NCAA Tournament South Region Preview

South Region

We will start with the bracket headlined by the defending champ. Florida won it all last season and are looking to repeat. They have are primarily led by a fantastic frontcourt of Rueben Chinyelu (6’10”), Alex Condon (6’11”) and Thomas Haugh (6’9”). But this region may be the one that is the most up in the air.

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Vanderbilt is the 5-seed, and they just took down the Gators in the SEC Tournament, winning 91-74. Illinois probably has the best offense in the country and can certainly match Florida’s size. Finally, Houston is the top overall 2-seed, and they are the team that lost to Florida in the national championship game a year ago. The Cougars are maybe not quite as good defensively as they’ve been in recent years, but they have improved on offense.

It is also important to recognize Nebraska as the 4-seed. They began the year 20-0 and have gone 6-6 since. Their recent losses have mostly been to good teams and they seem well-positioned to make a run to the second weekend. A feat never accomplished by the Huskers.

This region is wide open.

Best Mascot

The beauty of the NCAA Tournament is that you get a random assortment of colleges from all over the country and you get exposure to some of the great nicknames of college basketball.

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Joe Vandall gets my pick from the South Region as the best mascot.

“The University of Idaho is the only institution of higher education to use the mascot of the Vandal. The nickname exemplifies the spirit of the University in more than just athletics; as University of Idaho Vandals, we are fiercely competitive and independent thinkers and doers.”

Players to Watch

If you watched the Ivy League championship game between Penn and Yale, you were introduced to TJ Power who nailed two threes in the final seconds to send the game into overtime and finished the game with 44 points and 14 rebounds. Power was a Duke commit out of high school and a top-20 player nationally. He spent on year at Duke, one year at…

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Publish date : 2026-03-17 15:30:00

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