March Madness openers set for New York, Connecticut men's teams — here’s when they play
The brackets are set in the men's March Madness tournament. Here are the local teams competing for a national title.
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Ready for big dance? The madness begins later this week. Here's a look at the local teams set to compete for a national title.
New York
St. John’s — No. 5 seed, East Region
Matchup: vs. No. 12 Northern Iowa
Date: March 20
Hofstra — No. 13 seed, Midwest Region
Matchup: vs. No. 4 Alabama
Date: March 20
LIU — No. 16 seed, West Region
Matchup: vs. No. 1 Arizona
Date: March 20
Siena — No. 16 seed, East Region
Matchup: vs. No. 1 Duke
Date: March 19
Connecticut
UConn — No. 2 seed, East Region
Matchup: vs. No. 15 Furman
Date: March 20
Top teams
Duke is the top overall seed in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, with Arizona, Michigan, and Florida also landing on the No. 1 line.
Miami (Ohio), which opened the season 31-0 before a loss early its conference tournament, got in as an 11 seed despite a weak schedule. They play a First Four game on Wednesday against SMU. The tournament begins Tuesday with other play-in games, including Texas versus North Carolina State.
Duke received the top overall seed for March Madness on Sunday, followed by Arizona, Michigan and Florida, each of whom would love a repeat of last season when all four No. 1s made it all the way to the Final Four.
The top line was the most predictable thing to come out of Selection Sunday, with Michigan’s drop of one spot to the overall No. 3 the result of the Wolverines' loss to Purdue moments before the brackets were revealed, according to tournament selection chair Keith Gill.
In the day’s biggest nail-biter, Miami (Ohio) made the field as a No. 11 seed, but just barely. The RedHawks, with a 31-1 record but the 339th-ranked strength of schedule, were one of the last teams in the field and they face a First Four game Wednesday against SMU in Dayton, Ohio, not terribly far from home.
The tournament starts Tuesday with other play-in games, including one pitting 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 had 16 losses but the third-best strength of schedule. The snub drew predictable blowback from Bruce Pearl, their former coach and father of their current coach, who was working for CBS and said “they played the toughest schedule in the country and I don’t know if they were rewarded for it.”
Even with those snubs, the Southeastern Conference led the way by placing 10 teams in the field of 68, four short of its record from last year.
The Big Ten followed with nine, the ACC and Big 12 with eight apiece -- 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 champion, 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.
