We are at the very end of February and that means the madness is almost upon us, March Madness that is. As the regular season winds down it is a very popular time for people to predict what the bracket will look like when it is revealed on Selection Sunday. While bubble teams always get the most attention the contenders for one seeds are also intriguing to fans. Last season the one seeds were pretty easy to choose, this season not so much. Joe Lunardi of ESPN though, believes Kansas and Villanova are close to locks for one seeds.
When Lunardi says close to locks it means as long as they get the results they are supposed to get they should be the top seed in their region. As of the last AP Poll Villanova and Kansas were numbers one and two respectively so this shouldn't come as a big surprise. Villanova did lose to Xavier since that last poll was released but Xavier is a top five team and that was only their fourth loss of the season.
Villanova's resume is certainly deserving of a one seed as it stands now considering they are number two in RPI and have played the 10th toughest schedule in the NCAA. Villanova hasn't had any great wins other than beating Xavier earlier this year but they also haven't had anything close to a bad loss. The story with Villanova won't be what their seed is though; it will be how far they advance in the tournament. Last season the Wildcats were a one seed but lost in the round of 32 to eighth seeded NC State. This year they will likely be at least a two seed and anything short of an Elite Eight would be an enormous disappointment.
For Kansas, they may be in line to get the number one overall seed in the tournament. They are number one in RPI, have had the eighth hardest schedule in the nation and are 10-3 Vs. RPI top 50 teams. Kansas is one win away from winning their 12th consecutive Big 12 title and many people consider the Big 12 the best conference in the nation this year. Kansas does have a really bad loss on their resume (a blowout at the hands of Oklahoma State, RPI 148) but that can easily be outweighed by all the good on their resume. Overall it would take a monster collapse from both Kansas and Villanova to not get one seeds in in the NCAA tournament and with the way they have been playing all season that is highly unlikely.
