The 2012 NCAA Tournament field has been announced, and the Syracuse Orange will receive a No. 1 seed in the East Region. The Orange's first opponent will be the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs, and they will play on Thursday in Pittsburgh, PA. If the Orange win their first matchup, they will face the winner of No. 8 Kansas St. Wildcats and No. 9 Southern Miss. Golden Eagles on Saturday.

The Orange earned the No. 1 seed by putting together a spectacular regular season that featured just one loss to Notre Dame. Jim Boeheim's team is deep and among the favorites to cut down the nets in April. The Orange (31-2) suffered their second loss of the year in falling to Cincinnati in the Big East Tournament semifinals, but the loss did not affect their seed.

Here's a look at the East Region of the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket (game times and TV schedule will be announced at a later date):

No. 1 Syracuse Orange vs. No. 16 UNC-Asheville Bulldogs, Thursday

No. 8 Kansas St. Wildcats vs. No. 9 Southern Miss. Golden Eagles, Thursday

No. 5 Vanderbilt Commodores vs. No. 12 Harvard Crimson, Thursday

No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers vs. No. 13 Montana Grizzlies, Thursday

No. 2 Ohio St. Buckeyes vs. No. 15 Loyola, Md. Greyhounds , Thursday

No. 7 Gonzaga Bulldogs vs. No. 10 West Virginia Mountaineers , Thursday

No. 3 Florida St. Seminoles vs. No. 14 St. Bonaventure Bonnies,Friday

No. 6 Cincinnati Bearcats vs. No. 11 Texas Longhorns, Friday

For more on Syracuse, visit Nunes Magician. For more coverage of Syracuse in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, visit SB Nation New York's StoryStream. Click here for a link to our NCAA bracket 2012.