For the third straight year, both participants in the Comcast Battle in Seattle will be playing in the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut received a No. 1 seed (West region) to mark the first time a team having played in the Comcast Battle in Seattle has received a top seed. Gonzaga earned their highest seed (No. 4 South region) in three years.
This season marks Gonzaga’s 11-straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 12th overall appearance. Following a perfect nonconference record and a West Coast Conference Tournament championship, the Zags (26-5) enter the NCAA Tournament one of the hottest teams in the country.
The Bulldogs will face the No. 13 seed University of Akron Thursday at 4:25 p.m. at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., in the first game of the second session, followed by No. 5 seed University of Illinois facing No. 12 seed Western Kentucky University.
Akron earned the Mid-American Conference (MAC) automatic bid after finishing with a 23-12 overall mark and a 10-6 record in conference. The fifth seed in the MAC Tournament, the Zips defeated the third seeded University of Buffalo 65-53 to win their first-ever Tournament title and secured their automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament for just the second time in the program’s Division I era. UA’s only other appearance in the Big Dance came in 1986 when Bob Huggins was the coach.
Thursday’s meeting between the Zags and the Zips will be the first time the two schools have played one another. That game can be watched online live right here at battleinseattle.com.
Gonzaga’s opponent in the 2008 Comcast Battle in Seattle, the Connecticut Huskies finished the season 27-4 and were selected as one of the four No. 1 seeds. The Huskies play the Southern Conference champion Chattanooga (18-16) at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa on Thursday.
Should Connecticut win, it will play the winner of BYU-Texas A&M on Saturday. The Huskies are an NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed for the fifth time in school history.
Out of the 12 teams to play in the Comcast Battle in Seattle during its five year history, 9 have gone on to play in to the NCAA tournament.