The 2025 NCAA Tournament has not been one for the underdogs. Itòòò½ÊÓƵ™s been just the opposite.
After the first weekend of March Madness, the storyline typically revolves around which mid-major conference team is this seasonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s òòò½ÊÓƵœCinderella story.òòò½ÊÓƵ This year, no such team exists.
Every team in the Sweet 16 of this yearòòò½ÊÓƵ™s tournament comes from one of the four major conferencesòòò½ÊÓƵ”the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC. That development in this seasonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s tournament has some sports talking heads saying some outlandish things about the state of college basketball.
Part of the magic of March Madness is the overall unpredictability of it. But sometimes, the most unpredictable thing turns out to be rather predictable. The results of the first two rounds of this seasonòòò½ÊÓƵ™s tournament isnòòò½ÊÓƵ™t indicative that the March Madness as weòòò½ÊÓƵ™ve always known it is over. This is just one of the tournamentòòò½ÊÓƵ™s many possibilities coming to fruition.
Even this year in what seems like a year filled with predictability as we head toward the second weekend of the tournament, there were still some shocking developments.
Arkansas, a No. 10 seed, is in the Sweet 16 after beating preseason No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 seed St. Johnòòò½ÊÓƵ™s. Colorado State was one missed shot away from making the Sweet 16. Texas A&M turned a double-digit, second-half lead against Michigan into a double-digit loss. BYU and Wisconsin played a thriller and, of course we did get one of those famous 5-12 upsets, with McNeese State thoroughly outplaying Clemson.
When upsets are lacking, there are a couple of positives that come from it. One positive is the quality of games we should get from now until the end of the tournament.
Upsets are great. I love them and I believe most people do as well. When a low seed can win two games in the first weekend in miraculous fashion, there are few things more thrilling in all of sports. Those upsets, however, do come at a cost.
When a lower-seeded team makes the second weekend it, usually means they are on the verge of getting blown out in the Sweet 16. Thatòòò½ÊÓƵ™s not always the case, but there are far more examples of Florida Gulf Coast losing by double digits to Florida than George Mason making the Final Four.
This yearòòò½ÊÓƵ™s lowest seed is Arkansas at No. 10. Arkansas is a top-25 team masquerading as a No. 10 seed after a slow start to conference play and dealing with injuries. Arkansas just played St. Johnòòò½ÊÓƵ™s, who ended the season ranked in the top five, and the Razorbacks were clearly the more talented team.
With Arkansas being (according to its seed) the worst team left in the tournament, weòòò½ÊÓƵ™re all but guaranteed to watch the best basketball of the season over the next two weeks.
In the Sweet 16, Duke will face Arizona and Caleb Love, who ended Dukeòòò½ÊÓƵ™s season and Mike Krzyzewskiòòò½ÊÓƵ™s coaching career in 2022. Top overall seed Auburn will have to face a Michigan team that won the Big Ten tournament and has a bigger frontcourt than the Tigers.
BYU and Alabama may break scoring records in their contest while No. 1 seed Houston has to face Purdue 70 miles away from its campus in Indianapolis.
Some are choosing to lament this yearòòò½ÊÓƵ™s lack of upsets and are afraid this could be a new reality for the tournament with the transfer portal and NIL putting small schools at a massive disadvantage. I believe a lot of that commentary is highly reactionary to four days of basketball.
Instead, there is a positive to focus on. Over the next two weekends in college basketballòòò½ÊÓƵ™s biggest games, we are getting nearly all of the sportòòò½ÊÓƵ™s best teams over the course of the regular season
As fans, that means these next two weekends will be a lot of fun.
