THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the NCAA Division I men's basketball championship committee chair teleconference.
I'll now turn it over to Chris Reynolds for an opening remark about the selection process and then we'll take questions.
CHRIS REYNOLDS: Well, thank you for having me tonight. Look forward to being able to answer your questions. Certainly it was a long and interesting week for us as a committee. We worked really hard on the full bracket. Certainly when you look at the top seed line, there were six or seven teams in contention for that No. 1 seed line. That was a challenge for us.
Certainly we spent a lot of time last night way into the morning talking about the last teams that would go into the tournament. Those are the challenges that exist every single year for the committee.
But we're looking forward to having a terrific tournament, and I'm here to answer any questions that you might have.
Q. Chris, what was the thinking by the committee on Texas in terms of the 1 seed consideration?
CHRIS REYNOLDS: Yeah, we spent a great deal of time -- thanks for your question. We spent a lot of time talking about the No. 1 seed line obviously. There was about six or seven teams in contention for that. But when you look at that No. 1 seed line, Alabama, Houston, Kansas and Purdue, Purdue being the regular season champion, being the conference tournament champion, that certainly played a factor in it.
Certainly those teams that we considered all had fine seasons, but you can only fit four teams on to that line. Regular season championship, conference tournament champion in Purdue for that fourth place on that No. 1 seed line is where we ended up.
Q. In terms of Houston, when you did the early bracket, they were I believe the No. 2 overall. Did you feel like what they did after that merited where they stayed, or was there any consideration in terms of how you seeded them going either Kansas City versus Vegas or New York?
CHRIS REYNOLDS: Well, certainly with Houston as a No. 2 overall seed, obviously you know this, they had a really strong year this year. The game that happened today, they were without their best player, the Player of the Year in the conference. They had beaten Memphis two times already, and so I think everyone can understand the loss.
They haven't had any lopsided losses at all this year. It was the only one. But certainly could be understood based upon the circumstances.
But certainly they earned that place. Their metrics were incredibly strong when you look at what they did in Quad 1 and 2 being 15-2. They performed really well all season long.
Q. I hesitated on this because it's a non-basketball question. Was there any discussion by the committee about the sensitivity of siting Alabama in Birmingham, which is where the young woman who died in that incident lived and her mother lives?
CHRIS REYNOLDS: Was not talked about at all.
Q. Was the incident talked about at all? I know it's obviously a non-basketball issue.
CHRIS REYNOLDS: Not for one second.
THE MODERATOR: That concludes tonight's teleconference. Thank you, Chris, for your time, and again, a transcript will be available at NCAA.com/transcripts shortly.
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