history. The Lexington- based school will be trying for its eighth national title and first since a 1998 triumph over Utah. It will also be making its 50th entry into the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats will take on 16th-seeded East Tennessee State (20-14), which emerged as the champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference for the second straight season, on Thursday in New Orleans.

"I'm happy that we are a one-seed, but there are no easy roads," said Kentucky head coach John Calipari. "Some are easier than others, but it's still hard. You don't want to look beyond East Tennessee State, Texas and Wake Forest -- all four good teams -- in our little bracket of the world. Other than that I'm not worried about anything else. I love New Orleans, I think it's a great place to have a tournament, and you know we'll have 20,000 fans down there."

West Virginia (27-6), has won six consecutive games heading into the NCAA Tournament, including a close one with Georgetown on Saturday to take its first Big East title in school history,

The Mountaineers claimed a No. 2 seed for the first time and will face off against Morgan State (27-9) on Friday in Buffalo. The Bears had an easier time with their competition, claiming both the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season and playoff titles.

Despite a loss in the Mountain West semifinals to eventual champion San Diego State, New Mexico (29-4), picked up the third seed on the strength of a 15- game win streak down the stretch before the Aztecs put an end to their conference title hopes.

The Lobos, who have not seen the tourney since a first-round exit to Villanova in 2005, have to deal with Big Sky winner Montana (22-9) on Thursday in San Jose.

Wisconsin (23-8), which dropped a Big Ten tourney quarterfinal appearance to Illinois, still garnered enough regard to snag the four seed in the East. Its first-round opponent will be Wofford (26-8) on Friday in Jacksonville. The Terriers, who were tops in the South Division of the Southern Conference, took home the postseason title after dispatching Appalachian State and gained the first NCAA berth in school history.

Opponents in the 5-12 matchup have a degree of familiarity, as Atlantic 10 champion Temple (29-5) meets the best of the Ivy League in Cornell (27-4) on Friday in Jacksonville. Owls bench boss Fran Dunphy was the head coach at Penn while current Cornell head man Steve Donahue was one of his assistants.

"We have nice veteran leadership sprinkled in with some young talent," said Dunphy. "The only thing I'm disappointed by is that I'm playing against a guy I coached with. If you had said to me before the season that we'd share the regular-season title with Xavier then win the playoff and take a five-seed, I'd have signed those papers right away."

Temple has bowed out in the first round the last two seasons, and has not enjoyed a late March run since an Elite Eight berth in 2001. Meanwhile, Cornell is looking for its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory following five losses.

A second Wisconsin-based program in the region earned the sixth seed, as Milwaukee's own Marquette (22-11) will square off against surprise Pac-10 champion Washington (24-9) on Thursday in San Jose.

Lorenzo Romar's Huskies were felled by Purdue in the second round last season, while the Golden Eagles shocked Florida State before losing to Xavier.

"I think what makes it special for this group is that I've never been around a group like this," said Marquette head coach Buzz Williams. "We're not here because of selfish ambition, we're still playing is because of the togetherness of our unit."

The other matchups feature at-large selections with seventh-seeded Clemson (21-10) against 10th-seeded Missouri (22-10) on Friday in Buffalo, and the 8-9 matchup features Texas (24-9) and Wake Forest (19-10) dueling Thursday in New Orleans.

The East Regional semifinals are slated for Syracuse on March 25, with the finals to take place two days later.