Defending Champ Florida Gets Top Billing

Ohio State players celebrate their Big Ten Tournament championship basketball game victory in Chicago, Sunday, March 11, 2007. Ohio State defeated Wisconsin 66-49. (AP Photo/Brian Kersey) (Brian Kersey - AP)

-- So much for the little guy. Big boys like defending champion Florida and No. 1-ranked Ohio State are among the top-seeded favorites, while the darling mid-major teams get surprisingly few chances to turn the NCAA tournament into a free-for-all for underdogs.

March Madness officially began Sunday when the pairings were announced, kicking off office and online pools and triggering debate about seedings, who went where and who didn't make it at all.

Florida will try to become the first team since 1992 to repeat as champion _ and the first ever with the same five starters _ and the Gators will do it with their first overall top seed in the tournament, leapfrogging Ohio State courtesy of three straight routs in the Southeastern Conference tournament. North Carolina and Kansas were the other No. 1 seeds, rounding out a group that all won both their regular-season and conference tournament championships.

"It's a compliment to our season as a body of work," said Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose team rebounded to finish 29-5 after losing three games at the end of the regular season.

Still, it's hardly a guarantee the Gators will be in Atlanta for the Final Four on March 31. Last season, they won it all as a No. 3 seed, and not a single top-seeded school made it to the Final Four for the first time since 1980.

Falling to a No. 2 was last year's national runner-up, UCLA, which looked headed for a No. 1 seed until losing its last two games, including the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.

But the real surprise came in the meager number of at-large bids handed out to mid-major teams. Only six of 34 spots went to the little guys, down from eight last year and 12 in 2004.

It means fewer opportunities for a repeat of last year, when 11th-seeded George Mason _ the commuter college in Virginia _ struck a blow for the underdog in a stirring trip to the Final Four.

"Last year, the impression was that the tournament committee had gone overboard in selecting mid-majors," selection committee chairman Gary Walters said. "But when we start the process, we throw conference affiliation out the window ... and it shakes out where it shakes out."

While their sheer quantity wasn't impressive, some mid-majors thrived in other ways. Southern Illinois earned a fourth seed and Butler a fifth. Meanwhile, Big South champion Winthrop and America East champion Albany were seeded unusually high at 11th and 13th, respectively.

Parity reigned this year with a record 104 teams winning 20 games or more and a record 48 teams appearing in The Associated Press Top 25, raising the possibility of a mid-major revolution when the brackets came out.

It wasn't to be. Instead, the final five bubble spots went to Arkansas, Illinois, Stanford, Purdue and Texas Tech _ all from power conferences.