Biggest bracket controversy? Can UConn 3-peat?

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Colorado State men’s basketball team celebrates NCAA Tournament selection

A look at the celebration from Colorado State for making the men’s NCAA Tournament and thoughts from Niko Medved on recent success.

March Madness is on.

The field was just announced. Let the filling out of personnel brackets and office pools begin.

Conference tournaments did little to change the No. 1 seeds as those went to Auburn (28-5), Duke (31-3), Houston (30-4) and Florida (30-4).

The SEC is sending a record 14 schools on while the Big Ten is next with eight. The Big 12 has seven and the Big East 5.

Let’s look of some of what went down:

Is a three-peat possible?

UConn (23-11) was impressive in winning the last two national championships, including the one right here at State Farm Stadium a year ago when it defeated Alabama 86-72 in the semifinal and Purdue 75-60 in the title tilt. It won its postseason game by an average margin of 23 points.

A few players are back from that team, most notably 6-foot-8 junior forward Alex Karaban but the supporting cast is less experienced and that youth showed at times, with turnovers perhaps the biggest issue. The Huskies were third in the Big East behind St. John’s and Creighton and lost a conference semifinal to Creighton 71-62.

UConn is the No. 8 seed in the West Region and will face No. 9 Oklahoma (20-13) in its tournament opener — with a potential showdown against No. 1 seed Florida in the second round. It looks like it will be a shorter-than-usual postseason for the Huskies.

What conference looms as the Big Dog?

It is usually the Big 12, but this season the SEC has been the deepest top to bottom. It has two of the top four seeds in Florida and Auburn among its record 14 qualifiers. The only teams NOT reaching the tournament — LSU and South Carolina.

That’s not to say the Big 12 is down. It did have seven teams selected but some teams have not lived up to billing. Most notably Kansas (21-12), Baylor (19-14), Arizona (22-12) and Cincinnati (18-15) started the…

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Source link : https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/college/2025/03/17/march-madness-biggest-bracket-controversy-can-uconn-3-peat/82446389007/

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Publish date : 2025-03-17 12:02:00

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