The 2025 NCAA Tournament selection committee was informed that Duke freshman Cooper Flagg would be available for March Madness. Now, the Blue Devils are the No. 1 seed in the East Region of the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket after winning the ACC Tournament on Saturday. Flagg is a national player of the year candidate and the likely top pick in next year’s NBA Draft, but he’ll be focused on delivering Duke its sixth national championship. Duke is far from a lock to go deep in the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket with Alabama, Wisconsin, Arizona and Oregon joining them in the East Region of the 2025 March Madness bracket.
Meanwhile, one of the most fascinating matchups of March Madness 2025 will be No. 6 seed Missouri against No. 11 seed Drake in the West. Missouri is battle-tested as one of 14 teams to make the 2025 NCAA Tournament from the SEC, but Drake is a 30-win team that won MVC regular-season and tournament titles and has also been dancing in three of the last four years. 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 won the 2025 Big Ten Tournament with a gritty 59-53 win over Wisconsin on Sunday and seven-footers Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf give Michigan serious presence in the paint. That size will be incredibly difficult to match up with for a UC San Diego squad that doesn’t have anybody over 6-foot-8 in its regular rotation. However, the Tritons are 30-game winners and they’re one of the best defensive teams in the country, ranking sixth nationally in points allowed per game (61.6) and 11th in field-goal percentage allowed (39.6%) on their way to Big West regular-season and tournament titles.
Another 2025 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Creighton in the South Region. Ryan Kalkbrenner is one of the most familiar names participating in March Madness 2025, with the Creighton center winning Big East Defensive Player of the Year honors four times and playing a pivotal role for the Bluejays in the NCAA Tournament the last four years. However, Louisville went 18-2 in the ACC this season and was the runner-up to Duke for both the regular-season and tournament titles. Pat Kelsey’s first year at the helm has already yielded 27 wins for the Cardinals, but this is Louisville’s first March Madness appearance since 2019.
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. Yale won the Ivy League over Cornell on Sunday 90-84 and the Bulldogs won an NCAA Tournament game last year with an upset of Auburn. Fourth-year guard John Poulakida led the team with 19.0 points per game. Texas A&M also hung its hat on a recent win over Auburn, earning its first-ever win over a No. 1 team by beating the Tigers on March 4. Wade Taylor and Zhuric Phelps combine to give the Aggies one of the most dynamic backcourts in college basketball. 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.
