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March Madness winners, losers: Miami Ohio gets in, St. John's gets hosed
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- March Madness winners, losers: Miami Ohio gets in, St. John's gets hosed
See our March Madness expert picks and bracket predictions for who will win 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Duke , Michigan, Arizona and Florida topped the bracket on Selection Sunday , while the SEC flexed with an NCAA-best 10 tournament teams and the Big 12 had three of the top eight seeds.
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Treading water about midway through the regular season, the Gators began to round into form deeper into SEC play and seem very capable of repeating as national champions . UF did get blown out by Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament semifinals, though.
The Blue Devils are the tournament's top seed after beating Virginia to repeat as ACC champs. Michigan would've had a case for being the No. 1 team in the bracket but lost to Purdue in the Big Ten title game.
March Madness printable bracket Fill out for predictions, picks in NCAA Tournament
March Madness snubs: Oklahoma leads teams left out of NCAA tournament
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But it was bad news for teams such as Auburn and Oklahoma, who were among the first left out of the field. At 17-16 overall against a brutal schedule, the Tigers would've set a record for most losses by an at-large pick.
Also left out of the tournament were San Diego State, New Mexico and Belmont. One notable contender that made the cut was No. 11 Miami (Ohio) , which was 31-0 against a weaker schedule before losing to UMass in the MAC tournament.
March Madness region breakdown: South | East | Midwest | West
These teams lead the biggest winners and losers from Selection Sunday:
Selection Sunday winners
The SEC
While not to the level of last year's record-setting 14 selections, the SEC led every conference with 10 teams in this year's field, just ahead of the Big Ten with nine picks. A year ago, the SEC parlayed its deep tournament roster into seven Sweet 16 teams, half of the Elite Eight, half of the Final Four and the eventual national champion. The league's top title contenders are Florida, No. 4 Alabama and conference tournament champ Arkansas, also a No 4 seed.
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Miami Ohio
Miami will be in nearby Dayton, Ohio — about an hour's drive from campus — and will meet SMU in the play-in round after sweating out the selection process. The issue was a schedule that ranked among the weakest nationally in nonconference play and didn't get much tougher in MAC action, though the RedHawks did hand eventual conference tournament champ Akron its lone regular-season loss. After months of nitpicking, we'll find out this week if there's any real substance to Miami's 31-1 record.
Virginia
The Cavaliers surged to the finish line of the regular season and earned the No. 3 seed in the West region after nearly taking down the Blue Devils in a highly competitive ACC final. For this, Virginia doesn't just get a late bump in seeding but an enviable little pocket at the bottom of the region. The Cavaliers start with No. 14 Wright State, could face No. 6 Tennessee or the winner of SMU and Miami (Ohio) in the second round and then one of No. 2 Iowa State, underachieving No. 7 seed Kentucky, No. 10 Santa Clara or No. 15 Tennessee State for a spot in the Sweet 16.
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Missouri
There were three pieces of good news for Missouri. For starters, the Tigers made the bracket despite spending most of the year barely on the bubble, only getting into the field thanks to a solid close and some help during conference-championship week. Secondly, Missouri avoided the play-in round and landed as the No. 10 seed in the West region. And better yet, it will meet No. 7 Miami in the opening round in St. Louis, likely drawing a favorable home crowd.
USA TODAY Sports bracketologists
Credit where credit is due: USA TODAY Sports' crack team of highly educated and genuinely brilliant bracketologists aced the entire field in our final update. That's all 68 teams for 68 spots — hard to better than that. (Impossible, actually.)
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Selection Sunday losers
Auburn and Oklahoma
Two SEC teams ended up on the wrong side of the bubble in Auburn and Oklahoma. While Auburn could tout one of the toughest schedules in the country, the Tigers' dismal record in Quad 1 and Quad 2 games and 16 losses eliminated them from contention. The debate over the Sooners was a little more nuanced: OU coach Porter Moser pointed to his team's torrid end to the regular season, but nine losses in a row preceded the Sooners' 8-2 finish and were too much to overcome.
St. John's
The East is led by Duke, Connecticut, Michigan State and Kansas — a high-profile, highly dangerous top four consisting of teams very capable of a Final Four run, especially if KU guard Darryn Peterson proves why he's the likely No. 1 pick in this year's NBA draft. This top four is bad news for the lower-seeded, potential Cinderella teams such as No. 8 Ohio State and No. 11 South Florida; steering through this bracket would require something miraculous, if not a miracle outright. But no team has a bigger beef than the Big East champion Red Storm, who topped out as a No. 5 seed in this region despite winning the Big East regular-season title and closing with a flourish against UConn. They open against No. 12 Northern Iowa.
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Florida and Illinois
It may not matter who the Gators play and where. But if things go according to plan and UF makes the Elite Eight, UF could face Houston in Houston in a rematch of last year's title game. While not on the No. 1 line, No. 3 seed Illinois could take on No. 6 North Carolina in the second round in Greenville, S.C., which should have a heavy UNC presence.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday winners, losers include Miami, St. John's
