This is ONLY February.
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)
Lipscomb (AQ)
America East (1)
Bryant (AQ)
American Athletic Conference (1)
Memphis (AQ)
Atlantic 10 (1)
George Mason (AQ)
ACC (3)
Duke (AQ), Clemson, Louisville
Big 12 (8)
Houston (AQ), Kansas, Iowa State, Arizona, Baylor, West Virginia, Texas Tech, BYU
Big East (4)
St. John’s (AQ), Marquette, UConn, Creighton
Big Sky (1)
Montana (AQ)
Big South (1)
High Point (AQ)
Big Ten (10)
Michigan (AQ), UCLA, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Maryland, Oregon, Ohio State, Nebraska
Big West (1)
UC San Diego (AQ)
CAA (1)
Towson (AQ)
Conference-USA (1)
Jacksonville State (AQ)
Horizon League (1)
Cleveland State (AQ)
Ivy League (1)
Yale (AQ)
MAAC (1)
Quinnipiac (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)
SEMO (AQ)
Patriot League (1)
American (AQ)
SEC (14)
Auburn (AQ), Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Georgia, Missouri, Texas, Arkansas
Southern (1)
Chattanooga (AQ)
Southland (1)
McNeese (AQ)
SWAC (1)
Southern (AQ)
Summit (1)
Omaha (AQ)
Sun Belt (1)
South Alabama (AQ)
WCC (2)
Saint Mary’s (AQ), Gonzaga
WAC (1)
Utah Valley (AQ)
First Four Out
Indiana, Xavier, Wake Forest, North Carolina
Top 16 Seeds
1: Auburn, Alabama, Florida, Duke
2: Tennessee, Houston, Wisconsin, Texas A&M
3: Purdue, Michigan, Iowa State, Texas Tech
4: Michigan State, Kentucky, Arizona, St. John’s
Five Things To Know
- Saturday night’s game between Duke and Illinois at MSG will be the 16th Quad 1 game this season for the Illini. It will only be the ninth Quad 1 game for the Blue Devils.
- Four of Houston’s final five regular season games will be Quad 1 opportunities. Don’t sleep on the Cougars earning a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season.
- Wisconsin — who’s projected to be a two seed in the bracket above — hasn’t been to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2017.
- The Mountain West has not been a single bid league since 2017. Three teams from this conference — New Mexico, Utah State, and San Diego State — are listed in the projection above.
- SMU has no Quad 1 wins and also no Quad 3 or 4 losses. There’s no bubble team that’s more “chalk” than the Ponies.
