Virginia suffered a surprising home loss to unranked Virginia Tech, ending its winning streak at 16 games.
But one recent defeat was not enough to sway the NCAA Division I Basketball Committee. The Cavaliers are still viewed as the best team in the country a month before Selection Sunday.
Virginia was the top overall seed in preliminary NCAA Tournament rankings released on Sunday, a day after losing to the Hokies. Villanova, Xavier and Purdue earned the other No. 1 seeds. No. 24 Kentucky and Louisville were not among the committee’s top-16 teams.
“Virginia’s a dominant defensive team, but they’re much better offensively than they’ve been,” committee chair and Creighton Athletics Director Bruce Rasmussen said during the selection show.