UConn men's basketball earns No. 1 overall seed in NCAA Tournament, will play opening rounds in Brooklyn
Fresh off winning the Big East Tournament, UConn has earned the overall No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and will play out of the East Region, with their opening round games at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
UConn (31-3, 18-2 in conference) won the NCAA Tournament a year ago as a No. 4 seed and will begin their title defense on Friday, March 22 against the Stetson Hatters (22-12, 11-5 in conference) out of the Atlantic Sun conference at Barclays Center. This is the Hatters' first-ever trip to March Madness.
If they advance and avoid being the third No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 in men’s tournament history, UConn will play the winner of No. 8 Florida Atlantic (who made the Final Four last year) vs. No. 9 Northwestern on Sunday, March 24.
The Huskies beat Marquette on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden to win their first Big East title since they rejoined the conference four years ago. UConn was one of three teams in the conference to make the tournament, along with Marquette (No. 2 in the South Region) and Creighton (No. 3 in the Midwest Region). St. John's, Providence and Seton Hall (the selection committee's second team out) all missed out.
The win over the Golden Eagles sealed a perfect 7-0 record in games at MSG this season, including wins over then-No. 15 ranked Texas in November and then-No. 9 ranked North Carolina.
Hurley will hope that run of good form continues across the East River in Brooklyn.
If the Huskies advance to the Sweet 16, they will head to Boston’s TD Garden and potentially face off against No. 4 Auburn or No. 5 San Diego State on Thursday, March 28.
An Elite Eight matchup could see the Huskies face No. 2 Iowa State or No. 3 Illinois on Saturday, March 30.
If the Huskies complete their march to the Final Four on April 6 and the national title game on April 8 at State Farm Stadium (home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals) in Glendale, they will have the chance to be the first repeat champions since the Florida Gators of 2006 and 2007.
This is the fifth time the Huskies have been a No. 1 seed, most recently in 2009 when they fell in the Final Four to Michigan State.
UConn has won the tournament just once as a No. 1 seed, when they knocked off Duke 77-74 in 1999 thanks to 27 points from the tournament's Most Outstanding Player Richard Hamilton.
