The Auburn Tigers were selected as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament on Sunday.
The top number one species for the Tigers are the Duke Blue Devils, Houston Cougars and Florida Gators.
Auburn will become the number one species in the South, with the Cougars leading the Blue Devils on top of the Midwest and East, and the Gators in the West.
The full bracket will be revealed on Sunday of the selection, with the tournament scheduled to start on Tuesday with the first four before the opening round begins on Thursday.
One of the more interesting second seeds is St. John’s Red Storm, headed by manager Rick Pitino. The Red Storm finished 30-4 in the regular season. This includes a 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, on the other hand, enters multimadness with a bit of question mark despite its kind. The Blue Devils had to play the final two games of the ACC tournament without the star forward Cooper flag, who injured his left ankle in the conference tournament.
Duke coach John Shayer said Saturday that Flag is “treating in a great way” to get ready for the first round.
As for the Fringe team, the controversial pick to join the first four is North Carolina tar heels. The Tar Heels were on the bubble but got the opportunity to play for the 11th seed in the South. (Bubba Cunningham, the school’s athletic director, is the chairman of the selection committee, but says he rejected himself due to debate over North Carolina’s inclusion.)
Other notable schools on the bubble that crept into the tournament include Texas (who benefited from the strength of the conference), the first four opponents of the Longhorns, Xavier Musketeers and San Diego’s Aztecs.
According to the NCAA, tar heels, muskets, Aztecs and Longhorn were the final four teams.
The first four schools were the two Big Ten stubborns, the Indiana Hoosiers and the Ohio State Buckeyes, West Virginia climbers and the Boise State Broncos.
The SEC is well represented in brackets, with 14 of the 16 teams creating a field of 68. This is the NCAA men’s record for most bids from a single meeting.
Among the 14 SEC selections is the Missouri Tigers. The Missouri Tigers created the tournament just a year after they went 0-18 on conference play. After winning three wins against top five opponents in the regular season, the Tigers could be dangerous opponents.
The first and second rounds of the tournament will be held from Thursday through March 23rd, with Sweet 16 and Elite Eight running from March 27th to March 30th.
This year’s men’s final 4 will be held in San Antonio, starting with the national semi-finals on April 5th and the national championship game on April 7th.
