From 68 to 16: March Madness 2017 First Weekend Primer
South Region
Pod #1 – Greenville, South Carolina
| Colors | Location | Record | RPI | ||
| #1 | North Carolina Tar Heels | Light Blue, White | Chapel Hill, NC | 27-7 | 5 |
| #8 | Arkansas Razorbacks | Cardinal, White | Fayetteville, AR | 25-9 | 25 |
| #9 | Seton Hall Pirates | Blue, White | South Orange, NJ | 21-11 | 44 |
| #16 | Texas Southern Tigers | Maroon, Gray | Houston, TX | 23-11 | 105 |
#8 Arkansas vs. #9 Seton Hall — Friday, 1:30 p.m., TNT
Line: Arkansas (-1)
FiveThirtyEight: Arkansas (51%)
Arkansas doesn’t do anything particularly well and they went 0-5 against top 25 opponents, but they can score points and finished third in the SEC. Angel Delgado leads the Pirates with 15.3 points and 13.1 rebounds per game and the team averages 40 rebounds per game. They came within two points of top-seed Villanova on Friday in the Big East tournament, but only finished 1-5 against top 25 teams.
#1 North Carolina vs. #16 Texas Southern — Friday, 4:00 p.m., TNT
Line: North Carolina (-25)
FiveThirtyEight: North Carolina (98%)
Texas Southern played four top 25 opponents this season and lost those four games by a combined 117 points. Coached by former Indiana head coach Mike Davis and led in scoring by Zach Lofton (17 points per game) the Tigers are the shortest team in the country. The Tar Heels are one of the best rebounding teams in the country, averaging 44 per game. Justin Jackson leads the team with 18.1 points and Kennedy Meeks adds 12.3 points and 9.1 rebounds.
Second Round Outlook
North Carolina is by far the best team in this pod. Seton Hall has a chance to pull off the upset because they can rebound and they have a few different players who can score, but the Tar Heels should get to the Sweet 16 with relative ease