The South Region of the 2023 men's NCAA tournament is headlined by No. 1 Alabama, who secured its place at the head of the No. 1 seed pack with an 82-63 win over Texas A&M in the SEC tournament title game.

The Crimson Tide will need to survive No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 Virginia and a host of upset-minded lower seeds if they hope to reach the Final Four.

NBA scouts will no doubt be watching closely when potential lottery picks Brandon Miller (Alabama) and Keyonte George (Baylor) take the floor, while Wooden Award finalist Ąžuolas Tubelis (Arizona) will also be in action.

Before the tournament gets underway, here's a full breakdown of the South Region.

Make your picks: Play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge and Tournament Run.

1st-Round Schedule

Thursday Games

No. 8 Maryland vs. No. 9 West Virginia, 12: 15 p.m., CBS

No. 4 Virginia vs. No. 13 Furman, 12:40 p.m., truTV

No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 Utah State, 1:40 p.m., TNT

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 16 Texas A&M Corpus-Christi/SE Missouri State, 2:45 p.m., CBS

No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 12 Charleston, 3:10 p.m., truTV

No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 15 Princeton, 4:10 p.m., TNT

Friday Games

No. 3 Baylor vs. No. 14 UC Santa Barbara, 1:30 p.m., TNT

No. 6 Creighton vs. No. 11 NC State, 4:00 p.m., TNT

All game times are in ET.

Must-See Games

No. 5 San Diego State vs. No. 12 Charleston

Over the last 10 NCAA tournaments, there have been 17 instances where a No. 5 seed has been upset by a No. 12 seed, including Richmond and New Mexico State last year. That alone is reason enough to make this one of the must-watch games in the South Region, and Charleston is a Cinderella team to watch after spending four weeks in the AP poll earlier this year amid a 20-1 start.

The up-tempo style that Charleston plays with will be an interesting counterpoint to the grind-it-out, defensive-oriented style of play San Diego State has made its calling card in recent years.

No. 7 Missouri vs. No. 10 Utah State

Ready for some quality offense?

Missouri (No. 10) and Utah State (No. 13) both rank among the top 15 teams nationally in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, and this should be a back-and-forth contest from the opening tip.

Utah State shoots 39.3 percent from beyond the arc as a team and has five players averaging in double figures, while Missouri is led by the senior tandem of Kobe Brown and D'Moi Hodge and tallied Quad 1 wins over Iowa State, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee twice.

Top Storylines

Alabama Is the No. 1 Overall No. 1 Seed

After Kansas and Houston both suffered lopsided losses in their conference tournament title games, Alabama ended up with the No. 1 overall seed. That will mean a considerable home-court advantage when the Crimson Tide tip off from Birmingham, Alabama, for their opening game Thursday.

Is Creighton a Sleeping Giant as a No. 6 Seed?

With four returning starters and South Dakota State transfer Baylor Scheierman joining the mix, Creighton was picked to win the Big East in the preseason poll while checking in at No. 9 in the first AP poll of the year.

A six-game losing streak at the end of nonconference play quickly threw water on those lofty expectations, but the Bluejays have been playing good basketball since and can create some serious matchup problems with 7'1" center Ryan Kalkbrenner providing an inside presence on both ends of the floor.

Utah State and NC State Survive the Bubble

Utah State and NC State were both frequently mentioned as teams on the bubble in the days leading up to Selection Sunday. The Aggies fell to San Diego State in the Mountain West title game, while the Wolfpack lost to Clemson in their second ACC tournament game, leaving both teams reliant on an at-large bid.

In the end, both wound up comfortably in the field, avoiding the play-in games.

Players to Watch

Brandon Miller, Alabama

Miller averaged 19.5 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting 40.7 percent from beyond the arc on 243 attempts, cementing his status as a future lottery pick and claiming SEC Player of the Year honors. The 6'9" freshman forward went off the board at No. 4 in the latest mock draft from B/R's Jonathan Wasserman, and he could make a case to go as high as No. 2 with a strong NCAA tournament run.

Keyonte George, Baylor

Another standout freshman with a bright NBA future, George is averaging 15.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 28.9 minutes of action per game this season. The 6'4" guard has been held to single digits in four of his last seven games, and getting him going will be a key to success for the Bears. He was projected to go No. 12 overall in Wasserman's mock draft.

Ąžuolas Tubelis, Arizona

A secondary option on some stacked Arizona teams his first two years on campus, Tubelis is now the focal point of the offense for the Wildcats. The 6'11" forward averaged 19.8 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 57.5 percent from the floor, and he was a model of consistency with 14 or more points in 30 of 34 games. He is currently projected as a second-round pick and could conceivably return for his senior year.

