Auburn is the No. 1 seed in the South Region; Tigers seek redress after first-round ouster last year

Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament and is headed to the South Region, where coach Bruce Pearl and the Tigers will be trying to seek a little bit of retribution after a first-round ouster at the hands of Yale last season.

Led by SEC player of the year Johni Broome, the Tigers (28-5) spent eight weeks at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 before a late-season slide that left them entering March Madness having dropped three of their last four games — all to tourney teams. That includes a 70-65 loss to Tennessee in the semifinals of the conference tournament over the weekend.

The Tigers, who have not survived the opening week of the NCAA Tournament since going to the Final Final in 2019, will begin their journey against Alabama State or Saint Francis on Thursday in Lexington, Kentucky. The regional final is in Atlanta.

Auburn was joined in the South by second-seeded Michigan State, third-seeded Iowa State and some familiar faces: No. 4 seed Texas A&M, which beat the Tigers earlier this season, and their first-round opponent … Yale.