Selection Sunday: How to watch men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament bracket announcement
Selection Sunday has become a holiday for college basketball fans. The men’s bracket will be unveiled starting at 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, and the selection show will be broadcast on CBS.
The women’s bracket also is announced Sunday at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
The men’s tournament begins with the First Four on Tuesday. The women’s First Four starts Wednesday.
Projected top seeds: Men’s NCAA Tournament
You never know who’s on the top line until they show up on the screen. But the men’s bracket has three near-certainties: Auburn, Duke and Houston. The fourth No. 1 seed likely will come from the SEC among Florida, Alabama and Tennessee.
The selection committee might have a decision to make about Duke. Freshman star Cooper Flagg suffered an ankle sprain in the first half of the Blue Devils’ quarterfinal victory over Georgia Tech. Flagg didn’t play in the ACC Tournament semifinal victory over North Carolina on Friday.
If the injury is serious enough to prevent Flagg from playing in the NCAA Tournament, the committee could deem Duke diminished enough to impact its seeding. It happened in 2000, when Cincinnati’s Kenyon Martin, the national player of the year, suffered a broken leg in his conference tournament. The top-ranked Bearcats were dropped from a No. 1 to a No. 2 seed and fell in a second-round game to Bill Self-coached Tulsa.
How many SEC teams are getting in?
As many as 14 of the league’s 16, which would be stunning. Commissioner Greg Sankey posted a reminder on social media this week that 14 of his league’s teams have been ranked in the AP Top 25. The league placed six in the tournament each of the past two years. That’s how good the conference has been in 2024-25.
Texas would be the 14th. The Longhorns made their case at the SEC Tournament by defeating Vanderbilt and Texas A&M before falling to Tennessee. Texas, 19-15, went 6-12 in SEC play.
Who’s on the bubble?
Opinion seems to change with every outcome during conference tournament week. But some of the big-name programs using postgame news conferences to make their case this week include Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio State. Also sweating it out Sunday: San Diego State and Dayton.
How are the defending champions looking?
The Connecticut men and South Carolina women are safely in the field. The two-time defending Huskies are looking like a team that will be seeded eighth or ninth.
Coach Dawn Staley’s Gamecocks have been near the top of the polls all season.
Who will be the top seeds in the women’s bracket?
ESPN’s bracket as of late Friday had Texas, UCLA and a pair of USCs: South Carolina and Southern California.
Connecticut also is in contention for a top seed.
Is this another SEC party?
The “Just Means More” conference will get its share in the field, but the Big Ten likely will lead the way and could land as many as 12 teams in the women’s bracket.
A reminder: USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington are in the Big Ten, and the Ducks and Huskies should just squeeze into the bracket.
A team to keep an eye on: TCU. Two years after finishing last in the Big 12 with a 1-17 record, the Horned Frogs rolled to the regular-season and conference tournament titles.
Will the popularity of the tournament continue without Caitlin Clark?
To be determined. The 2024 Final Four set audience records for the sport, and 18.9 million watched South Carolina defeat Iowa and Clark for the championship. The women’s game outdrew the men’s title game between Connecticut and Purdue.
It will be difficult to top those numbers, but women’s basketball turned in a solid regular season in the ratings, which were up 3% over last year.