Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed despite losing in the SEC tourney. Auburn had 16 Quad 1 wins, three more than anyone else, and played the second-most difficult schedule.
Duke and Auburn topped the national rankings the last two weeks, and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee saw no reason to stray.
Auburn (28-5) was given the No. 1 overall seed in the 68-team field despite losing to Tennessee in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament, based on its body of work. Auburn has 16 Quad 1 wins, three more than any other team in Division I, while playing the second most difficult schedule.
Duke (31-3), Houston (30-4) and Florida (30-4) are the other No. 1 seeds. All won their conference tournaments — Duke in the Atlantic Coast, Houston in the Big 12 and Florida in the SEC.
Duke enters the NCAA tournament with uncertainty around star freshman and likely NBA 2025 No. 1 draft choice Cooper Flagg, who suffered a left ankle injury in a quarterfinal victory over Georgia Tech and did not play against North Carolina or Louisville.
“It’s full speed ahead,” Duke coach Jon Scheyer said. “Our goal is for Friday (return), and it is his goal as well.”
It did not seem to matter. Duke fellow freshman Kon Knueppel had 63 points in the three ACC tournament games.
Duke earned its 15th No. 1 seed, tying Kansas for second-most overall. North Carolina, the last at-large team in the field according to the selection committee, has been a top seed 18 times.
Auburn and Michigan State are the 1-2 seeds in the South Regional, Duke and Alabama are 1-2 in the East, Houston and Tennessee are 1-2 in the Midwest and Florida and St. John’s are 1-2 in the West.
The East and the Midwest regional winners meet in the national semifinals, as do the South and West winners. The Final Four is in San Antonio, Texas, on April 5 and 7.
