The Auburn Tigers, led by SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome, were selected as the No. 1 overall seed for the Men’s NCAA Tournament on Sunday, with conference champions Duke (ACC), Houston (Big 12), and Florida (SEC) also receiving 1-seeds by the selection committee.
The selection committee picked Auburn, who won the SEC regular-season title despite losing three of its last four games, including a setback to Duke in the teams’ only encounter.
However, shortly after the bracket was published, ESPN BET put Duke (+320) as the favorite to win the men’s NCAA tournament, with Florida (+450) having the second-shortest odds.
The SEC, which last won a men’s basketball national title in 2012, set Men’s NCAA Tournament records with 14 representatives among the 68 teams that made the field. The Big East previously had the most bids, with 11 in 2011.
North Carolina (22-13) and Texas (19-15) surprised everyone by coming in off the bubble, while Indiana, West Virginia, and Boise State didn’t.
“There were,” said North Carolina AD and selection committee chairman Bubba Cunningham, “a number of challenges” in putting together a bracket that basketball fans can only hope would produce as many thrills on the floor as it did during the 60-minute bracket show.
Auburn (28-5) will be the South Region’s top seed, facing the winner of Alabama State-St. Francis in the first round on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Tigers wilted down the line, losing 70-65 to Tennessee in the SEC tournament semifinals on Saturday.
“We’ve got to get our mojo back a little bit,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
Auburn was joined in the South by second-seeded Michigan State, third-seeded Iowa State (who will play without starting guard Keshon Gilbert due to a muscle issue), and a familiar opponent, No. 4 seed Texas A&M.
Duke (31-3) is the East Region’s top seed and will face the winner of American-Mount St. Mary’s in the first round on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Alabama is the second seed in the bracket, looking for its second consecutive Final Four appearance, followed by Wisconsin, Arizona, and Oregon.
Despite losing Cooper Flagg to a damaged ankle in the first half of Thursday’s ACC tournament quarterfinal triumph, the Blue Devils won the final two games without their star rookie, who was named ACC Player of the Year.
Coach Jon Scheyer told ESPN on Sunday that Flagg and the Blue Devils want him to play on Friday.
Houston (30-4) is the Midwest Region’s top seed and will face SIU Edwardsville in Thursday’s first round in Wichita, Kansas.
The Cougars won the Big 12 regular-season and tournament championships, completing their fourth consecutive 30-win season and tying Gonzaga for the second-longest streak in Division I history.
The Gators (30-4) lead the West Region and will face Norfolk State in the opening round Friday.
A potential second-round matchup against two-time reigning national champion UConn looms. The eighth-seeded Huskies face No. 9 seed Oklahoma in the West Region, which culminates in San Francisco.
The area also contains second-seeded St. John’s, which recently won its first Big East tournament title since 2000, No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 7 Kansas.
Florida improved to 5-2 in top-10 matches this season after defeating Tennessee 86-77, the highest points scored against the Vols this season, to win their first SEC championship since 2014. They have been one of the nation’s most well-rounded teams, ranking first in KenPom offensive efficiency ratings and tenth in defense.
The SEC had 14 teams, followed by the Big Ten with eight and the Big 12 with seven. There are three potential second-round games between SEC teams, which the committee is asked to avoid, but this was unavoidable given the conference’s large field.
Meanwhile, the ACC finished with four teams, just escaping its lowest performance since 2000, when the conference was half its current size.
North Carolina was seeded 11th, its lowest since 1979, according to ESPN Research, and will face San Diego State in a First Four contest. The Tar Heels were the last team in, based not on their 1-12 record versus Quad 1 teams but on their 8-0 record against Quad 2, among other favorable measures, according to Sun Belt Conference commissioner and selection committee vice-chairman Keith Gill.
“You take all those things in consideration, and the committee felt they should earn that last spot,” stated Gill. He added that he “managed all the conversations we had about North Carolina, and we had quite a few.”
Cunningham reminded viewers Sunday that the rules stipulated that he, as chairman, could not participate in any argument concerning his team.
Texas was also in, with seven victories against Quad 1 teams outweighing 15 defeats, which tied for the most by an at-large school to earn an Men’s NCAA Tournament bid, according to ESPN Research.
Elsewhere in the bracket, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino leads his remarkable sixth program into the tournament, and what a journey he will have to go to reach the Final Four.
First, he will travel to Providence, the same venue where the coach led the Friars to a surprising Final Four appearance in 1987, to lead St. John’s in a first-round game against Omaha. Pitino’s second game might be against Arkansas and John Calipari in a showdown between two of the game’s most prominent coaches.
Another coaching legend, Tom Izzo, leads Michigan State to its 27th consecutive tournament appearance. The Spartans are seeded second and will meet America East champion Bryant in their debut.
Gonzaga is in for the 26th time, but extending their record of making the second weekend to ten years will be challenging. The Bulldogs, who won the West Coast Conference despite having an “off” year, are seeded eighth and might meet Houston in the second round.
The First Four games start cutting down the 68-team bracket on Tuesday, and the main draw begins Thursday and Friday, with 32 games at eight sites throughout the country.
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