Defending champ UConn among No. 1 seeds for NCAA Tournament

Field Level Media|published: Sun 17th March, 19:01 2024

Mar 16, 2024; New York City, NY, USA; Connecticut Huskies head coach Dan Hurley celebrates the win over Marquette Golden Eagles at Madison Square Garden. credits: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Defending national champion UConn earned the No. 1 overall seed for the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Huskies excelled again this season and bring a 31-3 record into this year's version of March Madness.

UConn opens its defense against 16th-seeded Stetson (22-12) on Friday at the Brooklyn Nets' home in New York.

Also earning No. 1 seeds were Houston (30-4) in the South, Purdue (29-4) in the Midwest and North Carolina (27-7) in the West.

The No. 2 seeds are Iowa State (27-7) in the East, Marquette (25-9) in the South, Tennessee (24-8) in the Midwest and Arizona (25-8) in the West.

Earning No. 3 seeds were Illinois (26-8) in the East, Kentucky (23-9) in the South, Creighton (23-9) in the Midwest and Baylor (23-10) in the West.

Three of last season's Final Four teams are in the East region.

San Diego State (24-10), which lost to UConn in the 2023 title game, is the No. 5 seed and will play UAB (23-11) in the first round on Friday in Spokane, Wash.

Florida Atlantic (25-8), which lost to San Diego State in the Final Four, landed the No. 8 seed in the East. The Owls will face ninth-seeded Northwestern (21-11) on Friday in Brooklyn.

Miami, the other Final Four team from last season, isn't part of this year's field.

The Big 12 and Southeastern Conference have the most teams in the field with eight apiece. The Big Ten has six. So does the Mountain West, which marks its highest number of bids ever. The Atlantic Coast Conference has five teams and the Pac-12 has four in its final season as a bona fide league.

Colorado State of the Mountain West was the last team to get into the 68-team field.

The first four out were Oklahoma, Seton Hall, Indiana State and Pitt.

In the Midwest, Tennessee opens against 15th-seeded Saint Peter's on Thursday in Charlotte. The Peacocks (19-13) tore up brackets in the 2022 tournament while reaching the Elite Eight.

Another intriguing 15-seed is Long Beach State (21-14), which faces Arizona on Thursday in Salt Lake City. The school and 17-year coach Dan Monson announced a mutual separation after the regular season before the Beach went on a run and won the Big West tournament to claim the NCAA berth.

The tournament begins with the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Colorado State faces Virginia and Wagner plays Howard on Tuesday. One day later, Colorado faces Boise State and Grambling plays Montana State.

—Field Level Media

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