USATSI
The Auburn Tigers are the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket and Bruce Pearl’s squad will begin its pursuit of a national championship on Thursday against the winner of a First Four matchup between Alabama State and St. Francis (PA). That South Region game will tip off at 2:50 p.m. ET and the Tigers will hope to follow in the footsteps of the UConn Huskies, who cut down the nets as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA basketball bracket last season. The Huskies are in pursuit of a third consecutive title, but this year they’ll have to do it as a No. 8 seed in the 2025 March Madness bracket.
UConn will take on No. 9 seed Oklahoma in a West Region matchup on Friday. How far should you advance UConn and Auburn in your 2025 March Madness picks and what are the 2025 NCAA Tournament upset picks to target? 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 bracket picks.
Now, with the 2025 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.
Three 2025 March Madness bracket games to watch
One of the most intriguing 2025 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 UC San Diego in the South region. The Wolverines will enter the 2025 March Madness bracket full of confidence after knocking off Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament title game. Guard Tre Donaldson has been the catalyst for Michigan’s success this season. The junior is knocking down 44.5% of his field goals while averaging 11.6 points per game. UC San Diego, meanwhile, is one of the most disruptive defensive teams in the nation. The Tritons are giving up only 61.6 points per game, which ranks sixth in college basketball.
Another 2025 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Creighton in the South Region. This game will kick off the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, with the tip scheduled for 12:15 p.m. ET on Thursday in Lexington, Kent. That could bode well for the Cardinals, who face less than a 90-minute drive down I-64 as they look for their first March Madness win since 2017. However, they’ll be facing an experience deficit with Creighton led by center Ryan Kalkbrenner. The fifth-year senior has been on the floor for eight NCAA Tournament wins at Creighton over the last four years and the four-time Big East Defensive Player of the Year is averaging 19.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game this season.
Another 2025 March Madness game to watch out for: No. 4 seed Texas A&M will battle No. 13 seed Yale in the South Region. The Aggies are the top offensive rebounding team in the nation, averaging 16.19 offensive rebounds per game. Texas A&M posted an 11-7 record in SEC play and secured several impressive non-conference wins this season, beating the likes of Purdue, Texas Tech and Creighton. Yale, meanwhile, features one of the nation’s most explosive offenses. The Bulldogs are averaging 81.4 points per game, which ranks 23rd in college basketball. Yale beat Auburn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, making this a game to circle when locking in your March Madness bracket picks. You can see the model’s 2025 NCAA bracket picks here.
How to make 2025 NCAA bracket predictions
Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? And which 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’s calling this year before locking in any 2025 NCAA bracket picks.
So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament 2025 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that called UConn’s national title and nailed 13 Sweet 16 teams in 2024.
