This past Sunday “Champ Week” finished, and all 31 college basketball conferences had their tournament winners and their automatic qualifiers for the Big Dance. The committee then announced the 68 teams that are a part of the field.
Auburn got the top overall seed in the tournament. Although they lost three of their last four games they still had the best resume with 15 total quad 1 wins. Duke, Florida, and Houston received the other 1-seeds after all winning their conference tournament. Michigan State, Tennessee, Alabama, and St. John all received two seeds in the tournament.
This year’s tournament was filled with so many power conference teams including a tournament record 14 SEC teams getting into the tournament, with two 1-seeds, two, 2-seeds, and 10 other teams apart of the 68-team field. Along with the power conference, this year has some of the best Mid-Major teams we have seen and could be an upset-filled tournament. Teams like McNeese, UCSD, Akron, GCU, and Yale are some of the lower seeded teams that we could see make a run. But it is March and anything could happen as it is the most unpredictable tournament in all of sports. As it is there are 9.2 quintillion total scenarios in which the bracket could go which is why the chances of seeing a perfect bracket are slim to none.
The First Four taking place in Dayton is the eight teams that were on the bubble of making it into the tournament who have to win a play-in game to go on to the official tournament. These games are taking place today and tomorrow and are a preview of what is to come in the next few weeks.
The tournament schedule is packed, with the First Round taking place on March 20-21, followed by the Second Round on March 22-23. The Sweet 16 games are set for March 27-28, leading into the Elite Eight on March 29-30. The Final Four will be held on April 5, with the winners battling for the national title two days later on April 7. Starting on Thursday, March 20th, the official tournament starts at 10:15MT with Creighton and Louisville starting the action.
The first weekend of March Madness is considered one of the greatest days for sports with 48 total games being played within a 96-hour period. The first 2 days of the tournament are filled with crazy close games with 4 games on at a time. Over the next three weeks, there will be a total of 67 single elimination where absolutely anything could happen games to decide the best team in the 2025-25 season.
