SALVO, North Carolina, 15 March 2005 — The University of Illinois, which has been ranked number one in the US all season, was awarded a No. 1 seed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s tournament Sunday.
The University of North Carolina, Duke and the Washington Huskies were handed the other No. 1 regional seeds in the 65-team tournament which decides the collegiate championship.
The selections, announced on national television, touched off coast-to-coast celebrations as fans prepared for three weeks of intense competition known as “March Madness”.
The event begins Tuesday and continues through regional play to the national championship showdown in St Louis, Missouri April 4.
A team must win six consecutive games over three weekends to claim the title. The holder is the University of Connecticut.
Illinois, which has lost only once in 33 games this season, had to put to one side the death of coach Bruce Weber’s 81-year-old mother to win the Big Ten Conference Sunday.
Dawn Weber died in a Chicago hospital Friday due to heart problems.
The Fighting Illini will be the No. 1 seed in the Chicago region and face Fairleigh Dickinson in a first-round game at Indianapolis Thursday.
North Carolina, the number two-ranked team nationally, will be the top seed in the Syracuse, New York region.
The Tar Heels, who have a 27-4 record, open play in Charlotte, North Carolina Friday. They face the winner of Tuesday’s play-in game in Dayton, Ohio between the tournament’s two lowest seeds, Oakland University and Alabama A&M.
Duke, the nation’s fifth-ranked team, won the Atlantic Coast Conference Sunday to gain the No. 1 seed in the Austin, Texas region. The Blue Devils (25-5) meet Delaware State in Charlotte Friday.
Washington was the biggest surprise as a No. 1 seed. The Huskies (27-5) edged the University of Kentucky and Wake Forest for the honor.
Kentucky would have been a No. 1 seed had it not lost the Southeastern Conference title to the University of Florida Sunday, officials said.
Wake Forest was beaten in the quarter-finals of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Washington faces the University of Montana in Boise, Idaho Thursday. The game is part of the Albuquerque, New Mexico region.