Favorite Most Likely to Fall

No. 4 Virginia

The Virginia Cavaliers climbed as high as No. 2 in the AP poll earlier this season and won a share of the ACC regular-season title with a 15-5 record in conference play, but they have not been playing their best basketball of late.

Back-to-back road losses to a pair of non-tournament teams in Boston College and North Carolina in February dropped them out of the top 10 in the AP poll, and they suffered a 59-49 loss to Duke in the ACC tournament title game.

Despite that loss, they were still seeded higher than a red-hot Blue Devils team and were in fact the highest-seeded ACC team overall.

They play the same methodical, slow-paced game that has become a signature of Tony Bennett-coached teams over the years, but they lack the knockdown outside shooters who have been the centerpiece of the offense in the past.

A high-powered Furman offense will provide a tough test in the first round, and if they match up with San Diego State in the second round, they'll be unfazed by their slow tempo.

The path ahead is a tough one for the Cavaliers.

Most Likely Cinderella

No. 12 Charleston

The Charleston Cougars lost their second game of the season to North Carolina and had a brief hiccup at the end of January where they dropped back-to-back games to Hofstra and Drexel, but outside of that, they were dominant most of the season with a 31-3 record overall.

They had a five-game winning streak in November where they beat Richmond, Davidson, Colorado State, Virginia Tech and Kent State. That's not exactly the same as grinding through the Big 12 schedule, but it's a solid run of success against quality opposition.

The X-factor for the Cougars in the NCAA tournament is going to be three-point shooting.

They take 30.2 attempts from beyond the arc per game (second in NCAA), and while they shoot just 33.4 percent from distance (227th in NCAA), all it takes is a hot night for an offense built around the three ball for an upset to be in the works.

If they can get off to a hot start against a slow-paced San Diego State team and force them out of their comfort zone, they could be the latest in a long line of No. 12-seeded teams to pull off a first-round upset.

Who Will Make the Sweet 16?

No. 1 Alabama

Alabama finished 16-2 in conference play while navigating an SEC field that sent eight teams to the NCAA tournament. The Crimson Tide are playing some of their best basketball of the year right now after beating their three opponents in the SEC tournament by a combined 53 points, and it's hard to see Maryland or West Virginia pulling off the upset Saturday.

No. 2 Arizona

The Wildcats will face a tough test from whoever comes out of the Missouri vs. Utah State matchup, with both teams possessing extremely efficient offensive attacks as we touched on earlier. In the end, the size of Ąžuolas Tubelis (6'11", 245) and Oumar Ballo (7'0", 260) inside will be too much for either of those teams to handle.

No. 6 Creighton

With Creighton steadily rounding into the team many thought it would be when the season began and Baylor stumbling to a 2-4 record in its last six games, the stage is set for a potential weekend upset. The Bears defense has been inconsistent at times this year, and the Bluejays are good enough offensively to take full advantage if they don't bring their best.

No. 12 Charleston

The Cougars will need to survive two calculated, methodical defensive teams in San Diego State and Virginia to make it to the Sweet 16. They live and die by the three ball, and here's predicting their shots are falling during the opening weekend as they reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.

The Elite Eight Matchup Will Be...

No. 1 Alabama vs. No. 2 Arizona

After picking a few upsets to reach the Sweet 16, it's chalk in the South Region final.

The Crimson Tide have been one of the top teams in the country all season, and whether it's Charleston pulling off the upset like we predicted or No. 4 seed Virginia surviving the opening weekend, they will be the pick to advance on to the Elite Eight.

Freshman star Brandon Miller is the focal point, but this is also the best rebounding team in the country (44.2 RPG) and a group that ranks No. 3 in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency, so it can beat you in a lot of ways.

As for the Arizona Wildcats, a matchup with No. 3 seed Baylor is off the table with our prediction of Creighton pulling off the second-round upset, but they would likewise be the pick to advance on to the Elite Eight regardless of who they see in the Sweet 16.

Ąžuolas Tubelis (19.8 PPG), Oumar Ballo (14.2 PPG), Courtney Ramey (10.6 PPG), Pelle Larsson (10.2 PPG) and Kerr Kriisa (10.1 PPG) all average in double figures for a team that ranks No. 4 in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, and that type of balanced scoring is difficult to slow down.

And the Final Four Team Is...

No. 2 Arizona

The Alabama defense has allowed some big performances to quality interior players this season:

• Drew Timme, Gonzaga (29 points, 10 rebounds)
• Adama Sanogo, UConn (25 points)
• Tanner Groves, Oklahoma (14 points, 12 rebounds)

The end result in all of those games was a loss, and that could be Alabama's undoing against an Arizona squad with one of the best interior tandem in the country in Ąžuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo.

That's the deciding factor in this matchup as the Wildcats reach the Final Four for the first time since 2001 after losing in their previous five trips to the Elite Eight.

All stats courtesy of Sports Reference.