Almost a third of the 48-team NCAA Division I MenÆs Tournament field comes from two conferences, the ACC and Big East.
Top seed Maryland, one of a record eight teams selected from the ACC, headed the field that was announced Monday afternoon. Six ACC teams were seeded among the top 14 teams: Maryland, No. 4 North Carolina, No. 6 Duke, No. 12 Virginia Tech, No. 13 North Carolina and No. 14 N.C. State. Clemson and Wake Forest were also picked.
No. 8 seed Connecticut heads a group of seven teams picked from the Big East. Also selected were South Florida, St. JohnÆs, Seton Hall, Providence, Notre Dame and West Virginia.
Other seeds were No. 2 New Mexico, No. 3 Indiana, No. 5 UCLA, No. 7 California, No. 9 Akron, No. 10 Old Dominion, No. 11 Penn State, No. 15. Cal State Northridge and No. 16 Dartmouth.
Two teams will be making their first appearance in the tournament: Stony Brook and Stetson.
Play begins Friday and Saturday with 16 first-round games. The seeds begin play in the second round on Tuesday.
The MenÆs College Cup will be played Dec. 9 and 11 in Cary, N.C., at the SAS Soccer Stadium.