Darnell Sallins
March 16, 2025, 10:55PM
The men's NCAA Tournament field was revealed Sunday evening as the field of 68 is officially finalized. This year there were 31 automatic bids and 37 at-large bids. The regions for this year's tournament were South, East, Midwest and West.
South Region
The South Region is headlined by the overall number one seed, Auburn Tigers from the SEC. This was not surprising whatsoever as the Tigers has been considered the best in college basketball since the beginning. They ranked second in NET ranking, second in strength of schedule and have a 10-5 record vs. Top 25 teams this season. Despite falling shorty in the SEC Tournament, the SEC Regular Season Champs, Auburn is rightfully the overall number one seed.
The South Region contains Michigan State as the two-seed, Iowa State as the three-seed, and Texas A&M as the four-seed. The Big Ten Champions, Michigan come in as the five-seed in the region. Six Mid-Majors who won the conference tournaments are in the region.
12-Seed UC San Diego, winners of the Big West Conference
13-Seed Yale, winners of the Ivy League
14-Seed Lipscomb, winners of the Atlantic Sun Conference
15-Seed Bryant, winner of the American East Conference
16-Seed Alabama State, winners of the Southwest Athletic Conference
16-Seed Saint Francis, winners of the Northeast Conference
Alabama State and Saint Francis will meet in the First Four on Tuesday with the winner playing Auburn in the Round of 64 on Thursday. However, there is another First Four match in this region when it comes the 11th seeds. San Diego State and North Carolina will meet on Tuesday for the right to play six-seed Ole Miss on Friday.
East Region
The East Region is headlined by the ACC Regular Season and ACC Tournament Champions, Duke Blue Devils. The Blue Devils have been the class of ACC since the beginning of the season. Duke has the number one NET ranking and are 3-2 vs. Top 25 teams this season.
The East Region is the region of offenses. Six teams in this region score 80+ points per game.
Duke (82.71 PPG)
Alabama (91.12 PPG)
Wisconsin (80.5 PPG)
Arizona (81.74 PPG)
BYU (80.97 PPG)
Akron (84.59 PPG)
Second-seed, Alabama is the high scoring offense in the tournament field at 91.12 points per game but give up the most points of any team in the field at 81.42 points per game allowed. Three-seed, Wisconsin scores 80+ points per game as well as four-seed, Arizona.
This region only has five teams that hold their opponents to under 70 points per game.
Duke (61.91 OPPG)
Saint Mary's (60.67 OPPG)
Baylor (69.15 OPPG)
VCU (62.36 OPPG)
Liberty (62.88 OPPG)
You have more teams in the East Region that can score 80+ points than teams that hold their opponents under 70 points so all of fire power in this region.
Midwest Region
The Midwest Region is headlined by the Big 12 Regular Season and Big 12 Tournament Champions, Houston Cougars. For the third consecutive year and twice as a Big 12 team, the Cougars received a one-seed. The Cougars are third in NET ranking, 18th in strength of schedule, and 5-3 in Top 25 games.
This region features some of the most physical teams in the tournament. Houston for starters. Then you Tennessee who plays hard nose defense. Then you have Kentucky, Clemson, Gonzaga, Utah Stat, and McNeese State that like to physical ball.
The most physical and discipline team will come out of this region which makes a potential Elite Eight matchup between Tennessee and Houston that much intriguing. Along with a rematch in the Sweet 16 between Tennessee and Kentucky who split their regular season's matchups and a matchup between Houston and Clemson in the Sweet 16 as well.
West Region
The final region is the West Region, and it is headlined by the SEC Tournament Champions, the Florida Gators. The Gators have the fourth best NET ranking and are 7-2 in Top 25 games. Florida have been considered the most complete team in college basketball.
This region features the defensive teams in the tournament. 11 teams hold their opponents under 70 points per game lead by Drake at 58.42, the lowest opponent per game by any team in the field of 68. This region also features the most conference tournament champions with nine.
Florida, SEC Champs
St. John's, Big East Champs
Memphis, American Champs
Drake, Missouri Valley Champs
Colorado State, Mountain West Champs
Grand Canyon, West Athletic Conference
UNC Wilmington, Colonial Champs
Omaha, The Summit League Champs
Norfolk State, Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champs
Now then we kind of went the regions, there were some noticeable things in the field of 68.
The SEC set a new record for teams in the field form one conference with 14 teams.
The SEC also set the record most team with 1-4 seed line with six
Auburn and Florida on the one-line
Alabama and Tennessee on the two-line
Kentucky on the three-line
Texas A&M on the four-line
Texas, Xavier, San Diego State, and North Carolina were the last four teams in
West Virginia, Indiana, Ohio State, and Boise State were the first four teams out.
North Carolina getting in is a true head-scratcher as the Tar Heels have only one Quad 1 win on their resume while West Virgina has four Quad 1 wins including wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Iowa State. Indiana has two Quad 1 wins in Michigan State on the road and Purdue.
North Carolina has only two wins against tournament teams in American and UCLA but has three losses to teams not in the field of 68. West Virginia has five wins vs. tournament teams and five losses to non-tournament teams. Indiana has three wins over tournament teams and three losses to non-tournament teams.
Nevertheless, the field of 68 is official and the Road to Final Four begins Tuesday and Wednesday with the First Four in Dayton.
Tuesday, March 18
16. Saint Francis vs. 16. Alabama State 6:40PM
11. North Carolina vs. 11. San Diego State 9:10PM
Wednesday, March 19
16. Mount St. Mary's vs. 16. American 6:40PM
11. Xavier vs. 11. Texas 9:10PM
All games on TruTV
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