A sleepy Selection Sunday this was not.
North Carolina barely slid into this year’s version of March Madness, a development that led its athletic director to remind everyone that he had nothing to do with that choice even though he’s the head of the group that sets the bracket.
Texas also made it in – barely — giving the Southeastern Conference a record 14 teams in the tournament, including overall top seed Auburn. The Tigers received higher billing than Duke even though they’ve lost three of their last four games.
And coach Rick Pitino’s reward for leading St. John’s back to prominence: a journey back to where his coaching career took off with his first Final Four – Providence – and a juicy potential second-round matchup against another coaching firebrand, John Calipari of Arkansas.
“There were,” North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham said, “a number of challenges” in putting together a bracket that hoops fans can only hope provides as many thrills on the court as it did during the 60-minute bracket show.
Auburn beat out Duke to receive top billing in the tournament despite those three losses over the past two weeks, and despite also dropping a game to the Blue Devils back in December.
“We’ve got to get our mojo back a little bit,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
No. 1 seed Florida, which captured the SEC tournament by winning three games with an average margin of 15 points, opens as a slight favorite to win it all at the Final Four in San Antonio on April 5 and 7, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
Clearly, one deciding factor in choosing Auburn over Duke was the Tigers’ schedule, which was second toughest in the country, largely on the strength of playing a conference that put so many teams in the field.
“The SEC had such an outstanding year, winning 88% of their nonconference games,” Cunningham explained.
Houston was the remaining top seed and could face a second-round matchup against No. 8 Gonzaga, making its 26th straight trip to the tournament.
North Carolina makes it and triggers some awkward explaining
On a more “normal” Selection Sunday, Texas making the field with 15 losses might have been the biggest talking point.
Instead, it was North Carolina’s inclusion that drew the most attention.
CBS analyst Seth Davis acknowledged it right away when he opened his interview with Cunningham by wondering “whether North Carolina may have gotten a little bit of an advantage with its AD as the chair.”
Cunningham’s vice-chair, Keith Gill, who, in an unusual move was also brought in for the interview, insisted it had not.
“As vice-chair, I managed all the conversations we had about North Carolina, and we had quite a few,” Gill said. He confirmed that Cunningham was not allowed to participate in any vote about his own school.
The Tar Heels were the last team in, based not on its 1-12 record against Quad 1 teams, but on its 8-0 mark against Quad 2, along with other favorable metrics, Gill said.
“You take all those things in consideration, and the committee felt they should earn that last spot,” Gill said.
Both North Carolina (vs. San Diego State) and Texas (vs. Xavier) are playing in the First Four, which kicks off the action Tuesday. The tournament gets into full swing Thursday and Friday with 32 games at eight sites around the country.
Bubble teams that did not make it include West Virginia, Indiana and Boise State.
Bracket gives Pitino and St. John’s a long and interesting road
Elsewhere in the bracket, Pitino leads his unprecedented sixth program into the tournament, and what a road he would have to take to get back to the Final Four.
First, he will travel to Providence, the same building where the coach led the Friars to a surprise Final Four trip back in 1987, to lead second-seeded St. John’s in a first-round game against Omaha. Pitino’s second game could come against Arkansas and Calipari in what would be a titanic matchup between two of the game’s biggest coaching names. Calipari’s first game in Providence is against none other than Bill Self and seventh-seeded Kansas.
Another coaching icon, Tom Izzo, leads Michigan State to its 27th straight tournament. The Spartans are seeded second and will face America East champion Bryant in its opener.
There’s also UConn, seeking the sport’s first threepeat since the early ’70s but seeded eighth with a potential second-round game against Florida next weekend.
SEC regular season repeat in store?
The biggest quirks in this year’s bracket all involved the SEC:
— There are three potential second-round games between SEC teams – the sort of matchups the committee is asked to avoid, but that became inevitable with 14 teams in the bracket.
— The SEC, Big Ten (eight spots) and Big 12 (seven) captured 42.5% of the tournament’s 68 spots, which leads to questions about whether March Madness really needs to expand to bring even more big-school teams into the mix. Then again, had this been a 76-team tournament, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio State would have made the cut, according to the committee’s list of “first teams out.”
