The No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament will get a little extra reward beginning next season: the chance to pick where it plays.
This change, announced Monday, will only apply to the first and second round games, though, but it's still an advantage for the No. 1 overall seed — they aren't at the mercy of the NCAA Selection Committee.
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How will this work? A handful of teams will send in their location preferences way before the bracket is released.
"Preferences would be communicated by teams in contention for the overall No. 1 seed far in advance of Selection Sunday in a process to be determined," the NCAA said in a statement.
The choices for the team that lands atop the seeding list in March 2017: Buffalo, Milwaukee, Orlando, Salt Lake City, Greensboro, Indianapolis, Tulsa and Sacramento.
The NCAA also released a couple of additional changes Monday. The selection committee will weigh a regular-season championship the same as a postseason tournament title, as requested by the National Association of Basketball Coaches, and the NABC has requested the NCAA to update its ranking system (possibly to eliminate RPI) and add more emphasis on non-conference strength of schedule, road and neutral-court wins, quality wins and overall strength of schedule.
