Kentucky, Michigan State, Syracuse and UNC earn top NCAA seedings

So much for entering the NCAA tournament on a roll. Three teams that lost in their conferences tournaments earned top seedings when the 68-team bracket was announced Sunday on CBS.

This year’s top seedings are Kentucky (South), Syracuse (East), North Carolina (Midwest) and Michigan State (West). Kentucky, Syracuse and North Carolina ended their regular seasons with losses in the Southeastern, Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences.

Michigan State, which beat Ohio State on Sunday in the Big Ten final, was the only No.1 to win its conference tournament.

Other bracket notes: The Pac 12 received only two bids, Colorado and California. Regular-season champion Washington was snubbed. Pac-12 tournament champion Colorado is seeded No. 11 in the South and plays Nevada Las Vegas in Albuquerque. California was slotted into a “first four” play-in game aginst South Florida. The winner of that game in Dayton will earn a No. 12 seeding and meet No. 5 Temple on Friday in the Midwest Regional.

Harvard, the Ivy League champions, earned its first NCAA bid since 1946 and will play No. 5 Vanderbilt in the East.

Northwestern, however, was denied its first NCAA bid. The school hosted the first NCAA tournament in 1939 but has yet to make the field.

Long Beach State, winnners of the Big West regular-season and tournament titles, earned a No. 12 seeding in the West and will play No. 5 New Mexcio on Thursday in Portland.