South Region (Atlanta)
Raleigh
1.) Auburn vs. 16.) Norfolk State
8.) Saint Johns vs. 9.) North Carolina
Denver
5.) Houston vs. 12.) Vanderbilt/SMU
4.) UCLA vs. 13.) Arkansas State
Seattle
6.) Illinois vs. 11.) Texas Tech
3.) Gonzaga vs. 14.) High Point
Lexington
7.) Michigan vs. 10.) Arkansas
2.) Marquette vs. 15.) Elon
With the hot start, the SEC has gotten off to in the first two months, it should come as no surprise that the No. 1 overall seed and the top seed in the South region is an SEC team, the Auburn Tigers. The 12-1 Tigers are led by the National Player of the Year favorite Johnni Broome and already have six quad-1 wins thanks to six neutral-site wins. Their only loss came at Cameron Indoor against Duke. They also control all of the team sheet metrics, ranking in the top 2 in each. It’s time for conference play, and the Tigers have already built a cushion for the top overall seed.
Auburn may average 88 points per game, but the theme of the South region has to be defense. Including the top-seeded Tigers the region boasts nine of the top 30 teams in defensive efficiency. In fact, the top eight seeds in the region from Auburn to No. 8 Saint John’s strong defensively, so if the Tigers reach the Final Four it may be the defenses that carry them.
The team to watch in this region is Mick Cronin’s No. 4 seed, UCLA Bruins. The Bruins have been winning with defense and rebounding. They are 4th in defensive efficiency and one of the country's best teams at turning teams over. The Bruins forced 18 turnovers per game and score 22 points off of those turnovers. On the glass, the Bruins have outrebounded opponents 34-31, but they crash the offensive glass, pulling down over a third of their misses.