Thoughts And Ramblings From The 2025 NCAA Tournament Bracket Reveal
Alright, so I do this every year and try to give out some of my rapid reactions to what we just saw. There's a lot going on so I try to gather my thoughts all while running on like 3 hours sleep.
South Region
-Auburn is the No. 1 overall seed as they should be. Not surprising, didn't think it was much of a debate even with the losses late.
- Louisville got a benefit. I don't care they are the 8 seed, they get to Lexington. That vs Creighton is going to be the go-to early game that day.
- UNC being in is a fucking joke. There's no way for them to justify getting them in. I don't understand it one bit and no one does. Guess it's worth noting that the committee chair was UNC's AD. That probably didn't matter at all. But, it's a fucking joke.
- Donovan Dent vs Kam Jones is going to be the best individual matchup. Give me all of that.
- This bracket feels wide open. Michigan as a 5 shows the committee stops working on roughly Friday night.
East Region
- Duke going here was a lock.
- Arizona and Akron is going to be up and down. Those teams wants to run, score and everything like that.
- Alabama falling to the two gives them a better spot than a 1. They avoid the top SEC teams until the Final Four, sure they have Duke and a bracket that could be open.
- I love this Wisconsin team. Don't just watch the Big 10 title game. They can score, they run gorgeous offense and they have guys that can create for themselves. Can they win a title? Probably not, but can they get hot for 4 games? Absolutely.
- Again, this can sound dumb, but this region feels very top heavy. Again, this will probably sound dumb, but it's hard for me to see some darkhorse here.
Midwest Region
- This is very nerdy stuff, but Houston choosing Midwest and Indy vs West and Sacramento. They go to the Midwest and get this. I love this Houston team.
- Gonzaga as the 8. This was one of the two seeds like this everyone was talking about. Gonzaga or UConn, what 1 seed has to draw them.
- You wanted the Kentucky portion here we go. I love it. I love being a 3 seed. I love having Tennessee as our 2, we beat them twice already. Gotta play Illinois in Milwaukee potentially, but we travel. This is the year we beat a double digit seed in the first round. Gotta happen.
- Clemson vs McNeese is a good first round matchup. Don't fall into the 12 look though. I'll just say that.
- This feels the most bunched up bracket. You can convince me of a lot of runs, especially if Roberts is injured for Houston. Purdue has Braden Smith. Clemson made the run last year. Kentucky is Kentucky. Tennessee as much as I hate them still are elite defensively.
West Region
- This is the region we wanted. Pitino, Hurley, Self and Calipari all in this region. Cal vs Self in the first round to play Pitino is awesome content no matter what happens.
- Florida is going to be the popular pick to win it all. They just dominated the SEC Tournament. They were elite all year. This is the team that a lot of people will be on.
- Drake deserved that 11 seed. For as much as the committee fucked over some teams, they needed to make Drake the 11. That's not the best draw for Missouri either.
- Know the name Nique Clifford. Him and PJ Haggerty are two of the most elite scorers in the country and we get them in the same game together. Hell yeah.
- I love Texas Tech. JT Toppin is an All-American. They can make a Final Four.
Final Thoughts
- This was a year with basically 1 bid stealer in Colorado State from conference tournaments. We usually don't do that, but it let the bubble stay what it was. It never shrunk, it stayed the same, so from that standpoint there shouldn't have been much movement from that angle.
- The Greg Gumbel tribute was beautiful.
- West Virginia getting left out is bullshit. They should have been in and pretty clearly in. No problem with Indiana, Ohio State and Boise being left out, but WVU not getting in over UNC is fucking insane.
- The committee still needs a complete fixing. Full-time people, no more AD's. You want 2-3 there? Sure, I guess. Add in people who understand the game, bracketing and stats. It's so dumb how this plays out every single year and we just keep running it back.
- Do not expand the NCAA Tournament. This is perfect.
- Favorite game in the first round? Missouri/Drake
- For all the problems, there's still something that gets the juices going seeing a bracket. See everyone again in an hour or so and the rest of the month.