Men’s No. 1 seeds with easiest, toughest draw in NCAA Tournament

The madness is ready to begin following Sunday’s release of the men’s NCAA Tournament bracket.

Now that teams have been seeded and matchups are in place, which of the four No. 1 seeds has the easiest path to the Final Four and which one has the toughest draw of the four teams?

Easiest draw: Duke

With nine Quad 1 wins and a dominant run through ACC play, Duke (31-3) enters the Big Dance as the second overall No. 1 seed, only behind Auburn. While nothing is ever guaranteed in the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils have arguably the easiest draw of any of the No. 1 seeds.

The top three seeds below Duke in the East region are Alabama (two), Wisconsin (three) and Arizona (four). Alabama has the best NET ranking (six) with 11 Quad 1 wins while Arizona (12) has 10 and Wisconsin (15) has eight.

The Crimson Tide enter with three losses in their last five games and a struggling defense, compared to Duke’s seventh-best defense (61.9 PPG). A second round game against Mississippi State or Baylor, who each have a NET ranking of 30th or worse, would present a favorable matchup to the Blue Devils as well, given their inconsistent stretches throughout the season.

Whether Cooper Flagg is 100% or not, this is a favorable draw for a Duke team seeking its first National Championship since 2019.

Toughest draw: Auburn

Talk about a difficult road to the Final Four for the top overall seed. The SEC regular-season champions — losers of three of its last four — are not going to have an easy route in the South region.

The remaining top four seeds in the region are Michigan State with a NET ranking of 11, Iowa State (nine) and Texas A&M (18). The three of them combined have 30 Quad 1 wins and would give the Tigers a run for their money.

A second round matchup with ACC Tournament runner-up Louisville or Big East Tournament runner-up Creighton presents a challenge, as does a potential Sweet 16 meeting with Big Ten Tournament-champion Michigan.

If Auburn is going to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2019, it is going to have to earn it.