The first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket will begin on Thursday and over the next three weeks, the field of 68 will be whittled down until a national champion is crowned at the Alamodome in San Antonio on Monday, April 7. A No. 1 seed has cut down the nets and taken home the title in six of the last seven years that March Madness has taken place, but early exits have also been a recent theme for No. 1 seeds. Nine of the last 12 teams to earn a top seed in their respective regions haven’t made it past the Sweet 16 of the March Madness bracket.
What does that mean for Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston, this year’s No. 1 seeds, in the 2025 NCAA bracket? Crafting 2025 NCAA Tournament picks that are capable of winning your March Madness 2025 pools is all about correctly predicting Final Four teams and identifying a handful of early 2025 March Madness upsets. Before making any 2025 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Their proven projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 91 percent of all CBS Sports brackets in four of the past six tournaments. It was all over UConn’s championship run a year ago and nailed 13 teams in the Sweet 16. It also nailed Alabama’s Cinderella run to the Final Four as a 4-seed.
It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016. There’s simply no reason to rely on luck when there’s proven technology to help you dominate your 2025 March Madness pools.
Now, with the 2025 NCAA bracket being revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.
2025 March Madness bracket games to watch
One of the 2025 March Madness matchups to keep an eye on: No. 8 seed Mississippi State vs. No. 9 seed Baylor in the East Region. The SEC was the deepest conference in the country this season, with 14 of the league’s 16 teams earning an invite to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Mississippi State is led by guard Josh Hubbard, who helped the Bulldogs pile up five wins away from home against NCAA Tournament teams already this season. Meanwhile, Baylor has won at least one tournament game in 10 of the 12 times that it has competed in March Madness since Scott Drew took over the program. Freshman guard V.J. Edgecombe averaged 16.6 points per game during Big 12 play and the NBA prospect could be the X-factor for Baylor in the postseason.
Also in the East Region, BYU vs. VCU figures to be a pivotal 6 vs. 11 matchup. The Rams have gotten used to playing spoiler during March Madness throughout their history, winning at least one game in 11 of their 19 appearances in the NCAA Tournament over the years. However, VCU hasn’t won a tournament game since 2016 when Will Wade was the head coach and this is Ryan Odom’s first time taking the program to the Big Dance in his second year at the helm. Meanwhile, BYU hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 2014, but the Cougars should be more prepared than ever after their second season in the Big 12. Road wins over Arizona and Iowa State late in the season along with another win over the Cyclones in the Big 12 Tournament make Kevin Young’s squad look like one that could get to the second weekend.
The third matchup to watch in the East Region features No. 3 seed Wisconsin vs. No. 14 seed Montana. The Badgers have been prone to upsets in recent NCAA Tournaments under head coach Greg Gard as Wisconsin is 1-3 against double-digit seeds over its last four NCAA Tournaments dating back to 2019, including losing a 5 vs. 12 matchup against James Madison last year. In 2022, Wisconsin won its first-round matchup as a No. 3 seed before losing to No. 11 seed Iowa State in the second round and missing the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Badgers are coming off a 59-53 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten Championship Game despite entering as 3.5-point favorites. Meanwhile, Montana has won 14 of 15 games as the Big Sky champions and have the third-best shooting percentage (49.6%) in the nation, putting Wisconsin on potential upset alert yet again. You can see how far all these teams go over at SportsLine.
How to make 2025 NCAA bracket predictions
How far will those major programs go? And which Cinderella teams will make surprising runs through the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it is calling this year before locking in any 2025 NCAA bracket picks.
So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament bracket 2025? And which 2025 March Madness underdogs will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which teams you can back with confidence, all from the model that’s nailed 24 upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception and beat over 91% of players in four of the last six tournaments.
