NCAA Tournament Bracket: Teams Who Should Have Been Seeded Higher

As of March 17 at 6 p.m. EDT, the madness has officially commenced. The NCAA tournament brackets have been announced and the pandemonium has since followed.

The question is, which teams should have been ranked higher?

From conference champions to regular-season powers, there was no shortage of surprises when it came to which teams were ranked where. Some felt that there were teams too high, while others were snubbed of a place amongst the top seeds.

So who should have been honored with a higher seed than they were given?

Make sure you download a printable NCAA bracket and take a peak at Bleacher Report's live bracket.

You can also make your picks for the 2013 NCAA tournament here with the B/R Bracket Challenge Game.

No. 2 Miami Hurricanes, East Region

Whether or not the Miami Hurricanes are Final Four bound is a question for another day. What is certain, however, is that the Hurricanes have earned a top spot in the NCAA tournament.

Winning the ACC regular season and NCAA tournament titles provides evidence to such a truth.

Miami owns two wins over fellow No. 2 seed Duke. The Hurricanes also own two victories—that's a total of four—against No. 8 seeds North Carolina and North Carolina State.

Throw in a win over No. 13 seed La Salle and that's a pretty solid resume. One that still isn't done yet—far from it.

The Hurricanes took down No. 3 seed Michigan State by a score of 67-59.

If that's not enough, the Hurricanes are the first team in ACC history to win the regular-season and tournament championships without receiving a No. 1 overall seed.

They're fourth in RPI, seventh in strength of schedule and fifth in nonconference strength of schedule. So how do you explain this?

No. 7 Creighton Bluejays, Midwest Region

The Creighton Bluejays are one of the most efficiently dominant offensive teams in the nation. They're 24th in scoring, first in field-goal percentage and first in three-point field-goal percentage.

They're also third in assists, sixth in defensive rebounds and 20th in free-throw percentage.

Furthermore, they went 27-7 and won their conference regular-season and tournament titles. If that's not enough, they have a legitimate college basketball superstar in Doug McDermott.

Even still, Creighton was slapped with a No. 7 seed.

Not only are the Bluejays better than a majority of the fifth and sixth seeds, but also they've had a better season. They own wins over Wisconsin, California and Akron, whom are all seeded.

Their losses have been poor, but this is the type of team that could make a deep tournament run.

No. 8 Pittsburgh Panthers, West Region

The Pittsburgh Panthers ended the regular season as the No. 17 team in the nation. Their conference tournament run ended with a 62-59 loss to current No. 4 seed Syracuse.

Somehow, that resulted in their coming in as a No. 8 seed.

Pittsburgh has been extraordinary this season, securing victories over Georgetown, Syracuse, Cincinnati and Villanova. More importantly, seven of their eight losses were of a high quality.

That includes a 64-61 loss to Louisville and 62-59 defeat against Syracuse. They also lost 67-62 against Michigan on neutral ground and two single-digit losses against Marquette, including an overtime affair.

They also lost 70-61 against Cincinnati and 51-42 against Notre Dame. In other words, Pittsburgh faced high-quality opponents and fared well.

Their only bad loss was a 67-62 failure against Rutgers—so why was Pittsburgh penalized with a No. 8 seed?

No. 11 Belmont Bruins, West Region

The Belmont Bruins were hit with a No. 11 seed. For those unfamiliar with the program, that may appear to be fitting for a team of its reputation.

It isn't.

Belmont went 26-6 and won the MVC regular-season and tournament titles. It ranked 18th in RPI and second in out-of-conference strength of schedule.

So why are the Bruins seeded as if they were one of the weaker teams in the nation?

Belmont ranks 15th in both points and assists per game. It's fourth in field-goal percentage, 18th in three-point field-goal percentage and ninth in points per shot.

With a legitimate star in Ian Clark, Belmont should be seeded significantly higher than it is.

No. 12 Oregon Ducks, Midwest Region

The Oregon Ducks have secured victories against tournament teams UNLV, UCLA and Arizona. They also won the 2013 Pac-12 tournament championship.

Even still, they were ranked as a No. 12 seed.

For perspective, conference foe California was granted with the same seed. Cal finished with six less wins and three more losses.

Oregon was 26-8, while Cal went 20-11.

How much further the Ducks should have been seeded is questionable. The question is, can we really say that Oregon was deserving of a seed as low as 12?

Not with a straight face.