Chapter 1 "Madness of March, Here We Come!"

The University of Connecticut's media ran the headline on its front page after the game, with a picture of Walker kissing the court as the news image.

UConn fans were incredibly excited, brimming with confidence they had never felt before after winning the final championship game.

The core lineup of Walker, Lamb, Tang Tian, and Oriakhi, plus role players like Napier, Smith, Olander, Forsythe, and Ater Majok.

This kind of lineup would definitely achieve something in the tournament.

Just as crazy as UConn were the fans of 31 other schools; 32 championship teams had already locked in their spots in the tournament.

Among them were super schools like North Carolina, Duke, and Kentucky, but also schools like Penn State Behrend and Richmond, who were making their first appearance in the tournament.

A place of miracles and upsets, a battlefield of passion and excitement, the footsteps of March Madness quietly approached.

Not long after the end of the various conference championship games, the NCAA selection committee announced the final results of "Selection Sunday" on March 11 through a television broadcast.

After more than three months of observation by the selection committee, 36 universities became the tournament's at-large teams.

In the Big East Conference, Georgetown University, who made it to the finals, Louisville University, a powerhouse of commoners, Marquette University, who pulled off an upset, and Providence College, who were unexpectedly selected, a total of 4 universities were selected for the final tournament.

Compared to the past few years where 8 universities were selected each year, this year's 5 was a significant drop.

With this, the 68 teams for the tournament were finalized.

These 68 teams would be divided into four regions: East, West, Southeast, and Southwest, with 17 teams in each region.

The NCAA organizing committee would consider factors such as team strength and geographical location to determine the divisions.

While dividing the regions, the organizing committee would also rank the teams based on their strength and give them a prefix of which seed they were.

This was also crucial for the universities; the higher the seed, the weaker the opponents you would face in the subsequent games, and the greater the possibility of advancing to the final Sweet Sixteen.

Before the final results were announced, it was a considerable torment for the players and fans of the universities.

"The old man called me earlier, he said we're likely to be in the same region as North Carolina and Kansas." After the team's daily training, Walker pulled Tang Tian aside to chat.

Theoretically, no news should be leaked before the NCAA organizing committee releases the divisions, but after all, these things are done by people; Calhoun had coached in the NCAA for 40 years, and his connections were extensive, so it was perfectly normal for him to get some news.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Tang Tian said with a smile. This year's strongest school was Duke, led by Irving, so not being divided with Duke was already pretty good.

"A good thing? This year, besides Duke, the strongest is North Carolina, and if Kansas is also there, we're likely to be the 3rd or 4th seed. 3rd is okay, but if we're 4th, we might run into North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen." There was a hint of worry in Walker's words.

His worries were not without reason. To win the championship in the tournament, in addition to strength, luck was also very important. As he said, if they could avoid Duke and North Carolina before the Final Four, or meet them in the finals, that would be the most likely championship schedule.

Now, being in the same region as North Carolina, if the 3rd seed could advance to the Sweet Sixteen, they would reach the regional finals, which is the Elite Eight game, and would encounter North Carolina. The bottom line would be the Elite Eight. Conversely, if they were the 4th seed, they would encounter North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen game, and might not even make it to the Elite Eight.

He waited until his junior year, and winning the championship was naturally the biggest goal, but under the big goal, there were small goals, and the Elite Eight was obviously a better result than the Sweet Sixteen.

"God bless us, I hope we're the 3rd seed and not the 4th seed." Walker couldn't help but put his hands together and pray.

"North Carolina's strength is just so-so this year, the core Harrison Barnes is just a freshman, if we really run into them, it's hard to say who will win." Tang Tian said.

"Besides, didn't we agree that our goal is the championship? Whether it's Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight, it's just a matter of playing sooner or later." He saw that Walker didn't react, and then said with a smile.

Walker put down his hands, turned to look at Tang Tian, and felt the confidence radiating from Tang Tian's smile. He also started to laugh.

"You're right, screw North Carolina and Duke, we're going to take them all down one by one!" Walker said, clenching his right fist.

He had played in the tournament for three consecutive years, and subconsciously had a sense of awe towards these super schools, but Tang Tian's words made him realize that UConn was strong this year and had the strength to fight these super schools.

"That's the way to be! Okay, let's go eat, we still have extra practice tonight." Tang Tian patted Walker and stood up.

"Yeah, extra practice!" Walker also stood up. Unlike when he was praying earlier, his eyes were now full of fighting spirit.

While the universities were preparing tensely, the divisions for each region were released soon after Selection Sunday.

Duke and North Carolina, two bitter rivals both located in North Carolina, were not placed in the same region because they were ranked in the top three in strength.

Duke was placed in the Southwest Region, while North Carolina was placed in the West Region, with both teams being the number 1 seed in their respective regions.

In addition, Kentucky, which had been strong in the past, was relatively weak this year and was placed in the East Region, but only as the 3rd seed.

In the Big East Conference, the five teams that entered the tournament were Providence College, the 17th seed in the East Region, Marquette University, the 11th seed in the Southeast Region, and Louisville University and Georgetown University, who were both placed in the Southwest Region, as the 8th and 3rd seeds in the tournament.

It could be seen from the divisions that the organizing committee, in addition to considering geographical location and strength, also tried to divide teams from the same conference into different regions as much as possible.

And UConn, as Calhoun had learned in advance, was placed in the West Region with North Carolina!

And Walker's prayers ultimately did not come true, they were the 4th seed in the West Region, after North Carolina, Kansas, and Texas!

This meant that if they eventually advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, they would encounter North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen game!

This was obviously not good news for UConn, but Walker felt relieved when he saw this result.

If you can't avoid it, then let's have a good fight!

And this was the NCAA tournament, a tournament full of upsets, to enter the Sweet Sixteen you need to win two rounds of games, UConn or North Carolina, no one dares to say they have the certainty of entering.

With the divisions and seed rankings, most of the matchups for the first round of the tournament had been released, UConn would face the 13th seed in the West Region in the first round of 64, San Diego State University, led by Kawhi Leonard.