Memphis basketball receives No. 5 seed in NCAA Tournament, set for matchup with Colorado State in Seattle

FORT WORTH, Texas — Memphis basketball is officially going dancing for the first time in two years.

The Tigers, the American Athletic Conference (AAC) regular-season and Tournament champions, are the No. 5 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament, and will face No. 12 seed Colorado State in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena Friday (1 p.m., TBS). A win in the Round of 64 earns them a Round of 32 date with either No. 4 Maryland or No. 13 Grand Canyon next Sunday for a chance to go the program’s first Sweet 16 since 2009.

The West’s top-3 seeds are Florida, St. John’s and Texas Tech respectively. Also below Memphis are No. 6 Missouri, No. 7 Kansas, No. 8 UConn, No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 11 Drake, No. 14 UNC Wilmington, No. 15 Omaha and No. 16 Norfolk State.

Penny Hardaway’s club (29-5, 16-2 AAC) primarily earned its seeding by going 10-3 against the nation’s third-strongest non-conference schedule, according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). That made up the bulk of its 11 combined wins in Quads 1 and 2, including six Quad 1 victories (vs. Missouri, at San Francisco, vs. UConn, vs. Michigan State, at Clemson and vs. Ole Miss). Three of Memphis’ five Quad 2 wins, however, happened in conference play (at Florida Atlantic, vs. North Texas and at UAB).

Many thought the Tigers were locked into a No. 7 or 8 seed for much of the past month, largely because of their two Quad 3 losses (vs. Arkansas State and at Temple) and a weak AAC schedule that drove them outside the top 50 in both KenPom and Bart Torvik. They also dropped to 50 in the NET prior to Sunday’s 84-72 victory over UAB in the AAC Tournament championship at Dickies Arena. Of 118 projections on the Bracket Matrix, none had them as a No. 5 seed.

Memphis, which played without both starting point guard Tyrese Hunter (foot) and backup Dante Harris (ankle) against the Blazers, opens as a 2.5-point underdog to Colorado State.