By Charlie Miller, Staff Writer
Everyone, not just sports fans, knows what that means when the calendar flips to March. From the die-hard basketball fan to the person who picks their bracket based on mascots, everyone scrambles to fill out their picks for the tournament, with the impossible dream of attaining the perfect bracket. According to USA Today, the odds of picking every outcome correctly is 1 in 9.2 quintillion. Many brackets were busted in the 2025 tournament in the first game, when 9th-seeded Creighton took down 8th-seed Louisville, the latter of whom many thought was underseeded.
Upsets in the first two rounds have been rarer than in some years. The lowest seed to win their first-round game were 12th seeds McNeese and Colorado State, who lost in the second round. As has been the story in college basketball this year, the top teams have dominated, with Duke cruising to the Sweet 16 and fending off a pesky Arizona team to advance to the Elite Eight. One of the top games in the tournament featured the red-hot Florida Gators defeating two-time defending champion UConn in a nail-biting 77-75. The Gators surged from behind to end the Huskies’ 13-game winning streak. The Blue Devils and the Gators are the two most popular picks to win it all, but as happens in March, nothing comes easy.
Besides McNeese and Colorado State, there have been a few other upsets, including a Cinderella wearing Razorback red. Arkansas shocked 2-seed St. John’s 75-66, sending the Red Storm and vaunted coach Rick Pitino home early. In one of the best games in the tournament, the Cougars of Brigham Young squeaked past third-seed Wisconsin to send sixth-seed BYU to their first Sweet 16 since 2011. In overtime, after being ahead by as much as 14 points in regulation, the Cougar defense had to fend off a final Badger attempt to hold on 91-89. 11th-seeded Drake, who has been a power in the Missouri-Valley Conference for years, knocked off sixth-seed Missouri on the back of excellent three-point shooting and rebounding.
The SEC is represented well in the remaining field, as half of the Elite Eight teams come from the Southeastern Conference. first-seeds Auburn and Florida lead the charge, but Tennessee and Alabama are certainly threats to make the Final Four and beyond. The Crimson Tide will have to get past Duke, led by freshmen Jared McCain and Cooper Flagg, the latter of which is a popular pick to be one of the top picks in the NBA Draft. It seems fitting that in this season where the SEC has dominated, the four top teams will prove their strength and potentially meet in the title game.
