Chris Reynolds shares how the committee selected the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 seeds

We officially have our NCAA Tournament bracket and, with it, the big dance’s quartet of No. 1 seeds. After a season of jockeying, Alabama, Houston, Kansas, and Purdue earned their rights as the best of the best in their regions according to the selection committee.

How did they determine they would go with the Tide, Cougars, Jayhawks, and Boilermakers, though? Well, from what Chris Reynolds, the chairman of the committee, said following the reveal of the bracket on CBS? He highlighted consistency across the entire season as the separating factor for this group of teams.

“It was an interesting process and it took a little while,” Reynolds said. “However, what I will say is those teams at the top? They performed consistently throughout the year. We considered about six or seven teams at the top. But, at the end of the day, those four teams were the teams we selected.”

Alabama took the No. 1 overall spot after a dominant campaign where, including in SEC play, they finished 29-5. They won the conference’s regular season, the conference’s tournament, and finished the year No. 2 in the NET rankings with a 13-5 mark in Quad 1 games.

However, Houston wasn’t too far behind them as the second-best team in the field. Some saw it as a shock that they finished above Kansas. Based on Reynolds’ explanation, though, he and the committee felt they were more competitive in all their games, specifically their losses like today in the AAC Championship against Memphis.

After that is where we find the Jayhawks. They got a massive bump this afternoon with the news that Bill Self would be returning to the sidelines. Kansas, who finished 27-7 and as the regular season champions of the Big 12, could’ve easily made a case as the No. 1 overall seed this evening as they finished with 17 wins in Quad 1.

Finally, Purdue came in last amongst this group. Still, that’s no slight from Reynolds or the committee towards the Boilermakers. They were as consistent as any squad throughout the course of the season at 29-5. Now, they will have their shot to make some noise in the East Region after winning the Big Ten’s regular season and conference tournament.

From what Reynolds said, a couple of No. 2 seeds could have snuck in and taken one of these spots. With that said, these are the four teams that the committee believed best modeled the season-long consistency that they looking for.