LSU Qualifies for NCAA Tournament as East Regional’s No. 8 Seed

The field of 68 is set and your Fighting Tigers of LSU are going dancing for the second time under Will Wade.

LSU qualified for the NCAA Tournament, being placed in the East as the region’s No. 8 seed. They will take on the No. 9 seed St. Bonaventure Bonnies, champions of the Atlantic 10 on Saturday at a time to be determined later. This will be the first time LSU and St. Bonaventure have ever played.

While it’s exciting that LSU has made two straight NCAA Tournaments, it’s disappointing the Tiger’s strong showing in Nashville didn’t move them up a line or two. If LSU wins Saturday, they’ll (probably, see UMBC-Virginia) have the unenviable task of playing Michigan, the No. 1 seed in the East in the Round of 32.

Five other SEC teams made the NCAA Tournament. Alabama is the highest ranked team as the two-seed in the East; Arkansas and Florida are grouped together in the South with the Razorbacks as the No. 3 seed and the Gators as the No. 7; Tennessee is in the Midwest region as the No. 5 seed; and Missouri is the No. 9 seed in the West region. Ole Miss is one of four teams on standby if a team has to withdraw from the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 1 seeds are Gonzaga, the No. 1 overall seed, (West Region) Baylor (South), Illinois (Midwest) and Michigan (East).

All games will be held in Indianapolis, but tipoff times have yet to be announced. The first round is scheduled for Friday and Saturday and will be carried on various networks like CBS, TNT, TBS and truTV.

The rest of the East Regional is as follows:

No. 1 Michigan vs. 16. Mount St. Mary’s/Texas Southern

No. 8 LSU vs. No. 9 St. Bonaventure

No. 5 Colorado vs. No. 12 Georgetown

No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 13. UNC Greensboro

No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 Michigan State/UCLA

No. 3 Texas vs. No. 14 Abilene Christian

No. 7 UConn vs. No. 10 Maryland

No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 15 Iona