Selection Sunday Tidbits

New Teams

Every Tournament in history has had at least one new tournament team.  This year's new tournament teams are High Point, Omaha, SIU-Edwardsville, and UC-San Diego.

New Coaches 

There are 15 coaches who are coaching in the tournament for the first time. 

• Lennie Acuff, Lipscomb
• Brian Barone, SIU-Edwardsville
• Jerrod Calhoun, Utah State
• Chris Crutchfield, Omaha
• Alan Huss, High Point
• Rob Krimmel, St. Francis (Pa)
• Donny Lind, Mt. St. Mary's
• Tony Madlock, Alabama State
• Phil Martelli, Jr., Bryant
• Ben McCollum, Drake
• Eric Olen, UC-San Diego
• Dwight Perry, Wofford
• Takayo Siddle, UNC-Wilmington
• Duane Simpkins, American
• Kevin Young, BYU

Coach First Year with New Team 

11 coaches have coached in the tournament but are making their first appearance with their current team.

• Chris Beard, Mississippi (2016 - Little Rock; 2018, 2019, 2021 - Texas Tech; 2022 - Texas)
• Mark Byington, Vanderbilt (2024 - James Madison)
• John Calipari, Arkansas (1992 to 1996 - Massachusetts; 2003, 2004, 2006 to 2009 - Memphis; 2010 to 2012, 2014 to 2019, 2022 to 2024 - Kentucky)
• Scott Cross, Troy (2008 - UT-Arlington)
• Pat Kelsey, Louisville (2017, 2021 - Winthrop; 2023, 2024 - Charleston)
• Dusty May, Michigan (2023, 2024 - Florida Atlantic)
• Porter Moser, Oklahoma (2018, 2021 - Loyola Chicago)
• Ryan Odom, VCU (2018 - UMBC; 2023 - Utah State)
• Rick Pitino, St. John's (1983 - Boston; 1987 - Providence; 1992 to 1997 - Kentucky; 2003 to 2005, 2007 to 2015, 2017 - Louisville; 2021, 2023 - Iona)
• Mark Pope, Kentucky (2021, 2024 - BYU)
• Mike White, Georgia (2017 to 2019, 2021 - Florida)

Rick Pitino is coaching his sixth different school in the NCAA Tournament.  He passes Steve Alford, Lon Kruger, and Tubby Smith, who each coached five schools in the tournament.

Consecutive Tournaments

• Kansas 35
• Michigan State 27
• Gonzaga 26
• Purdue 10
• Houston 7
• Tennessee 7
• Baylor 6
• Alabama 5
• Connecticut 5
• Creighton 5
• Illinois 5
• San Diego State 5
• Texas 5
• Arizona 4
• Auburn 4
• Duke 4
• Iowa State 4
• Kentucky 4
• Marquette 4
• Saint Mary's 4
• Drake 3
• Grand Canyon 3
• Mississippi State 3
• Texas A&M 3
• Utah State 3
• Akron 2
• BYU 2
• Clemson 2
• Colorado State 2
• Florida 2
• McNeese 2
• New Mexico 2
• North Carolina 2
• Oregon 2
• Texas Tech 2
• Wisconsin 2
• Yale 2

Consecutive Appearances Snapped

• Colgate 5
• Boise State 3
• Montana State 3
• TCU 3
• Vermont 3
• Charleston 2
• Florida Atlantic 2
• Howard 2
• Nevada 2
• North Carolina State 2
• Northwestern 2
• Virginia 2

Top 10 Longest Droughts Broken

• St. Francis 1991
• Alabama State 2011
• American 2014
• Georgia 2015
• Robert Morris 2015
• UNC Wilmington 2017
• Troy 2017
• Vanderbilt 2017
• Lipscomb 2018
• Louisville 2019
• Mississippi 2019
• Montana 2019
• St. John's 2019
• Wofford 2019

Consecutive Top 4 Seeds

• #4 Purdue 8
• #2 Tennessee 4
• #4 Arizona 4
• #2 Alabama 3
• #1 Houston 3 (3 consecutive #1 seeds)
• #1 Auburn 2
• #1 Duke 2
• #3 Iowa State 2
• #3 Kentucky 2

Last Top 4 Seed (for those that weren't Top 4 last year)

• #3 Texas Tech (2022 - #3 seed)
• #3 Wisconsin (2022 - #3 seed)
• #2 Michigan State (2019 - #2 seed)
• #1 Florida (2017 - #4 seed)
• #4 Texas A&M (2016 - #3 seed)
• #4 Maryland (2015 - #4 seed)
• #2 St. John's (2000 - #2 seed)

Consecutive Top 4 Seeds Snapped

• Kansas 23
• Baylor 4
• UConn 2
• Marquette 2

#1 Seed History

Auburn is the overall #1 seed for the 1st time in school history.

• Auburn - 2nd #1 seed (1999, 2025)
• Duke - 15th #1 seed (1986, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2025)
• Houston - 4th #1 seed (1983, 2023, 2024, 2025)
• Florida - 3rd #1 seed (2007, 2014, 2025)

Other Seeds - Teams achieving best seeds in school history

• Tennessee - #2 (5th Time - 2006, 2008, 2019, 2024, 2025)
• Texas Tech - #3 (5th Time - 1996, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2025)
• McNeese - #12 (2nd Time - 2024, 2025)
• Liberty - #12 (2nd Time - 2019, 2025)
• UC-San Diego - #12 (1st Time - 2025)
• High Point - #13 (1st Time - 2025)
• Troy - #14 (2nd Time - 2003, 2025)
• Lipscomb - #14 (1st Time - 2025)
• Omaha - #15 (1st Time - 2025)
• Bryant - #15 (1st Time - 2025)
• SIU-Edwardsville - #16 (1st Time - 2025)
• Mt. St. Mary's - #16 (7th Time - 1995, 1999, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2025)
• Alabama State - #16 (5th Time - 2001, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2025)