It’s Christmas for college basketball fans.
March Madness has officially arrived — Selection Sunday is here.
It has been a fascinating and fantastic season that figures to crown a new champion after Connecticut repeated last April.
Early Sunday evening, we will have a bracket, 68 teams all vying to be the last one standing in San Antonio cutting down the nets.
The Post’s Zach Braziller gets you ready for the big day with a look ahead to the announcement:
Let’s start with the automatics: Auburn, Duke and Houston. They feel like locks as top seeds.
Duke and Houston both reached their conference championship game after winning the regular season titles.
Auburn owns a ridiculous 16 Quad 1 wins, three more than anyone else. The Tigers should be the overall top seed.
Bruce Pearl’s Auburn team likely will be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, The Post’s Zach Braziller writes. Steve Roberts-Imagn Images
I’d lean to Houston at No. 2 over Duke, because the Big 12 is significantly stronger than the ACC, and the Cougars as a result have the much better résumé.
The fourth No. 1 is somewhat of a question mark.
Florida is believed to have the edge, courtesy of its high-end road wins at Auburn and fellow No. 1 contender Alabama.
An argument can be made for Tennessee, which has 11 Quad 1 wins and knocked off Auburn in the SEC semifinals on Saturday and could have a shot if it beats Florida in the SEC title game Sunday.
As always, the most heated debates take place on the cut line.
Last March, the Big East was the big loser, landing only three teams in the tournament.
Seton Hall, Providence and St. John’s were left out, partly due to six bid-stealers — teams that only made it because they won their conference tournament.
The big story this March is North Carolina.
The Tar Heels were a major disappointment after returning star guard RJ Davis and adding five-star freshman Ian Jackson and Drake Powell. They won just once in 13 Quad 1 games.
North Carolina, led by RJ Davis, could be on the wrong end of the NCAA Tournament bubble, The Post’s Zach Braziller writes. Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
Xavier is another intriguing team. They closed the regular season by winning six straight games, then blew a 14-point lead to Marquette in the Big East Tournament semifinals.
Like North Carolina, Xavier has a poor Quad 1 record (1-9), but it does have wins over projected tournament teams Connecticut, Creighton and Marquette.
Indiana has three more Quad 1 wins than North Carolina and Xavier, however, an overall mark of 4-13.
Texas has far more Quad 1 wins (seven) than the aforementioned three, but it does have five Quad 2 losses.
North Carolina only has one sub-Quad 1 defeat, Xavier has two and Indiana doesn’t have one.
Sean Miller’s Xavier squad is squarely on the bubble. Getty Images
Then, there is the issue of bid-stealers taking away an at-large spot.
If Memphis doesn’t win the AAC crown on Sunday, that would be one fewer spot.
Boise State is another team to watch, after it lost the Mountain West Tournament title game to Colorado State. Boise State has quality wins over at-large teams Clemson, New Mexico, San Diego State and Saint Mary’s, though two sub-Quad 2 losses diminishes its résumé.
The bottom line is there will be unhappy teams and coaches Sunday night.
Outside of St. John’s, it was a decidedly down season in the area.
Seton Hall set a program record for losses in a season with 25 and Rutgers didn’t come close to dancing despite having two projected top five NBA draft picks in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper.
The 30-4 Johnnies, meanwhile, enjoyed their best regular season in 25 years and are looking most likely at a No. 2 seed. They own top 10 résumé metrics and are 16-4 in Quad 1 and 2 games.
The expectation is that they will start in Providence the first weekend as the highest-seeded team in the Northeast.
But staying close to home for the second weekend — the East Regional is in Newark at Prudential Center — may not be realistic.
For one, the Red Storm are projected as the last No. 2 seed, and it’s hard to see the committee giving a No. 1 seed a geographic disadvantage in a potential Elite Eight matchup.
More probable scenarios have St. John’s as the No. 2 in either the West (San Francisco) or South (Atlanta).
