Defending champion Villanova named No. 1 overall seed in March Madness tournament

Defending champion Villanova was the overall top seed and one of four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament field announced Sunday.

The Wildcats (31-3), who beat Creighton in the Big East tournament championship game on Saturday night, were positioned atop the East Regional.

The other No. 1 seeds were Kansas (28-4) in the Midwest, Gonzaga (32-1) in the West and North Carolina (27-7) in the South.

Kansas won the Big 12 regular-season championship before being upset by TCU in the conference tournament.

Gonzaga, the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament champion, lost only to Brigham Young this year.

North Carolina won the Atlantic Coast regular-season title before losing to Duke in the ACC tournament semifinals on Friday.

In the East bracket, the rest of the top four seeds after Villanova were No. 2 Duke (27-8), No. 3 Baylor (25-7) and No. 4 Florida (24-8).

In the West, seeded behind Gonzaga were No. 2 Arizona (30-4), No. 3 Florida State (25-8) and No. 4 West Virginia (26-8).

The South top four seeds included No. 2 Kentucky (29-5), No. 3 UCLA (29-4) and No. 4 Butler (23-8).

In the Midwest, the second through fourth seeds were No. 2 Louisville (24-8), No. 3 Oregon (29-5) and No. 4 Purdue (25-7).

Northwestern (23-11) of the Big Ten made the NCAA field for the first time in school history. The Wildcats were the No. 8 seed in the West Regional.

Syracuse was among the bubble teams that failed to make the 68-team field.