“Selection Sunday”
On Selection Sunday, the names of Northwestern and the Illini for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament were called.
Illinois, who defeated Wisconsin on Sunday in the Big Ten Conference Tournament, secured the third seed in the East Region and will play Morehead State on Thursday in Omaha, Nebraska.
“Northwestern Preparation”
In the meantime, Northwestern is participating in the tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the program’s history. They are in the East Region and ranked as the ninth seed. In Brooklyn, they’ll take on Florida Atlantic. It’s a Friday game.
Headlining the East Region bracket, the second-ranked UConn Huskies (31-3) received the overall No. 1 seed going into the NCAA Tournament. For the first time since a 2009 Final Four run, they will begin with the top regional seed—their sixth overall. In Brooklyn, New York, the five-time champions take on 16th-seeded Stetson on Friday.
Seventh-ranked Iowa State is the 2 seed in this round, followed by No. 13 Illinois as the 3 and No. 12 Auburn as the 4. Given that the Big 12’s Cyclones, the Big Ten’s Illini, and the Southeastern Conference’s Tigers all won their league tournaments this week, it presents a formidable challenge.
Huskies Claiming their first Big East Tournament
On Saturday night, the Huskies claimed their first Big East Tournament championship since 2011. “I know we’ve never gotten a No. 1 overall seed in program history,” coach Dan Hurley remarked. “so this is a group that seems to be making history in a place that it’s hard to make history.”
Hurley went one better in his opinion, saying that UConn has “clearly been the best program in the country this year.”
It is difficult to argue against it.
Entering Sunday’s last pre-tournament games, UConn tops the nation in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency rankings, averaging 126.6 points per 100 possessions, the highest output since 2018 champion Villanova (127.8).
The Huskies are one of just two teams in the top 15 of both categories, along with Arizona and Auburn, in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency (94.4).
Three of the teams from the unexpected Final Four from the previous year are represented in the bracket: San Diego State, the national runner-up, is ranked No. 5 while Florida Atlantic is ranked No. 8.
The remaining seeds in the tournament are Drake at No. 10, BYU at No. 6, and Washington State at No. 7. After winning the Atlantic 10 Tournament, Duquesne was ranked as the 11th seed. UAB, Yale, Morehead State, South Dakota State, and Stetson were the next teams to check in.
The Huskies’ Storrs campus is located approximately 85 miles southwest of Boston, where the regionals will take place.
