The Auburn Tigers were selected as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament Sunday.
Joining the Tigers as No. 1 seeds will be the Duke Blue Devils, the Houston Cougars and the Florida Gators.
Auburn will be the No. 1 seed in the South Region, with the Cougars leading the Midwest, the Blue Devils atop the East and the Gators headlining the West.
The full bracket was revealed on Selection Sunday, with the tournament scheduled to begin Tuesday with the First Four before the opening round begins Thursday.
One of the more intriguing two-seeds are the St. John’s Red Storm, led by coach Rick Pitino. The Red Storm finished 30-4 in the regular season, including an 18-2 record in the Big East. Pitino has already led three teams to the Final Four, and is the only coach to win national championships at two different schools. He can now add to both totals this spring.
Duke, meanwhile, enters March Madness with a little bit of a question mark despite their seeding. The Blue Devils had to play the last two games of the ACC Tournament without star forward Cooper Flagg, who injured his left ankle during the conference tourney.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer said Saturday that Flagg was “trending in a great way” to be ready for the first round.
As for teams more on the fringe, a controversial pick to take part in the First Four are the North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels were on the bubble but earned the chance to play for the 11th seed in the South. (The school’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, is the chairman of the selection committee, but says he recused himself from any discussion surrounding North Carolina’s inclusion.)
Other notable schools that were on the bubble who sneaked into the tourney include Texas (which benefited from the strength of its conference), the Longhorns’ First Four opponent, the Xavier Musketeers, and the San Diego State Aztecs.
The Tar Heels, Musketeers, Aztecs and Longhorns were the last four teams in, according to the NCAA.
The first four schools that were left out were two Big Ten stalwarts, the Indiana Hoosiers and the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Boise State Broncos.
The SEC will be well represented in the bracket, with a whopping 14 of its 16 teams making the 68-team field — an NCAA men’s record for most bids by a single conference.
Among the SEC’s 14 selections are the Missouri Tigers, who made the tournament only one year after going 0-18 in conference play. The Tigers, who had three wins against top-five opponents in the regular season, could be a dangerous opponent.
The first and second rounds of the tournament will run from Thursday through March 23, with the Sweet Sixteen and the Elite Eight taking place from March 27 through March 30.
This year’s men’s Final Four will take place in San Antonio, beginning with the national semifinals on April 5 and the national championship game on April 7.
