March Madness: Duke named top men’s seed as Miami (Ohio) squeak in as No 11 | NCAA Tournament
Duke received the No. 1 overall men’s seed for March Madness on Sunday, followed by Arizona, Michigan and Florida, each of whom would like to repeat last season when all four No. 1s reached the Final Four.
The top line was the most predictable thing about the selection Sunday, with Michigan’s fall from one spot to third being the result of the Wolverines’ loss to Purdue moments before the brackets were revealed, according to tournament selection chairman Keith Gill.
In the biggest game of the day, Miami (Ohio) moved up to 11th, but only just. The RedHawks, 31-1 but 339th in the schedule, were one of the last teams in the field and will face a First Four game Wednesday against SMU in Dayton, Ohio, not far from home.
The tournament begins Tuesday with more play-in games, including one between bubble teams and No. 11 seeds Texas and North Carolina State. The national champion will be crowned at the Final Four in Indianapolis on April 6.
Among those left out were San Diego State, Indiana, Oklahoma and Auburn. The Tigers have suffered 16 defeats, but are the third best force on the schedule. The snub drew a predictable reaction from Bruce Pearl, their former coach and father of their current coach, who worked for CBS and said, “They played the toughest schedule in the country and I don’t know if they got rewarded for that.”
Even with those snubs, the Southeastern Conference led the way by placing 10 teams out of 68, four short of its record from last year.
The Big Ten followed with nine, the ACC and Big 12 with eight each — an unsurprising result in an era of massive conference expansion and NIL compensation drawing top players to the biggest spenders.
The Gators (26-7) are the defending champions and are trying to repeat their back-to-back titles from 2006-07. Last season, Florida was part of an all-No. 1 Final Four — the first time that had happened in 17 seasons.
