UConn earns No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament: Full March Madness bracket reaction and analysis

Gonzaga, which looked like a bubble team all year until a good finish, as a No. 5 seed? Florida Atlantic, with a lot of head-scratching losses and only two Quad 1 wins, as a No. 8? Virginia making the tournament was questionable, as the Cavaliers have had several terrible performances this year and seem more likely to get blown out early than a team like St. John's or Indiana State would.

The committee also had no seeding love for a very good, six-bid Mountain West outside of No. 5 San Diego State, which probably earned respect for its runner-up finish in 2023. League regular season champ Utah State is a No. 8 and half the First Four is from the MWC: Boise State and the last team in Colorado State, the latter of whom destroyed Creighton on a neutral floor. Meanwhile, Michigan State at 19-14 didn't have to go to Dayton. That doesn't do much to quiet the cynics who say the selection committee is biased against non-power conferences. Though the Big East might provide a counterargument.

What a turnaround season this has been for North Carolina coach Hubert Davis. It’s hard to have a better first season than Davis did back in 2021-22, when he brought the program — who was a No. 8 seed — to the brink of its seventh NCAA championship. The Tar Heels knocked off rival Duke in the Final Four and led by 15 points at halftime of the title game vs. Kansas, but ultimately fell short in the final 20 minutes of the season. That performance was enough to earn Davis’ second team the honor of being the No. 1 preseason team in the country… except that turned out to be more of a curse. Last season, North Carolina became the first preseason No. 1 to miss the Big Dance altogether since the field expanded. To go from that to this — the West Region’s No. 1 seed — speaks to how much comfort Davis has found in his third season.

He was asked Sunday about his message back before the 2022 tournament — after North Carolina was named a No. 8 — that seed numbers don’t matter.

“I told them that again today. It's great being a number one seed but it’s an NCAA Tournament,” Davis said. “It's 68 accomplished teams so you have to come play, whatever seed you are, wherever you play, so our preparation, practice and play will be the same as it's been for 34 games. We're excited about the challenge.”

It sure looks like North Carolina. The Tar Heels have to go West, but they should feel comfortable against a lot of teams out there. Arizona is good but inconsistent. Baylor and Alabama can score like mad but aren't very physical. Saint Mary's would have a hard time matching UNC's depth and talent. The Tar Heels have a great shot to get to Phoenix — except they might have a difficult second game against either physical Mississippi State or, gulp, Tom Izzo's Michigan State.

Welcome to The Athletic’s men’s NCAA Tournament big board. If you’re looking for a thorough breakdown of all 68 teams in the men’s NCAA Tournament, congratulations! You’re in the right place. These 68 capsules provide everything you need to know about every team in this year’s men’s tournament, all in the name of one goal: winning your bracket pool.

We teamed up with The Field of 68 and Brad Evans’ The Gaming Juice, in a joining of writers, editors, experts and analysts. Your brackets mean that much to us.

(We also have a women’s tournament big board that will be published later.)

A few quick notes on how to use the board: You can choose “expand all” to open all the capsules at once for an easy read, or you can open them individually by clicking or tapping on the headers. We created three filters (seed, conference and region) to help you navigate to more specific areas you may want to read. All odds are from BetMGM.

Enjoy, good luck, and may your brackets be filled with green as March Madness unfolds.

Connecticut is the most complete team in college basketball, and it’s going to end that streak and repeat as national champions. But the selection committee did the Huskies no favors as the top overall seed. You could argue that UConn has the toughest path to Phoenix as any of the top seeds. Iowa State has the best defense in college basketball.

Illinois has one of the best offenses and was a team pre-bracket that I was pretty sure I would push through to the Final Four, and Auburn is the candidate to be this season’s UConn. The Tigers have double-digit wins in 26 of their 27 wins. Last season, UConn had double-digit wins in 19 of its 25 victories heading into the NCAA Tournament and then won all of its tourney games by double-digits.

