March Madness has spread across Alabama as four programs in the state will be dancing in the NCAA Tournament.

The UAB Blazers join Bucky McMillan and Samford, who won the Southland Conference Tournament championship, along with SEC Tournament champion Auburn and at-large Alabama on this year’s dance card.

In fact, Auburn, Alabama and UAB will be playing in Spokane. I should be noted, however, that Alabama and Auburn won’t meet unless both advance to the Final Four.

On Sunday, UAB defeated Temple 85-69 for the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

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“I’m so proud of these guys, man,” UAB head coach Andy Kennedy said after the win . “You talking about going on a journey. Every season is a journey. These guys are a testament to perseverance. We were sitting 4-5 in mid-December. No identity, trying to figure out what was next. These guys continued to work. They continued to believe and now they get an opportunity to cut down these nets.”

UAB earned its second conference tournament in the last three seasons.

Both Auburn and UAB will be playing in Spokane in the East bracket.

Bruce Pearl’s Tigers earned a No. 4 seed and will play No. 13-seeded Yale (22-9) on Friday. The Blazers earned a No. 12 seed (22-11) and will play fifth-seeded San Diego State (24-10) on Friday. The two in-state schools could meet in a potential second-round game on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Samford (29-5) earned a 13th seed and will play No. 4 Kansas (22-10) on Thursday in Salt Lake City in the Midwest Region. The winner of Gonzaga-McNeese State awaits the winner.

Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide (21-11) will enter the West Region as a No. 4 seed and faces 27-7 No. 13 Charleston in Spokane on Friday.

Here is a recap:

East Bracket

• No. 4 Auburn (27-7) vs. No. 13 Yale (22-9), Friday
• No. 5 San Diego State (24-10) vs. No. 12 UAB (22-11), Friday

Midwest Bracket

• No. 14 Kansas (22-10) vs. No. 13 Samford (29-5), Thursday

West Region

• No. 4 Alabama (21-11) vs. No. 13 Charleston (27-7), Friday

Alejandro Vasquez sank five 3-pointers on his way to scoring a career-high 29, Yaxel Lendeborg finished with his 19th double-double of the season and UAB (23-11) cruised to a wire-to-wire 85-69 victory over Temple in the championship game of the American Athletic Conference Tournament, earning the Blazers a spot in the NCAA Tournament for a 17th time.

Meanwhile, Achor Achor had 25 points and nine rebounds, Jermaine Marshall scored 23 and top-seeded Samford held off seventh-seeded East Tennessee State 76-69 to win the Southern Conference tournament championship on Monday night and earn an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

Samford coach Bucky McMillan, who had never coached above the high school level, has the Bulldogs dancing four years after taking over the 321st ranked program. Samford is making its first trip to the Big Dance since 2000 and just its third overall.

Joe Lunardi’s overnight bracket update Saturday had Alabama playing as a No. 4 seed in Salt Lake City against Samford, then with essentially a road game against No. 5 seed BYU:

Alabama (21-11) came in to the SEC Tournament having won the SEC regular-season title and tournament championship two of the past three years under coach Nate Oats. The Crimson Tide, however, headed home early after a 102-88 loss to Florida in the conference tournament to start preparing for the NCAA Tournament.

Mark Sears led Alabama with 22 points. Aaron Estrada added 17, Nick Pringle finished with 12 and Grant Nelson had 11.

Meanwhile, Johni Broome scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as No. 12 Auburn won the Tigers’ third SEC Tournament championship by beating Florida 86-67 on Sunday.

The Tigers (27-7) avoided the upset bug that took out the SEC’s top three seeds in Friday’s quarterfinals, leaving them as the highest seed still standing. They never trailed in the final, adding titles to those won in 1985 and 2019 and earning a second under coach Bruce Pearl.

Denver Jones scored 11 points for Auburn. Chad Baker-Mazara added 10 before going to the bench along with Broome and getting a standing ovation with two minutes left.

Mark Heim is a reporter for The Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Mark_Heim. He can be heard on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5 FM in Mobile or on the free Sound of Mobile App from 6 to 9 a.m. daily.