NCAA tournament bracket: What makes each region unique?

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Seth Davis dubbed the South Region “the glamour bracket” during Sunday’s selection show. He’s got a point. North Carolina, Kentucky and UCLA, the South’s top three seeds, have a combined 24 national championships.


As regions are unveiled, themes emerge. This year’s South is all about glitz and glam; only the best jewelry will satisfy these bluebloods. Let’s look at the rest of the bracket and dive deeper into the region run by college hoops royalty.

South Region

From afar, is seems a No. 4 seed like Butler has little-to-no chance to advance beyond the Sweet 16 – perhaps the Bulldogs could make a run in an ordinary region, but the glamour bracket is anything but.

Intentional or not, sometimes the committee has a sense of humor. To rattle off a few of Butler’s losses: Indiana State, St. John’s, Georgetown. That’s code for: scroll through KenPom with your eyes closes, stop at random, and you’ll probably land on a school that could beat the Bulldogs.



Now, onto their wins: No. 1 overall seed Villanova (twice), Arizona, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Xavier twice. Butler is the classic “plays to the level of competition” case study; heck, No. 13 Winthrop probably loves its opening matchup. But looking ahead to the Sweet 16, North Carolina might not be as enthused.

This may be the region of college basketball elites, but the committee stuck a few menaces in there to keep the big boys honest. Wichita State has a higher KenPom ranking (8) than NCAA tournament seed (10). Enjoy that potential Round of 32 matchup, Big Blue Nation. No. 12 Middle Tennessee did this last season:

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