March Madness brackets have Auburn as the overall No. 1 followed by Duke, Houston, Florida

Auburn is the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, with Duke, Houston and Florida joining the Tigers on the No. 1 line in the March Madness brackets released Sunday.

The NCAA selection committee favored the regular-season champs of the record-setting Southeastern Conference despite three losses in their last four games, along with a loss to Duke back in December in the season's lone meeting between the teams.

The Tigers (28-5) and Gators were two of the 14 SEC teams to make the field, which will be the most for a conference in the history of the tournament.

In something of a surprise, both North Carolina and Texas slid in off the bubble.

It's Florida, which captured the SEC tournament by winning three games with an average margin of 15 points, that opens as a slight favorite to win it all at the Final Four in San Antonio on April 5 and 7, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

The 68-team bracket starts whittling down on Tuesday with preliminary games, and the main draw kicks off on Thursday and Friday, with 32 games at eight sites around the country.

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AP March Madness: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness