NCAA tourney committee to consider No. 1 seed’s geographic request

The top-seeded team in the NCAA tournament will get a say in where it opens up March Madness in the future.

That proposal was among those considered by the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ ad hoc group that was formed last month to offer perspective to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee, and it received approval according to a release from the NCAA.

Leading up to the tournament, teams in contention for the No. 1 overall seed will communicate their preferences for first- and second-round sites as well as regional sites “in a process to be determined.”

Additionally, the D-I men’s basketball committee announced it will continue to give equal weight to conference tournament and regular season results, and it will consider revamping analytic metrics currently used to rank teams for selection and seeding in the tournament.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament is the main source of revenue for the association, netting millions on an annual basis from the association’s television partners.

Since 2001, it has begun in Dayton at UD Arena, first with the “opening round game” and then its successor, the First Four.

