CNN
—
The fields are set and it’s time for a big exhale before the madness truly kicks into gear.
The selection committees for both the men’s and women’s NCAA college basketball postseason tournaments unveiled the fields of 68 teams on Sunday evening. There was the usual bit of controversy, but overall the bracket reveals mostly showed that college basketball fans have quite the next few weeks ahead of them.
Here are five takeaways from Selection Sunday:
Auburn, Florida, Houston and Duke are the top seeds
Auburn University, Duke University, the University of Houston and the University of Florida were announced as the four No. 1 seeds in the men’s tournament.
Auburn was awarded with the top overall seed despite losing three of their last four games to end the season. The Tigers will be the South Region No. 1 team and will start their championship pursuit Thursday against the winner of a First Four matchup between Alabama State and Saint Francis University.
The Atlantic Coast Conference champion Duke Blue Devils headline the East Region and will tip off their tournament Friday against the winner of the First Four game between American University and Mount St. Mary’s.
Big 12 Conference winner Houston is the top seed in the Midwest Region, where the Cougars will start the tournament against Ohio Valley Conference champion Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville on Thursday.
On the heels of a Southeastern Conference tournament championship, Florida claimed the top seed in the West Region. The Gators are the second SEC team to receive a No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament after Auburn and will look to continue their hot streak against Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference winner Norfolk State on Friday.
SEC makes history with 14 teams earning NCAA tournament places
The SEC features a record-setting number of teams at the men’s NCAA tournament this year, after securing 14 bids to the Big Dance, surpassing the Big East’s mark of 11 set in 2011.
On Saturday, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey defended the conference’s record number of bids calling it a “unicorn” league.
“It’s a unicorn league right now,” Sankey told ESPN. “We’re not going to change our name, but we stand alone historically. And I think that’ll be rewarded.”
Those teams are Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Texas, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.
It’s been a fantastic year for the SEC as it assumed the mantle of the top basketball conference in the country, much to the chagrin of their rivals in the ACC and Big Ten. However, the numbers don’t lie and the SEC almost doubled up the Big Ten’s eight bids, which was the second-most among all conferences.
UNC makes it and controversy ensues
University of North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham said he did not have any effect on the Tar Heels making the NCAA tournament.
The Tar Heels had a lackluster resume and looked like they were going to miss out on the Big Dance, but they ended up being included in the field of 68. UNC went 22-13 in the 2024-25 season, including 13-7 in the ACC. They won just one game against Quad 1 teams, teams placed in the top 25% of the NCAA Evaluation Tool that takes into account a number of different factors to rank teams. UNC has lost 12 Quad 1 games in 13 tries.
They will play San Diego State on Tuesday in the First Four, with the winner facing off against Ole Miss.
Cunningham told CBS after the bracket was unveiled that he was not in the room when UNC’s bid was considered, as is protocol for athletic directors that are on the selection committee.
“All the policies and procedures were followed, and Keith (Gill, the commissioner of the Sun Belt Conference) can address exactly how North Carolina was discussed because I was not in the room for any of that,” Cunningham said.
Gill added that if the University of Alabama-Birmingham had beat Memphis in the AAC championship earlier on Sunday, then the Tar Heels would be watching the tournament from home.
“We took our final vote and we voted in four teams in the field on Saturday night, and we had a contingency vote,” Gill said. “And the contingency vote – that was the last team in the field – and it was based on Memphis and UAB. If Memphis won that game, then that was going to free up a spot in the tournament, and that was going to be North Carolina. If UAB had won, then Memphis was going to be in the tournament. UAB would have been in the tournament and North Carolina would have been the first team out.
“And so that process played out today. Memphis won, and that put North Carolina in the field.”
UCLA takes the top seed in the women’s tournament over South Carolina
The UCLA Bruins took the top seed in the women’s bracket, edging out South Carolina. The Gamecocks had held that role in every tournament since 2021.
How did the two squads feel about it? The answer was clear based on the videos of the two teams on ESPN as the brackets were unveiled.
UCLA’s team broke into massive cheers and jumped around, bouncing like pogo sticks as they saw their school’s name come on screen first.
When the Gamecocks were unveiled, they sat and clapped, looking up and the big screen in their arena. There were smiles but far from the unbridled joy that UCLA showed.
Afterward, Arkansas deputy athletic director Derita Dawkins, the chair of the women’s tournament’s selection committee, said the head-to-head results between the two teams (UCLA beat South Carolina 77-62 in November) and South Carolina’s heavy defeat to UConn earlier in the season as deciding factors.
Still, it feels hard to bet against the defending national champions and head coach Dawn Staley – especially now with a slighted group of Gamecocks playing for her.
“Obviously, it’s disappointing. It really is. I’d like to get some feedback on how they came to that conclusion because we put together, we manufactured a schedule that if done right it should produce an overall number one seed,” Staley said after the choice was made.
“I will say this. We’re going to make adjustments to our schedule in the future if the standard is the standard. If that’s the standard, then we can play any schedule and get a No. 1 seed.”
The University of Texas and the University of Southern California were announced as the last two No. 1 seeds in the women’s NCAA basketball tournament on Sunday. Texas tops the Birmingham 3 region after finishing the season with a 31-3 record and a share of the SEC regular season title. The Longhorns will begin their NCAA tournament against the winner of the first four matchup between High Point University and William & Mary on Saturday.
USC earned the last No. 1 seed of the Spokane 4 region, where they’ll tip off their tournament against No. 16 UNC Greensboro on Saturday.
The Big Ten dominates the women’s game
The Big Ten is sending 12 teams to the NCAA women’s basketball tournament, a new record for a conference and a strong answer to the SEC’s dominance of the men’s game.
Top-seeded UCLA and their crosstown rival USC are both No. 1 seeds. The conference is also sending Michigan State, Maryland, Indiana, Oregon, Washington, Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois, Nebraska and Iowa to the dance.
With the amount of expansion in recent years, it’s perhaps not surprising to see top conferences sending so many teams to the tournament. But it’s still clear to see that the power on the hardwood is firmly set in the SEC and Big Ten at this point.
Of course, in the women’s game, there are powerhouses that would disagree with that assertion. South Carolina is looking for its third national championship in four years and UConn and Paige Bueckers are looking to put their stamp on the tournament this year as well.