Head-to-head competition is one of the things that (NCAA Selection Committee members) look at very closely.

Certainly, they have good strength-of-schedule and a good RPI. But it certainly helps to win the tournament.

In looking at Ohio State and Maryland, it was very, very close. Maryland was one of the teams the committee looked at very carefully in terms of consideration for a No. 1 seed. In our final judgment, two of the things that worked against Maryland were the four losses and it did not bring quite the strength of schedule as the other teams.

Nothing would preclude it. It will be the teams that have performed throughout their season and have earned it.

As much as anything, we often have referred to 'Selection Sunday,' and that has become very much a tradition. However, I think that you can go back in our history, and we have done any number of things to take some risks.

South Florida was a very interesting team for the committee to review. They had some good wins that were important to us.

Strength of schedule is something we look for.

Rutgers was another team that posed a great challenge to us. Rutgers had two really tough losses during the season ... It was really close.

We chose this point of the season to release the RPI because the composition of each team's schedule is comprised of a blend of non-conference and conference games.

We felt that Tennessee was a two-seed this year.