March Madness: Fans excited as teams are revealed on Selection Sunday

It’s a somber Selection Sunday as the college basketball world continues to mourn last year’s passing of CBS Sports’ Greg Gumbel.

Despite the absence of the yearly TV show that typically announces the teams, people from various teams and fans nationwide still watched CBS on Sunday. They discovered that Auburn secured the number one seed overall and will be playing in the South Region. Additionally, the SEC received an impressive 14 bids to the NCAA tournament, setting a new record.

As expected, Duke is the second No. 1 seed, and will head to the East Region. The Blue Devils managed to win the ACC Tournament yet again despite an ankle injury to top NBA prospect Cooper Flagg. 

The second-ranked Houston Cougars are the third No. 1 seed and are headed to the Midwest Region, while Florida picked up the final top seed and will start in the West against Norfolk State. 

The First Four will be played in Dayton, Ohio. The first and second rounds are in Cleveland; Denver; Lexington, Kentucky; Milwaukee; Providence, Rhode Island; Raleigh, North Carolina; Seattle; and Wichita, Kansas.

Resurgent St John’s earned a second seed in the West and will open against Omaha, but the biggest surprise may have been the inclusion of North Carolina, who squeaked into the First Four despite a mediocre 22-13 record and only a few quality wins. Afterwards, many fans pointed out that UNC’s athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, is chairman of the NCAA selection committee. 

‘Interesting how that works,’ wrote KTVB Boise’s Jay Trust on X.  

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 made it, thanks maybe to a strong nonconference slate, while Texas was also in — its seven wins against Quad 1 teams outweighing its overall 15 losses.

Meanwhile, Indiana, West Virginia and Boise State all failed to sneak into the tournament, and are instead looking at likely NIT bids.  

The regional semifinals (Sweet 16) and finals (Elite Eight) will take place in Newark, New Jersey (East Region); Atlanta (South); Indianapolis (Midwest); and San Francisco (West). The tournament ends with the Final Four and championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Auburn is a slight favorite over Duke to win the national championship, with Florida and Houston not far behind, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. UConn will make the tournament and try for a three-peat as national champ, something that hasn’t been done since the early 1970s, while Big East champion St. John’s is back as one of the top teams in the country under veteran coach Rick Pitino.

Led by SEC player of the year Johni Broome, the Tigers (28-5) spent eight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 before a late-season slide that left them entering March Madness having dropped three of their last four games — all to tourney teams. That includes a 70-65 loss to Tennessee in the semifinals of the conference tournament over the weekend. 

The Tigers, who have not survived the opening week of the NCAA Tournament since going to the Final Final in 2019, will begin their journey against Alabama State or Saint Francis on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky. The regional final is in Atlanta.

Auburn was joined in the South by second-seeded Michigan State, third-seeded Iowa State and some familiar faces: No. 4 seed Texas A&M, which beat the Tigers earlier this season, and their first-round opponent … Yale.

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.  

Sunday’s selection show began with a heartfelt tribute to 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.

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.