I know any sorting/data tool that tries to measure 360-plus teams the same way is bound to cause problems, but the NET/quad system deserves a serious look this offseason. Have heard so many complaints.

THAT is what men's basketball leaders should be focusing on — not bracket expansion.

You know what's an intriguing bracket challenge for No. 1 seed Houston and its No. 2-rated defense? Putting eight of the nation's 25 most efficient offenses in the same South Region with the Cougars.

There will be some serious tests for that defense to pass for a trip to the Final Four.

Offensive efficiency rankings for teams in the South: 5. Kentucky, 7. Duke, 13. Wisconsin, 14. Florida, 19. Texas, 21. Marquette, 23. Texas Tech, 25. Colorado.

None were really all that surprising. I had Oklahoma out this morning, and Indiana State simply was a victim of being a mid-major that didn't win its conference tournament and couldn't get quality non-con games. St. John's was a bit surprising, but the Red Storm certainly were always going to be very close to the cut line given their resume.

What's most surprising about that is the committee only included three Big East teams (UConn, Marquette and Creighton). Providence and Seton Hall, in addition to the Red Storm, both just missed the field. Three invites seems really light for a league that was clearly better than the Pac-12 (four bids) and the ACC (five).

Genuinely am not sure I have ever seen a worse seeding decision than Duquesne as a No. 11 seed. Look, I’m from Pittsburgh. I want nothing more than to see this Duquesne team succeed. It’s an amazing story that Keith Dambrot has them back in the NCAA Tournament.

But putting Duquesne as a No. 11 seed has to be the laziest committee decision that has ever occurred. Some clear “oh, it’s a Sunday matchup, let’s just put the winner as the No. 11 seed” stuff.

There is no case for them to be a No. 11 seed over James Madison, on the No. 12 line, for instance. James Madison has better metrics across the board. Just a couple of numbers? James Madison’s strength of record ranking? No. 33. Duquesne? No. 79. JMU’s KenPom ranking: No. 59. Duquesne? No. 86.

Heck, three teams on the No. 13 seed line (Charleston, Vermont and Samford) have a stronger Strength of Record metric than Duquesne does. What are we doing here?

Immediately upon appearing in the NCAA Tournament bracket — or at least immediately after James Madison appeared as the matchup — Wisconsin became an upset pick.

Are we sure, though? The Badgers didn’t back into this. They lost 8 of their last 11 regular-season games and then got healthy and hit stride in the Big Ten tournament. They were tied with the Illinois team everyone was extolling with a minute and a half left in Sunday’s championship game. “We're leaving here today a much better team than when we came in on Wednesday and started this tournament on Thursday,” coach Greg Gard said after the title game loss.

He’s not wrong. James Madison is really good. But Wisconsin has a top-15 offense and momentum and belief. Choose wisely.

The NCAA changed the NIT to favor the Power conferences with more guaranteed bids, and multiple Power conference schools have already asked not to be invited in St. John’s, Indiana and Ole Miss.

Are we really sure this FOX postseason tournament idea for the Big Ten/Big 12/Big East is going to be a thing? Especially with the transfer portal opening the day after the selection show? Teams and players that don’t make the NCAA Tournament seem more likely than ever to move on to next year.

The potential tempo clash of Alabama-Saint Mary’s in the second round could be epic. Nate Oats wants his team to get it an go and keep going.

Randy Bennett is fine bringing out the mortar and pestle and grinding you into a pulp.

Styles win fights, right?

So if we get there, which style wins in Spokane?

St. John's just declined the NIT — or rather, asked the NIT not to pick them.

New Mexico certainly won its way out of the First Four — if not into the field entirely — by winning the Mountain West tournament. Now the Lobos get a draw they have to like, if not love: Clemson has lost three of its last four going into the NCAA Tournament and, I'm guessing, has next to no familiarity with its first-round opponent.

The way New Mexico runs and guards can be a shock to the system, if you haven't experienced it before. Jaelen House is the NCAA's active career leader in steals for a reason. Here's guessing this is a popular 6-11 upset choice.