2025 Selection Sunday, by the numbers

The GIST: Selection committee controversies, heartwarming reaction videos, legendary broadcaster Dickie V making us emotional…March Madness is officially upon us. We have special edition tourney previews heading to your inbox tomorrow and Wednesday, but first, here’s Selection Sunday’s biggest moments, by the numbers:

14: SEC teams in the men’s bracket, a record number from one conference. The SEC was the most competitive men’s conference all year, so it’s no surprise that its regular-season champ, Auburn, and its tourney champ, Florida, both earned No. 1 seeds.

• The SEC women also crushed it with a league-leading 10 teams in the bracket. Guess it literally just means more.

35: The number of consecutive tournaments the No. 7 seed Kansas men have appeared in, a Division I record. The Jayhawks were the preseason No. 1 but suffered a brutal season in the cutthroat Big 12. Nonetheless, you can never count out head coach Bill Self’s blue-blooded squad.

• An even more impressive streak? The No. 5 seed Tennessee women made their 43rd straight tourney last night. In fact, the Lady Vols have made every single bracket since the first women’s tournament in 1982. Unreal.

9: Top-25 wins for the women of USC this season. That strength of schedule earned the Trojans a No. 1 seed over Paige Bueckers and her powerhouse No. 2 seed UConn, one of the committee’s toughest calls.

10: First-time dancers. On the men’s side, SIUE, Omaha, High Point, and UC San Diego are in for the first time ever, while Arkansas State, Fairleigh-Dickinson, George Mason, UC San Diego, Grand Canyon, and William & Mary earned their programs’ first bids on the women’s side. Groovy.

Infinite: Eyebrows raised after struggling UNC made the men’s bracket as a First Four contender, the selection committee’s most controversial pick, especially considering committee chair Bubba Cunningham just so happens to be UNC’s athletic director. Hmmm.