Duke led the field as the #1 overall seed after winning the ACC title and finishing the campaign 32-2. The Blue Devils have reloaded completely after losing all five starters to the NBA a year ago, and National Player of the Year favorite Cam Boozer (son of former Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer) has led the charge. Their quest for the program’s first title since 2019 will run through the East region and begin with 16-seed Siena.

Michigan, Arizona, and Florida rounded out the 1-line. The Wolverines and Wildcats are elite on both sides of the ball, and each feature their conference’s player of the year (Yaxel Lendeborg in the Big Ten and Jaden Bradley in the Big 12), while the Gators are the reigning national champs and won 11 straight before an SEC championship loss to Vanderbilt.

Miami Ohio, which finished the regular season 31-0 before falling in the MAC tournament, made it into the field as one of the final at-large teams. The RedHawks don’t play in a power conference, but ultimately proved their mettle with a spotless regular season. They’re headed to the First Four to face off with SMU.

Boozer isn’t the only freshman phenom with a chance to cement himself in March. Across the bracket, #1 pick contenders AJ Dybantsa and Darryn Peterson will also look to lead their squads to deep runs. Dybantsa’s 6-seed BYU Cougars are set to face the winner of Texas/NC State in round one, while Peterson’s 4-seed Kansas Jayhawks drew Cal Baptist.

On the women’s side, it’s a familiar tale: the Huskies lead the pack. UConn will look to defend its 2025 title after a 34-0 start, with potential WNBA #1 pick Azzi Fudd and dominant sophomore scorer Sarah Strong at the helm. But, don’t sleep on…

UCLA, which finished right on the reigning champs’ tail at 31-1 and has won 25 straight since an early-season loss to Texas. The Bruins capped the Big Ten tournament with a 41-point victory over Iowa, who earned a 2-seed in March Madness, and will have the chance to take revenge against UConn for last season’s Final Four defeat.

Several of the middle seeds are back in the tournament after substantial droughts. 8-seed Clemson and 10-seed Arizona State each qualified for the first time since 2019, while 10-seed Virginia and 7-seed Texas Tech have endured even longer absences at 8 and 13 years apiece. Welcome back!

Other electric players in the tourney include Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, a defensive phenom (5.4 steals per game, including a 16-steal game), Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, the nation’s leading scorer at 27 PPG, and TCU’s Olivia Miles, a legit triple-double threat who does it all on both ends.

Luka Doncic is known as one of the most clutch players in the league, but Saturday night against Denver was special, even for him. After Austin Reaves forced OT off an intentionally missed free throw, the Slovenian superstar cashed a fallaway off-the-dribble middy to win it 127-125. Luka finished the night with a triple-double (30 PTS, 13 AST, 11 REB), while Reaves led all scorers with 32. LakeShow heating up…? 👀

Even at 36 years old, DeMar DeRozan can still get buckets with the best of them. The SacTown veteran notched a season-high 41 PTS and 11 AST in the Kings’ 116-111 win over Utah, hitting just one three and instead dialing up his patented mid-range jumper. Old school cooking!

The ROTY race is coming down to the wire, and at this rate, calling it feels about as hard as picking a perfect bracket. That’s because despite Kon Knueppel’s incredible campaign, #1 pick Cooper Flagg continues to put up performances like Sunday, when he dropped 27 PTS, 10 AST, and 6 REB to key Dallas’s 130-120 dub in Cleveland. Flagg has already shown tremendous development as a first-year, and the sky’s the limit for his long-term potential.

OKC was the first team to 50 dubs…. and 51, and 52, and now 53. When you win eight straight, that tends to happen. The Thunder look to be ramping into championship form after a smothering 116-103 victory over Minny that saw them force 22 Wolves turnovers. SGA also narrowly kept his 20-point streak alive less than a week after breaking Wilt’s all-time record, scoring exactly 20 to extend the run to 128 games.