The 2023 NCAA Tournament field has been announced. The SEC will be sending 8 teams to the Big Dance, tied with the B1G for the most in the country.

Alabama, the conference’s regular season and tournament champion, is one of the 4 top seeds for the 1st time in program history. Not only that, but Nate Oats’ team has earned the No. 1 overall seed. They’ll open the tournament with a virtual home game in Birmingham on Thursday against the winner of the First Four matchup between Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and SEMO.

Last year, the SEC sent 6 teams to the NCAA Tournament. Arkansas made it the farthest, falling to Duke in the Elite 8. An SEC team hasn’t advanced to the Final Four since Auburn did it in 2019 and hasn’t won the national championship since Kentucky’s triumph in 2012. The Tide appear in strong position to, at worst, make it to the final weekend in Houston.

Here are all the SEC teams that made the field this year, along with their initial matchups:

  • Alabama — No. 1 seed in South region, No. 1 overall seed in tournament; vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi/SEMO First Four winner
  • Tennessee — No. 4 in East region; vs. (13) Louisiana
  • Kentucky — No. 6 seed in East Region; vs. (11) Providence
  • Texas A&M — No. 7 seed in Midwest region; vs. (10) Penn State
  • Missouri — No. 7 seed in South region; vs. (10) Utah State
  • Arkansas — No. 8 seed in West region; vs. (9) Illinois
  • Auburn — No. 9 seed in Midwest region; vs. (8) Iowa
  • Mississippi State — No. 11 seed in Midwest region; First Four vs. No. 11 Pitt