Special Edition: Survive and advance

Two days ago on Selection Sunday, the NCAA men’s basketball selection committee chose 37 at-large bids to join the 31 automatic qualifiers, ranked all 68 teams, and sorted them into four quadrants, aka regions: South, East, Midwest, and West.

• Each region also goes by the name of its host city — this year, it’s Atlanta, Newark, Indianapolis, and San Francisco, respectively — and features its own No. 1 through No. 16 seeds.

The tournament is notably single-elimination — in other words, win or go home. That, plus the sheer volume and frequency of high-stakes matchups (67 in three weeks), is what makes this tournament so, well, mad.

But First things Four’s first: The party starts tonight at 6:40 p.m. ET when the lowest-ranked conference tournament champs duke it out for a No. 16 seed in two play-in showdowns, the First Four games.

• St. Francis takes on Alabama State, while Mount St. Mary’s faces off against American tomorrow for the privilege of first-round matchups against the bracket’s top two teams: No. 1 seeds Auburn and Duke, respectively. Gulp.

• The lowest-ranked at-large bids follow suit with 9:10 p.m. ET in contests for the No. 11 seeds: controversial UNC faces San Diego State tonight, and Xavier plays Texas tomorrow. Those First Four games then deliver us the iconic 64-team bracket we all know and love.

From there, the real Madness begins. The first round tips off Thursday at 12:15 p.m. ET (set a reminder to submit your brackets before then!), followed by non-stop, high-octane hoops until one team hoists the hardware on Monday, April 7th. Welcome to basketball heaven.

🐯 Auburn Tigers (South): Led by Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome, the Tigers earned the No. 1 overall seed by grinding out a regular-season championship in the toughest conference, the SEC. They’ve dropped three of their last four, however, so the committee gave them a serious vote of confidence by awarding them the top seed.

😈 Duke Blue Devils (East): This blue blood hasn’t won a national title since 2015, but that could change this year thanks to one electric freshman: Cooper Flagg. The basketball prodigy is all but guaranteed to be the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, and Duke’s confetti dreams rest on the health of his right ankle. Good news for all hoops fans: He’s expected to play Thursday.

🐆 Houston Cougars (Midwest): The Cougars won big in the cutthroat Big 12, claiming the regular-season title and tournament crown. They shoot lights-out from the three-point line, but their calling card is their lockdown defense…and you know what they say about defense and championships.

🐊 Florida Gators (West): Florida wasn’t on many fans’ radars when the season tipped off in the fall, but they steadily rose through the stacked SEC, picking up signature wins over then–No. 1 Tennessee and then–No. 1 Auburn along the way. Their stellar SEC tournament title run likely sealed the committee’s decision to award them a No. 1 seed. Chomp chomp.

⛈️ No. 2 seed St. John’s Red Storm (West): The Red Storm raised some eyebrows when they hired infamous head coach (HC) Rick Pitino to rebuild their program, but it’s been an undeniably good call on the court so far. They won their first outright Big East regular-season title since 1985, stormed to a conference tournament win with huge margins, and snagged a No. 2 seed.

🌊 No. 2 seed Alabama Crimson Tide (East): The Tide are part basketball team, part track stars — opponents have a tough time keeping up with their fast-paced, nation-leading offense. And when star senior guard Mark Sears (18.7 points per game) is at his best, the Tide is very, very high.

💚 No. 2 seed Michigan State Spartans (South): It doesn’t matter how legendary HC Tom Izzo’s squad did in the regular season — the Spartans always show up in March. That’s no exaggeration: If you discount Kansas’ vacated 2018 appearance, MSU owns the longest active streak of men’s tournament appearances with 27 straight. Holy moly.

🧡 No. 2 seed Tennessee Volunteers (Midwest): When people think Tennessee basketball, they think of the Vols’ eight-time national champ women’s team. But their men crushed it in the brutal SEC this year, spending five weeks atop the AP poll in December and January. They also bumped Auburn from the SEC tourney, so you know they show up in big moments.

🐾 No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats (Midwest): Former HC John Calipari rocked Big Blue Nation when he decamped for Arkansas this offseason, but the Wildcats haven’t skipped a beat, humming along under alum and first-year HC Mark Pope. Yes, they’ve cooled quite a bit since their early-December peak, but a deep run is definitely on the table. What team?!

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🐱 No. 6 seed BYU Cougars (East): If there’s one thing you need to win in March, it’s momentum, and BYU has it. They weren’t in the AP top 25 a month ago, but they finished the regular season on an eight-game win streak (including a double-overtime dub over then–No. 10 Iowa State) and are now everyone’s favorite spoiler pick in the high-octane East region.

🐶 No. 11 seed Drake Bulldogs (West): This year, the Bulldogs imported a new head coach and four starters from Division II program Northwest Missouri, then took the Missouri Valley Conference by storm. They’re the only team in the country with a better defense than No. 1 seed Houston, and they’re hungry to prove themselves on the national stage.

🔱 No. 12 seed UC San Diego Tritons (South): This was the first year UCSD — which jumped from Division II to Division I in 2020 — was eligible for the Madness, and they took full advantage of the opportunity. The Tritons currently own the nation’s longest win streak with 15 straight victories and consistently steamroll their opponents — only Duke has a better scoring margin.

🐕 No. 8 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (Midwest): A March Madness institution, the Zags have made nine straight Sweet 16s under HC Mark Few. Their secret sauce? Dimes. Behind Canadian point guard Ryan Nembhard, the Dawgs lead the nation in almost every assist-related category. What they lack in national hype, they make up for in experience and swag.

🐺 No. 8 seed UConn Huskies (West): Yes, the Huskies have fallen a long way since last March, and they have a tough road ahead in the West region. But you can never count out the two-time defending champs or their fan-favorite HC, Dan Hurley.

🏆 Player of the Year race: The aforementioned Flagg was the frontrunner for the award, but if his ankle injury limits him moving forward, big names like Auburn’s Broome or Alabama’s Sears could close the gap. The natty isn’t the only thing on the line for these guys.

🤔 UNC’s controversial bid: The Tar Heels, despite a rough season without any signature wins (they went one-for-nine in top-25 matchups), squeaked into the tournament as a First Four contender.

• Some find their bid suspicious, as UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham just so happens to be the selection committee chair. The committee says he was recused from discussions, but snubbed West Virginia and Indiana are not happy.

📋 Three legendary coaches clash in West region: The aforementioned Calipari, who bailed on Kentucky for Arkansas and led them to a No. 10 seed this season, will go toe-to-toe with another iconic HC of the 21st century, No. 7 seed Kansas’ Bill Self, on Thursday. The winner will then likely face Rick Pitino’s St. John’s on Saturday. Future coaches, take notes.

• Adding fuel to the fire? Calipari and Pitino both formerly coached at Kentucky before leaving for rival teams, and there’s no love lost between them. Spicy.

Clear your cal for three epic weeks of basketball, starting with tonight and tomorrow’s aforementioned First Four games. The fun tips off at 6:40 p.m. ET with Alabama State vs. St. Francis on truTV in the U.S. and TSN+ in Canada. Let’s dance.

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