Duke, Arizona, Michigan, Florida get top seeding for March Madness. Miami (Ohio) gets a shot

The squad that went undefeated successful the regular season, racked up much victories than anyone but Duke and Arizona — and less losses than immoderate squad astatine each — is thing but your run-of-the-mill hoops behemoth.

In fact, Miami (Ohio), contempt that 31-1 grounds and possibly due to the fact that of a small spot that's been placed connected its shoulder, is 1 of those plucky underdogs that makes the NCAA Tournament what it is.

Welcome to March Madness with a twist.

While Duke (32-2) took the wide apical effect connected Selection Sunday, with Arizona (32-2), Michigan (31-3) and defending champion Florida (26-7) besides connected the apical line, the RedHawks hardly scratched their mode into the bracket.

They are an 11 effect and person to play a First Four crippled against SMU connected Wednesday. But aft each the statement and hand-wringing that came with their azygous nonaccomplishment past week, which instantly turned them from definite happening into bubble team, they present bask the aforesaid privilege arsenic the different 67 teams successful the field.

They volition person a accidental to triumph and advance, with nary enactment committee, bracketologists oregon erstwhile coaches-turned-TV experts deciding their fate.

“I was precise confident," Miami guardant Eian Elmer said. "I deliberation it’s hard to permission a squad that’s 31-0 successful a regular play out. It conscionable wouldn’t look close for the sport, diminishing thing similar that, thing that’s precise seldom done.”

After the First Four, the afloat slate of games begins Thursday and Friday, with the nationalist champion acceptable to beryllium crowned successful Indianapolis connected April 6.

The seat of the enactment committee, Keith Gill, tried to explicate however Miami of the lightly regarded Mid-American Conference ended up wherever it did. The RedHawks, helium said, were not the past of the 37 at-large teams slotted into the field.

But, helium said, they were ranked past of those 37 teams due to the fact that erstwhile they got in, they were compared against different teams adjacent to them, and things similar their 339th-ranked spot of docket and zero wins (in fact, zero games) against top-caliber, oregon Quadrant 1 opponents worked against them.

Other factors worked for them, including having the nation's second-ranked scoring offense, on with a “strength of record” successful the apical 30 and “wins supra bubble” successful the apical 40 (each of those statistic would instrumentality a tiny pamphlet to explain).

“They person immoderate truly beardown resume metrics that amusement their accomplishments,” Gill said.

For what it's worth, Miami is an 8 1/2-point underdog against SMU and a 2000-1 longshot to triumph it all, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

Unlikely, indeed, but inactive amended likelihood than the much-cited 9.2 quintillion-1 likelihood a idiosyncratic has of filling retired a cleanable bracket.

Some league tournaments mean much than others

The favourite to triumph the nationalist championship, according to BetMGM, is Michigan, which was listed astatine 13-4 soon aft the bracket came out, conscionable a tad up of Duke, which was 10-3.

The Wolverines took a mini-hit successful the seedings, dropping a notch to wide No. 3 aft an eight-point nonaccomplishment to Purdue successful the Big Ten rubric game. The Boilermakers are a 2 effect alternatively of a 3 with the win, heading to St. Louis to play tourney first-timer Queens.

The league rubric did not bash arsenic overmuch for St. John's, which stayed wherever it's been predicted astir of the play — arsenic a No. 5 — adjacent aft a 20-point triumph implicit UConn for the Big East title.

Last year, St. John's became the sixth squad manager Rick Pitino had led to the tournament. This year, the Johnnies spell again but they indispensable question to San Diego to look Northern Iowa successful the archetypal round.

“I said, ‘Don’t instrumentality it arsenic a negative,’” Pitino said. “I’ve had teams spell to a Final Four that archetypal had to spell to Portland and past Arizona from Louisville."

Bubble bursts for Auburn, San Diego State and others

Among those near retired were San Diego State, Indiana, Oklahoma and Auburn.

The Tigers had 16 losses but the nation's third-best spot of schedule. The snub drew predictable blowback from Bruce Pearl, their erstwhile manager and begetter of their existent coach, who was moving for CBS and said “they played the toughest docket successful the state and I don’t cognize if they were rewarded for it.”

Even with Oklahoma and Auburn near out, the Southeastern Conference led the mode by placing 10 teams successful the tract of 68, 4 abbreviated of its grounds from past year.

The Big Ten followed with nine, the ACC and Big 12 with 8 apiece -- an unsurprising effect successful an epoch of monolithic league enlargement and NIL compensation drafting apical players to the biggest spenders.

The Gators are the defending champion, trying to repetition their back-to-back titles from 2006-07. Last season, Florida was portion of an all-No. 1 Final Four -- the archetypal clip that had happened successful 17 seasons.

Committee looked astatine seeding principles successful immoderate instances, not successful others

Asked however the NCAA’s seeding principles played a relation successful moving teams astir successful the bracket, Gill pointed to the First Four gathering betwixt NC State and Texas the committee would person liked to debar due to the fact that it is simply a rematch of a crippled they played successful the Maui Invitational successful November.

He said thing astir placing No. 2 effect Houston successful the South, wherever it could play the determination last successful its hometown — usually thing the NCAA shies distant from. The crippled could beryllium against Florida successful what would beryllium a rematch of past year’s nationalist title game.

“If we person to tally into that issue, there’s worse problems successful the world,” Gators manager Todd Golden said earlier this week. But "I would bask idiosyncratic other successful Houston (rather) than Houston.”

___

AP Sports Writers Mike Fitzpatrick and Joe Reedy contributed.

___

AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.