March Madness is here, and Madness began with the opening game of the Men’s NCAA Tournament. The first four began Tuesday night, with Alabama State stunning St. Francis in layups, leaving the second left behind after a football-style court-length pass.
Alabama will take on the No. 1 seed Auburn overall in the Southern region on Thursday. North Carolina will pass San Diego State 95-68 in their first four games of the second innings on Tuesday, facing No. 6 Ole Miss on Thursday.
The first four of the women begin on Wednesday.
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Selection Sunday was filled with surprises, celebrations and heartbreak. The Bracket Public is complete with the complete selection of men and women listed below.
This is No. Here’s how the seeds of 1 rocked for men:
Auburn (South Region)
Duke (Eastern Region)
Houston (Midwest Region)
Florida (West Region)
The SEC won that day with 14 of the 16 teams creating the NCAA tournament. The Big Ten were eight teams and then seven Big 12.
This is how the best seeds swayed for women:
So what can we make about the choice of the men’s committee? There were some takeaways from Yahoo Sports analyst Jeff Eisenberg:
By Sunday morning, it was clear that Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida had each separated themselves in the first-place species race. I praise the committee for not ruining it and for getting it in the right order.
The same can be said when the SEC gets 14 bids. You’ll probably hear some complaints about it, but the truth is the SEC that earned its respect.
The selection committee stumbled a bit: North Carolina over a more appropriate team like West Virginia. The Tar Heels snaked through the final large spot on the field despite going 1-12 in a quadrant game and beating one large caliber NCAA tournament team.
Also wrong: The committee argues that the title game for conference tournaments is important. When bid thieves are involved, that is definitely true. However, if you have a potential seed line bump, it’s a little more difficult to believe if you’re at risk of one or two. Michigan was slotted as the No. 5 seed, and the team was given the No. 3 seed to Beat (Wisconsin), and despite his comparable resume, this claim appears questionable.
On the women’s side of Bracket, Ryan Young believes the choice has made at least one mistake.
Entering the selection on Sunday, it appeared that South Carolina had a seed advantage over the entire seed.
The real-life national champions seemed to close the year, fresh from the victory blown away in the conference championship game. The Gamecocks all won seven times in double digits in a row, leaving UConn behind with a 29-point home loss.
However, the committee chose to use UCLA instead. And don’t have it.
The Bruins absolutely won the number one seed in the tournament. That was unquestionable. They went 30-2 and won the Big Ten Tournament title over USC. They began the year with a 23-game winning streak. As such, the committee was the first in the history of the program to give UCLA a global seed for the first time.
The biggest reason for this was doubled on ESPN, they said. First, UCLA defeated South Carolina by 15 points in November. Usually, a matchup does the trick from the head, but that was a few months ago. The second was South Carolina, losing nearly 30 points to UConn at home. UCLA didn’t have that bad loss.
Here’s what you need to know about March Madness:
First round game schedule
Southern Region
No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 16 Alabama (Lexington, Thursday, 2:50pm, CBS)
No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Clayton (Lexington, Thursday, 12:15pm, CBS)
No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 UC San Diego (Denver, Thursday, 10pm, TBS)
No. 4 Texas A&M vs No. 13 Yale (Denver, Thursday, 7:25pm, TBS)
No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 North Carolina (Milwaukee, Friday, 4:05pm, TNT)
No. 3 Iowa vs. No. 14 Lipscomb (Milwaukee, Friday, 1:30pm, TNT)
No. 7 Marquette vs. No. 10 New Mexico (Cleveland, Friday, 7:25pm, TBS)
No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 15 Bryant (Cleveland, Friday, 10pm, TBS)
Eastern Region
No. 1 Duke vs. American/no. 16 Mount St. Mary (Rawley, Friday, 2:50pm, CBS)
No. 8 Mississippi vs. 9 Baylor (Rawley, Friday, 12:15pm, CBS)
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 Liberty (Seattle, Friday, 10:10pm ET, TRUTV)
No. 4 Arizona vs. No. 13 Akron (Seattle, Friday, 7:35pm, Trutv)
No. 6 BYU vs. No. 11 VCU (Denver, Thursday, 4:05pm ET, TNT)
No. 3 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Montana (Denver, Thursday, 1:30pm, TNT)
No. 7 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 10 Vanderbilt (Cleveland, Friday, 3:15pm, Trutv)
No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 15 Robert Morris (Cleveland, Friday, 12:40pm, TRUTV)
Midwest Region
No. 1 Houston vs. No. 16 Siu Edwardsville (Wichita, Thursday, 2pm, TBS)
No. 8 Gonzaga vs. No. 9 Georgia (Wichita, Thursday, 4:35pm, TBS)
No. 5 Clemson vs. No. 12 Mcney (Providence, Thursday, 3:15pm, TRUTV)
No. 4 Purdue vs. No. 13 High Point (Providence, Thursday, 12:40pm, ET, TRUTV)
No. 6 Illinois vs. No. 11 Texas/Xavier (Milwaukee, Friday, 9:45pm, CBS)
No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 14 Troy (Milwaukee, Friday, 7:10pm, CBS)
No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 10 Utah (Lexington, Thursday, 9:25pm, TNT)
No. 2 Tennessee vs. No. 15 Wofford (Lexington, Thursday, 6:50pm, TNT)
Western Region
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 16 Norfolk (Ray, Friday, 6:50pm, TNT)
No. 8 UConn vs. No. 9 Oklahoma (Raurie, Friday, 9:25pm, TNT)
No. 5 Memphis vs. 12 Colorado (Seattle, Friday, 2pm, TBS)
No. 4 Maryland vs. No. 13 Grand Canyon (Seattle, Friday, 4:35pm, TBS)
No. 6 Missouri vs. No. 11 Drake (Wichita, Thursday, 7:35pm, TRUTV)
No. 3 Texas Tech vs. No. 14 UNC Wilmington (Wichita, Thursday, 10:10pm, Trutv)
No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 Arkansas (Providence, Thursday, 7:10pm, CBS)
No. 2 St. John’s vs. No. 15 Omaha (Providence, Thursday, 9:45pm, CBS)
Live coverage is over66 Update
The bracket is finished!
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s brackets:
