For Akron, the rest of the season begins now. 20 wins from 20 matches have come and gone, and now five matches stand between them and a unblemished record in 2009. Teal Bunbury and the rest of the Zips head into the NCAA Tournament with a chance to finish what they've started, and will do so as the number one overall seed.
The University of Virginia checks in as the No. 2 seed, on an 11-game unbeaten run and eight game shutout streak that saw the Cavaliers emerge as ACC Tourney champions. No. 3 is Wake Forest, Big Ten champions Ohio State are No. 4, and UNC round out the top five seeds.
The advantage goes to the top 16 schools, who earn a bye and host the second round game. The ACC and Big Ten are the power conferences, each with four seeded teams. On Thursday, the tournament kicks off around the country, with the first round winners traveling to face the higher seed in the second round on Sunday.
The complete bracket and list of seeds can be seen here. Here's a list of the first round match-ups:
Thursday
Connecticut at Monmouth
Loyola (Md.) at Maryland
Louisville at Indiana
Stony Brook at Brown
UNC Wilmington at Charlotte
Winthrop at Duke
Bucknell at Princeton
Dartmouth at Boston College
Stetson at South Florida
Sacramento St. at Loyola Marymount
Green Bay at Notre Dame
Western Illinois at Drake
Missouri St. at St. Louis
Portland at New Mexico
St. Mary's (CA) at Stanford
Wofford at UCSB
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What do you think of the first round matches? Will Akron win? If not, who do you think will?
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