Auburn, Duke, Houston and Florida received No. 1 seeds to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Selection Sunday as the SEC secured multiple top seeds for the first time in 45 years and set a record for most teams in the field from one conference with 14.
Two-time defending national champion UConn (23-10) will try to three-peat as a No. 8 seed in the West Region, facing an opening game against Oklahoma, with Florida looming in the second round.
Auburn is a No. 1 seed for just the second time in program history, joining the 1999 team, and the top seed overall in this year’s bracket. Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers, led by national player of the year contender Johni Broome, will begin their NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Lexington, Ky., in search of the program’s first national title. Auburn will face the winner of a First Four matchup between No. 16 seeds Alabama State and Saint Francis (Pa.).
While Auburn (28-5) won the SEC regular-season title, it enters March Madness having lost three of four, all to ranked opponents from a conference that can now claim to be the strongest and deepest in college basketball history. While the SEC’s football dominance has been dented the past two seasons with consecutive Big Ten championships, the hoops have never been better in the Deep South. The newly expanded 16-team SEC broke the record of 11 bids by the 16-team Big East in 2011 by three.
Duke (31-3) is a No. 1 seed for the 15th time, matching Kansas for second-most all time behind North Carolina. The Tar Heels’ NCAA worthiness this season has been much discussed, but coach Hubert Davis’ team slipped into this field as a No. 11 seed slated to face San Diego State on Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, in the First Four. The 18-team ACC’s four bids were the conference’s fewest since 2013.
The top seed for Duke is its first since 2019 and first under coach Jon Scheyer, who replaced five-time national champion Mike Krzyzewski three seasons ago.
Duke begins play close to home in Raleigh, N.C., in the East Region on Friday, with the status of star freshman Cooper Flagg uncertain after he sprained his left ankle in the first half of the Blue Devils’ first ACC tournament game. Duke went on to win the championship without Flagg, who is expected to be available for the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Kelvin Sampson has Big 12 champion Houston (30-4) on the No. 1 line for the third straight season, looking for its first Final Four appearance since 2021 and first NCAA championship ever. The Cougars open Midwest Region play Thursday in Wichita, Kansas, against SIU Edwardsville.
Florida (30-4) locked up its No. 1 in the West Region by winning the SEC tournament Sunday against Tennessee. The Gators are a top seed for the third time, and the first since 2014 under coach Billy Donovan, who led Florida to its only two NCAA championships in 2006 and 2007. The last and only time the SEC had multiple top seeds was 1980 when LSU and Kentucky did it. The SEC’s last NCAA championship came in 2012 by Kentucky.
Donovan’s old coach, Rick Pitino, is back in the NCAA Tournament, this time with St. John’s. The Big East champions are the No. 2 seed in the West. The Johnies get trash-can powered Omaha of the Summit League in the first round in Providence, R.I., with the winner of Kansas-Arkansas waiting in a potential round-two game.
That’s a possible Pitino-John Calipari matchup if St. John’s and Arkansas can advance.
The SEC also placed two teams on the No. 2 line with Alabama joining Duke in the East Region and Tennessee behind Houston in the Midwest.
SEC newbie Texas was one of the last four teams to get in, despite a 6-12 conference record. The Longhorns will face Xavier in a First Four game. The first out were West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio State and Boise State.
That same 6-12 record was also good enough for Oklahoma to get an NCAA bid in its first season in the SEC thanks to impressive nonconference victories against Michigan, Arizona and Louisville.
The now 18-team Big Ten earned the second-most bids with eight. The Big 12 received seven bids.
(Photo: Stew Milne / Getty Images)
