Florida earned a No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket after winning the SEC Tournament, but its reward could be a second-round meeting against the two-time defending national champions. UConn, which has cut down the nets back-to-back years, went 23-10 this season after being the preseason No. 3 team in the nation. The Huskies will play Oklahoma in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup in the West Region of the March Madness bracket 2025. Florida enters the NCAA bracket 2025 on a six-game winning streak, including five victories over ranked opponents, so if your 2025 March Madness bracket includes a Florida vs. UConn Round of 32 matchup, which team should you pick?
The SEC is known as a football conference first, but it set a basketball record by sending 14 teams into the 2025 NCAA Tournament field. Should you have SEC schools like Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, and Texas A&M making deep NCAA Tournament 2025 runs? 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 earned the final automatic bid into the 2025 NCAA Tournament after defeating Wisconsin, 59-53, in the Big Ten Championship on Sunday despite being 3.5-point underdogs. Michigan didn’t need the victory, entering the contest No. 22 in the nation, but the three wins in three days over ranked teams prove the Wolverines could be a tough draw for UC San Diego, which didn’t play a ranked opponent all season. UC San Diego had the No. 8 scoring defense (62.8 ppg) while holding its opponents to 40.4% from the field, which ranked 20th in the nation. The 5 vs. 12 upset is always popular when forming NCAA Tournament brackets with the No. 5 seed’s .657 win percentage substantially lower than the number for the top four seeds in each region.
Another 2025 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Creighton in the South Region. Louisville has been one of the best teams in the nation since Christmas, winning 20 of 21 games before falling to Duke, 73-62, in the ACC Championship Game. Louisville was No. 13 in the nation entering the ACC Tournament, leaving many surprised by the Cardinals’ No. 8 seed. But Louisville went 2-5 against ranked opponents, which hurt them in the selection committee’s eyes. Creighton likely never expected to see a matchup against a top-15 ranked team in Round One. The Blue Devils will rely on a pair of fifth-year seniors in center Ryan Kalkbrenner and guard Steven Ashworth in hopes of pulling off the 9 vs. 8 victory.
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. This is familiar territory for the Bulldogs, who upset an SEC team as a No. 13 seed a season ago. Yale beat Auburn last season for its second NCAA Tournament win under head coach James Jones. Meanwhile, Texas A&M ended a late-season skid by upsetting No. 1 overall seed Alabama late in the regular season and also had high-profile wins at Ole Miss and Missouri (both No. 6 seeds) during SEC play. The Aggies also beat Purdue and Creighton on a neutral floor during non-conference play and they’ve proven that they can get hot at any time with microwave scorers like Wade Taylor IV and Zhuric Phelps in their backcourt. 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.
