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BRACKET BREAKDOWN: January 31st

This is ONLY January.

Between now and Selection Sunday, each Friday I’ll give a “BRACKET BREAKDOWN” with my 68 projected teams for the 2025 NCAA Tournament along with my Top 16 seeds as well as emerging trends.

The team who is currently in first place in their respective conference will be listed as that league’s “automatic qualifier”.

The Current Field

Atlantic Sun (1)
Florida Gulf Coast (AQ)
America East (1)
Bryant (AQ)
American Athletic Conference (1)
Memphis (AQ)
Atlantic 10 (1)
George Mason (AQ)
ACC (4)
Duke (AQ), Clemson, Pitt, Louisville
Big 12 (8)
Houston (AQ), Kansas, Iowa State, Arizona, Baylor, West Virginia, UCF, Texas Tech
Big East (5)
St. John’s (AQ), Marquette, UConn, Creighton, Xavier
Big Sky (1)
Northern Colorado (AQ)
Big South (1)
UNC Asheville (AQ)
Big Ten (9)
Michigan State (AQ), UCLA, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland, Purdue, Oregon, Ohio State
Big West (1)
UC Irvine (AQ)
CAA (1)
William & Mary (AQ)
Conference-USA (1)
Middle Tennessee (AQ)
Horizon League (1)
Cleveland State (AQ)
Ivy League (1)
Yale (AQ)
MAAC (1)
Marist (AQ)
MAC (1)
Akron (AQ)
MEAC (1)
Norfolk State (AQ)
Missouri Valley (1)
Drake (AQ)
Mountain West (3)
New Mexico (AQ), Utah State, San Diego State
NEC (1)
Central Connecticut (AQ)
OVC (1)
Morehead State (AQ)
Patriot League (1)
American (AQ)
SEC (13)
Auburn (AQ), Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Missouri, Texas
Southern (1)
Samford (AQ)
Southland (1)
McNeese (AQ)
SWAC (1)
Southern (AQ)
Summit (1)
Omaha (AQ)
Sun Belt (1)
Arkansas State (AQ)
WCC (2)
Saint Mary’s (AQ), Gonzaga
WAC (1)
Utah Valley (AQ)

First Four Out

North Carolina, BYU, Arizona State, Nebraska

Top 16 Seeds

1: Auburn, Duke, Iowa State, Alabama
2: Florida, Houston, Tennessee, Marquette
3: Purdue, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State
4: Texas A&M, Illinois, Oregon, Wisconsin

Five Things To Know

  • Auburn currently leads the country with 12 Quad 1 wins. No other team has more than eight. It would take a massive collapse for the Tigers to not be the top overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday.
  • A week ago, Houston had no Quad 1 victories. Today, the Cougars own three. Kelvin Sampson’s squad is now very much in the mix to be a number one seed on Selection Sunday after back-to-back road wins at Kansas and West Virginia in the past week. Houston will host Texas Tech on Saturday at the Fertitta Center in what is yet another Quad 1 opportunity.
  • The winner of Saturday’s game between Tennessee and Florida in Knoxville could make a push to be the third number one seed from the SEC. That’s also contingent on how Iowa State plays down the stretch of course. As of today, the Cyclones are a combined 10-3 against Quad 1 and 2 opponents while the Vols are 7-4 and the Gators are 9-2.
  • There’s only four teams from the ACC the projected bracket above. That’s only 22.2 percent of the conference.
  • As of Thursday, VCU was ranked 47th in the NET, but doesn’t own a Quad 1 win and as of now won’t play a Quad 1 game for the rest of the regular season or during Championship Week in March. This is life in the Atlantic 10 in 2025.

Leftovers