— Now that the SEC has established itself as a hoops conference comes the question of whether the league can capture its first national title since 2012, when Kentucky won it all.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
Auburn is the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Duke, Houston and Florida joining the Tigers on the No. 1 line in the March Madness bracket.
Auburn is the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Duke, Houston and Florida joining the Tigers on the No. 1 line in the March Madness brackets released Sunday.
The NCAA selection committee favored the regular-season champs of the record-setting Southeastern Conference despite three losses in their last four games, along with a loss to Duke back in December.
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The Tigers (28-5) and Gators were two of the 14 SEC teams to make the field, which are the most for a conference in the history of the tournament.
It’s Florida, which captured the SEC tournament by winning three games with an average margin of 15 points, that opens as a slight favorite to win it all at the Final Four in San Antonio on April 5 and 7, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
In something of a surprise, both North Carolina and Texas slid in off the bubble, while Indiana, West Virginia and Boise State did not.
The 68-team bracket starts whittling down on Tuesday with preliminary games, and the main draw kicks off on Thursday and Friday, with 32 games at eight sites around the country.
A tribute, then a bracket with plenty to talk about
The selection show began with a heartfelt tribute to the late Greg Gumbel, the CBS stalwart who oversaw the bracket unveiling for decades.
Then, just as Gumbel would have preferred, it was about the basketball – and this time there was plenty to talk about.
North Carolina looked all but out, a victim of a 1-12 record against so-called Quad 1 opponents and part of a conference (ACC) teetering on the verge of a historically bad season. But the Tar Heels were the last team in, thanks maybe to a strong nonconference slate, while Texas was also in — its seven wins against Quad 1 teams outweighing its overall 15 losses.
The Carolina inclusion was certain to fuel some conspiracy theories. The chair of the selection committee was Tar Heels athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who said rules state he cannot be part of any debate about his own team.
“As vice-chair, I managed all the conversations we had about North Carolina, and we had quite a few,” said Sun Belt Conference commissioner Keith Gill, who, in an unusual move, was brought onto the CBS bracket show to discuss Carolina.
The SEC’s 14 teams were followed by the Big Ten with eight and Big 12 with seven. The ACC, meanwhile, ended up with four teams, barely avoiding its worst showing since 2000, back when the conference was half the size it is now.
Even in a down cycle, the ACC has Duke, and Duke has arguably the best player in the country in freshman Cooper Flagg, a 19-point, 7.5-rebound-a-game freshman whose ankle injury, the school says, will not keep him out of March Madness.
Bracket gives Pitino and St. John’s a long and interesting road
Elsewhere in the bracket, coach Rick Pitino leads his unprecedented sixth program into the tournament, and what a road he would have to take to get to the Final Four.
First, he will travel to Providence, the same building where the coach led the Friars to a surprise Final Four trip back in 1987, to lead St. John’s in a first-round game against Omaha. Pitino’s second game could come against Arkansas and John Calipari in what would be a titanic matchup between two of the game’s biggest coaching names.
Another coaching icon, Tom Izzo, leads Michigan State to its 27th straight tournament. The Spartans are seeded second and will face America East champion Bryant in its opener.
And Gonzaga is in for the 26th time, though extending its streak of making the second weekend to 10 years will be tough. The Bulldogs, after an “off” year in which they still won the West Coast Conference, are seeded eighth and could face Houston in the second round.
SEC regular season repeat in store?
The biggest quirks in this year’s bracket all involved the SEC:
–There are three potential second-round games between SEC teams – the sort of matchups the committee is asked to avoid, but that became inevitable with 14 of its teams in the bracket.
–The SEC, Big Ten and Big 12 captured 42.5% of the spots, which leads to questions about whether the tournament really needs to expand to bring even more big-school teams into the mix. Then again, Cunningham said had this been a 76-team tournament, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio State would have made the cut.
–And now that the SEC has officially established itself as a hoops conference comes the question of whether the league can capture its first national title since 2012 when Kentucky won it all.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
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