St. Bonaventure's win over Xavier in the Atlantic 10 tournament final took away one NCAA tournament bid from a collection of teams, NCAA interim vice president Greg Shaheen said on a conference call Sunday night.
A spot on the bracket was left open before the game. Six teams -- Drexel, Miami (Fla.), Oral Roberts, Seton Hall, Mississippi State and Nevada -- would have been put up for a vote if Xavier had won the game.
But the 10-member selection committee never got a chance to vote on the matter once the Bonnies won.
Pac-12 regular-season champion Washington wasn't among the last six. Shaheen said Washington's lack of top 50 wins and the Pac-12 tournament loss to Oregon State hurt the Huskies' chances at admission.
Shaheen said that Iona was safely in the field at this juncture. The last four teams to make the field were Iona, BYU, California and South Florida in some order. All four of those teams will play in the first round in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday.
NCAA men's basketball media coordinator David Worlock said the top eight teams in the 1 and 2 line were a consensus. The committee spent the most time discussing seeds 3-8.
One of the more intriguing decisions was sending Gonzaga to Pittsburgh, where it plays West Virginia.
The nine Big East teams forced West Virginia into that position, Shaheen said.
Worlock and Shaheen said the committee didn't look at past history in its decision -- Gonzaga went East in a 7-10 matchup against Davidson in Raleigh in 2008.
Another problem in bracketing was having to accommodate BYU in a Thursday-Saturday regional if the Cougars win the first round game in Dayton against Iona. BYU's policy against playing athletic events on Sundays forced the Cougars and Iona to No. 14 seeds -- the lowest at-large seed ever in the NCAA tournament, Worlock said.
Separating the three West Coast Conference teams -- BYU, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's -- was also an issue.
Meanwhile, Shaheen said that the committee received positive injury news on North Carolina's John Henson. The committee was told that Henson and his sprained wrist would be available for the NCAA tournament next week. Henson sat out the last two games of the ACC tournament in Atlanta.