Well, it’s officially March Madness season as the regular season has finally come to a close. Selection Sunday, one of the most highly anticipated moments of the college basketball season took place yesterday as every NCAA team had their eyes locked on the bracketology results. After a long, grueling season of basketball, there are only 68 teams that remain, and 64 who will go on to appear in the “big dance”. Selection Sunday revealed which teams received an invite and which teams’ invites got lost in the mail.
It’s no surprise that Michigan, Arizona, Duke, and Florida lead the field as the first seeded teams across each of their regions. Duke and Arizona dominated the league as they each only dropped two games during the regular season. Despite Michigan’s loss to Purdue in the Finals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament, and Florida’s semifinal loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC Conference Tournament, both teams look to prove why they lead their regions and hope for a deep run in the tournament.
UConn, Houston, Iowa State, and Purdue round out the top seeds of the tournament as they each occupy the second seed. Purdue is hoping to continue their redemption path as they reached the final four last year after a series of disappointing tournament results. Houston looks to bring home the crown this year after falling short in the final against defending champion Florida, and Iowa State is fighting to bring home their first NCAA Title.
There are quite some interesting projections for second-round clashes with a potential early meeting between (5)St. John’s and (4)Kansas, (7)Kentucky and (2)Iowa State, (5)Vanderbilt and (4)Nebraska, (6)North Carolina and (3)Illinois, and many more. The field is looking tougher than ever, and each team is looking to claw their way through every round.
Miami Ohio surprisingly was not guaranteed a seed in the tournament as they must face SMU in order to determine who will claim the 11-seed and face sixth seeded Tennessee in the first round. NC State, Texas, Lehigh, Prairie View A&M, Howard, and UMBC are among the other team that will be featured in the opening play-in games.
Teams like Auburn and Oklahoma were omitted from the bracket as they received bids for the NIT, an invitational tournament for teams who had great seasons but were unable to reach the NCAA Tournament. Auburn accepted their bid at the first-seed as Oklahoma declined the invitation to participate in the tournament.
Overall, this year’s tournament is looking to be a fun one. The match-ups that await us surely won’t disappoint, and it will be interesting to see which Cinderellas make a name for themselves and what teams rise to the occasion in the 2025-2026 Edition of the NCAA Tournament.
