2018 NCAA Tournament bracket: South Region

The 2018 NCAA Tournament field of 68 teams was announced on Sunday, and as expected, ACC champion Virginia is the No. 1 overall seed.

Virginia will be playing No. 16 UMBC in the opening round of the tournament. Here’s a look at the full South regional bracket, which ends in Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

The No. 2 seed in the South is Cincinnati, who finished 30-4 on the season, and won both the AAC regular season title, as well as the tournament championship over the weekend. The Tennessee Volunteers earned the No. 3 seed in the region, the Vols finishing second in the conference, and losing to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament championship on Sunday. Tennessee gets No. 14 Wright State from the Horizon Conference in the Second Round.

The No. 4 seed is Pac-12 champion Arizona, followed by No. 5 Kentucky, and No. 6 Miami. Kentucky as a No. 5 may seem low, but the Wildcats did lose 10 games this season.

As for the rest of the region, No. 7 Nevada will play No. 10 Texas in the second round, and the aforementioned Bearcats will face No. 15 Georgia State in Atlanta. Creighton earned the No. 8 seed, Kansas State at No. 9, Texas at No. 10, Loyola at No. 11, and Davidson at No. 12. Buffalo earned the No. 13 seed, and the rest of the bracket is rounded out by Wright State, Georgia State, and UMBC.

Virginia is the obvious favorite as the top overall seed, but Cincinnati, Arizona, or Tennessee pose big threats. Don’t sleep on a Kentucky team that’s starting to find its stride after an uneven season.

Davidson earned the bid after winning the A-10 conference tournament, which selection committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen later said on the selection show knocked Notre Dame out of the field of 68.

Atlanta is no stranger to hosting college basketball games — the Final Four was played here in 1977, 2002, 2007 and 2013. We’ll see if Virginia can advance successfully out of its region — 20 out of the last 33 national champions since 1985, have been No. 1 seeds.