(SNH) — Conference Championship week for men’s college basketball has arrived. For many teams, winning the conference tournament is their only shot at making the field for March Madness. However, the major conference regular season champions are all projected to be the highest seeds.

Purdue (Big 10), UConn (Big East) and Houston (Big 12) are expected to be No. 1 seeds. Either Arizona (PAC 12), Tennessee (SEC) or North Carolina (ACC) will likely claim the last top seed or be No. 2 seed.

Of the last 15 national champions, 10 won or split the regular season championship in the ACC, SEC, Big East or Big 12 conference. Three of them, Kansas (2008 and 2022), along with Louisville (2013) also won their conference tournament.

Villanova (2018) and UConn (2011) were not regular season champions, but won their conference tournament. Duke in 2015 and UConn last year both won the national title despite not winning either their conference regular season or tournament.

UConn in 2014 is the only team to win the National Championship the last 15 tournaments who was not a member of one of the major conferences having left the Big East for the American Athletic Conference the previous year.

This year, UConn will attempt to become the first repeat national champion since 2007. The Huskies won National Championships in 2011 and 2004, both years after winning the Big East tournament. In 1999, national champions UConn won both the Big East regular season and tournament championships.

Houston is playing its first year as a member of the Big 12. The last five years, the Cougars have played in March Madness representing the American Athletic Conference (AAC) reaching the Elite 8 in 2022 and the Final Four in 2021. Houston won the AAC tournament both of those years as well as the regular season in 2022.

Purdue won both the Big 10 regular season and tournament last year.

Unfortunately, the Boilermakers became only the second No. 1 seed to lose in the first round to a No. 16 seed in March Madness, with the first being Virginia in 2018. That year Virginia had won both the regular season and tournament in the ACC. The next year, Virginia won the ACC regular season again on their way to winning the National Championship.

The last time a Big 10 team won the title was 2000 when Michigan State took home the hardware. That year the Spartans won both the regular season and the tournament in the Big 10. Kentucky in 2012 is the last national champion from the SEC, a year in which the Wildcats also won the conference regular season. Arizona in 1997 is the last national champion from the PAC 12 back when it was the PAC 10.

So, when it comes to picking out who will be cutting down the nets at the conclusion of the national finals, the major conference champions are a good bet.

Jim Norris is a writer for Sports News Highlights.

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