Auburn is the No. 1 seed in the South Region; Tigers seek redress after first-round ouster last year
Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament and headed to the South Region, where coach Bruce Pearl and the Tigers will be trying to seek a little bit of retribution after a first-round ouster at the hands of Yale last season.
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 St. Francis (Pa.) on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky. The regional final is in Atlanta.
“We lost to Alabama, Tennessee and at Texas A&M. Yeah, we’re panicked,” Pearl said sarcastically, when asked about the past couple of weeks. “I can hardly wait ’till next weekend to start playing again.”
Auburn was joined in the South on Selection Sunday by second-seeded Michigan State, No. 3 seed Iowa State and some familiar faces: No. 4 seed Texas A&M, which beat the Tigers recently, and the Aggies’ first-round opponent … Yale.
Michigan State will be making its 27th straight NCAA Tournament trip, the longest active streak of any team in the country. The Spartans will open against America East champion Bryant.
“The losing locker room was not good, but it was not bad,” Spartans coach Tom Izzo said after Saturday’s loss Big Ten semifinal loss to Wisconsin. “It was more cheerful and more — they knew some mistakes they made, and I knew some mistakes I made, and we shared that together and explained why things have to be the way they have to be.”
Now, the Spartans get to rectify those mistakes as they seek their first national championship 25 years after their last.
The biggest surprise in the South may have been the No. 5 seed given to in-state rival Michigan, which beat the Badgers for the Big Ten title on Sunday. Instead, the Wolverines will face a potential NCAA darling in the first round in UC San Diego, which was eligible for the first time after spending a four-year period transitioning from the Division II level.
Schedules matter
North Carolina will play San Diego State in a First Four game after surviving the NCAA bubble. The Tar Heels were 1-12 against Quad 1 opponents but buoyed by their tough strength of schedule and a close loss to Duke in the ACC tourney.
Tar Heels athletic director Bubba Cunningham serves as the selection committee chair, raising conflict-of-interest questions. Under the committee’s rules, Cunningham recused himself from any conversations about his school and said “all the policies and procedures were followed.” Vice chair and Sun Belt commissioner Keith Gill managed those discussions.
The winner of North Carolina-San Diego State will play sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the first round.
Injury outlook
Iowa State coach T.J. Otzelberger said Sunday that starting guard Keshon Gilbert will miss the NCAA Tournament because of a lingering muscle strain that also kept him out of the Cyclones’ Big 12 quarterfinal loss to BYU. Otzelberger was more optimistic about the status of fellow guard Tamin Lipsey, who missed the game against the Cougars with a groin strain.
“We fully anticipate he’ll be ready to go for our game on Friday,” Otzelberger said.
Turnaround time
Louisville went from 8 wins under Kenny Payne last year to 27-7 and ACC tourney runner-ups in the Cardinals’ first season under Pat Kelsey. They earned the No. 8 seed and will open against Creighton, which lost to St. John’s in the Big East finals.
Beware the Bulldogs
Yale lost just once in the Ivy League and has won 16 of its past 17 games as it tries to replicate its upset of Auburn last year by beating Texas A&M. Then there’s the other set of Bulldogs in the South — Bryant, coached by Phil Martelli Jr. — who’d really be springing an upset if they can spoil Michigan State’s trip to the tournament.
What’s a Triton?
UC San Diego was preparing to play in the Division II tourney when it was canceled by the pandemic in 2020. The Tritons — the offspring of Poseidon in Greek mythology — began their move to Division I the following year, but they were ineligible for the big dance until this year, when they went 30-4 and won Big West regular-season and tournament titles.
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness