My Picks for March Madness 2025

It is finally that time of year. March has rolled around, and I get to take part in one of my  favorite traditions: making 10 March Madness brackets and waiting until after the dust settles  from the first two rounds to tell people which one my “real bracket” was, and which ones were  just practice. Unfortunately, for the SAC Ball Knower challenge, I’m unable to pull this trick. I  only get one entry, so here goes nothing. Here are my picks for each region of the 2025 NCAA  Men’s Basketball Tournament, broken down by region. 

NOTE BEFORE READING: I’m picking most of this bracket off vibes and the few portions of  games I’ve watched of each team. I will probably contradict myself multiple times in this article, to which I say, who cares! It’s all luck anyway.

SOUTH REGION 

You’re going to notice a theme in my picks as I go through my bracket: I have no clue  who to choose half the time. The South Region, headlined by #1 overall seed Auburn, is no  exception. My strategy is fairly simple: for the first round, I pick the team I think is going to win.  For later rounds, I pick who I feel is more of a sure thing to not get upset (plus I throw in some  Cinderellas, because where’s the fun in going all chalk?). 

The top half of this region feels slightly clearer than the bottom to me, and boils down to  one thing: is Auburn for real like the first 4 months of their season suggest, or are they slowing  down at the worst time? I went with the latter, mostly because I have more faith in the other #1 seeds in the tournament, and despite the strength of the top teams in the nation this year, it feels  highly improbable that they all make deep runs. The ACC always seems to overperform in  March, so I have Louisville being the one to take down Bruce Pearl’s squad in the Round of 32.  Doesn’t Chucky Hepburn seem like a guy who could take over this tournament? 

Michigan-UC San Diego is shaping up to be one of the trendiest upset picks in this  tournament cycle. The Wolverines have an extremely strong record in close games, and  admittedly I haven’t watched enough of them to know if that’s skill or luck, but I’m going to  blindly follow the public and take the Tritons all the way to the Sweet 16 (bonus points for  having multiple guys whose pro comp is Caitlin Clark based on the 10 minutes I watched of their  conference championship game, and also for having this cool mascot, how could you pick  against this guy?).

I also picked Yale to beat Texas A&M. I don’t think the winner of this game will win on  Sunday, so I went with John Poulakidas and the Bulldogs, who won a similar game against  Auburn last year. 

As I said, I don’t have many answers for the bottom of this region. Ole Miss and Iowa  State feel very hit or miss to me, I could see either one of them either losing Round 1 or going to  the Sweet 16, I took Ole Miss just because it’s more fun to pick the upset, plus I’m concerned  about the health of the Cyclones. But also, would anyone be surprised if UNC went on a run?  Certainly not me. 

With all this being said, I find it hard to go against Tom Izzo in March. This year’s  Spartans team is deep, and they defend, making them really tough to beat. I trust them the most,  so I have them making a deep run and becoming the champions of the South Region.

EAST REGION 

Speaking of teams I trust, the Duke Blue Devils are a machine. Led by a talented trio of  freshmen (Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach), it’s hard to see a world where they  get picked off early, especially in this region. There’s no doubt in my mind that they will be  playing in the second weekend and probably winning. They’re my pick to win this region. 

Oregon and Arizona are intriguing to me. Dana Altman knows how to win in March, and  he has the talent to support him in Jackson Shelstad and Nate Bittle, I think they will win in the  first two rounds. Arizona has recovered decently well after a rough start to the season, but I have  my doubts about a Caleb Love-led team. I know nothing about the Zips, but give me the kids  from Akron. 

BYU and VCU might be my personal favorite matchup of the first round. I believe that  the winner will make a deep run in this tournament, and I’ve picked the advanced analytics  darling, VCU, to beat the Cougars, Wisconsin, and then eventually the fast-paced Alabama, who  I’m not fully sold on, especially with the uncertainty around Grant Nelson (also don’t ask me to  justify Saint Mary’s over Vandy, I just picked one at random). 

MIDWEST REGION 

This feels like the region of chaos. To me, when I think of the teams that make up the  Midwest, my initial thought is “yeah, they’re pretty good, but…”. This starts with Houston. The  Cougars have only lost once in regulation this season(!!!) and boast wins over Arizona, Iowa  State and Texas Tech. But how healthy is J’Wan Roberts? All the other #1 seeds have an AP First  Team All-American except Houston, does that matter? Houston has been a #1 seed each of the 

last two years and hasn’t made it to the Elite Eight, why is this year different? I don’t have the  answers to any of these questions, or even if they mean anything, but the metrics surrounding  Kelvin Sampson’s team are so strong, and again, I don’t trust anyone in this region, so I’m  playing it safe and picking them to go to the Final Four. 

With that being said, Gonzaga and Georgia should be fun. It is a clash between one of the  best 8 seeds ever (ranked 9th in KenPom!) in Gonzaga, and a UGA team that has a Nathan  Gregoire’s Eye Test First Team All-American in Asa Newell, and a guard named Blue Cain who  is a bucket. I’m going with the Zags to hedge against another multi-win March for Mark Few,  but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to pick the Dawgs. 

I don’t trust Purdue at all, they haven’t exactly played their best basketball in the last  month, especially away from Mackey Arena. I know more about McNeese’s manager than their  players, and High Point hasn’t played a single team in the field this season, so I have Clemson repeating their success from last year and going to the Sweet 16 (I also think Clemson is really  good, to be fair). 

I would prefer not to talk about the rest of the Midwest, the bottom half of this bracket is  gross. Illinois has some great wins (Wisconsin, Oregon, Michigan, Purdue), but also some  concerning losses, I don’t think I trust them to put together multiple great performances, plus a  First Four team almost always wins a game in the Round of 64, so the Texas/Xavier winner (I’m  leaning Texas), will pull the upset. Kentucky also has a lot of injury problems, Evan Miya has  them in Tier 4 of teams in this tournament, ranked 35th accounting for health. I’m not sure when  they lose, but I don’t envision them going on a run (which means they probably will), so I have  Texas/Xavier beating them, which the Longhorns actually did do earlier this season.

I have no rationale for being down on Tennessee, but I am. They have an elite defense  and a very good offense, with strong veterans like Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier, but upsets  have to happen somewhere, and my vibes say that the Vols will be the victim of one. This means  that sort of by default, UCLA finds themselves in the Elite Eight in my bracket, so congrats to  them. 

WEST REGION 

We have finally reached the last region, which in my opinion is the strongest. After the  other three regions were revealed on Selection Sunday, I found myself surprised at the number of  quality teams that hadn’t been named yet, therefore were in the Midwest. I could see 8-9 teams  making deep runs from this batch. 

Something feels off about this Florida team to me. It could be the fact that I attend their  biggest rival’s school, but what if it’s not? Bias aside, they’re very, very solid, and probably the  hottest team in the country right now after making the conference tournament of maybe the  greatest conference ever look easy. I think they should make the Sweet 16 relatively easy. Liam  McNeeley and Jeremiah Fears are each very exciting freshmen for UConn and Oklahoma,  respectively, and I think Dan Hurley can lead his team past the Sooners, but Florida is just too  good right now. 

Maryland’s starting unit has earned the nickname the Crab Five. That might be the  coolest thing ever, there’s no way they lost to Grand Canyon (high-level analysis here, I know). Colorado State is led by Nique Clifford, who has been on a tear, and Memphis’ resume outside of  Maui is questionable, so I’ll take the Rams, but they will be no match for the Crab Five.

I don’t know much about Texas Tech, but their metrics and wins look pretty impressive, so I think they should make the Sweet 16 regardless of if they face Missouri or Drake.  

I’ve fallen in love with St. John’s these last few weeks, and I don’t think I’m alone. They  play hard, defend, have multiple guys who can score, and they have one of the best coaches in  the sport right now with Rick Pitino. After getting by Omaha, they will play either Kansas or  Arkansas, a fun matchup in its own right (but surely the talent of the preseason #1 Jayhawks has  to mean something, right? Right???), and they can win that too. The data suggests that they don’t  stack up with the top four teams in the nation, but in my bracket they won’t face one until at least  the Final Four. Give me the Johnnies over the Terps to go to San Antonio. 

FINAL FOUR 

If you haven’t read this whole thing, first of all, good for you, but to recap, I have: 

• Michigan State vs. St. John’s 

• Duke vs. Houston 

as my Final Four. This won’t happen, but I feel the most confident in these teams.  

In this first game, we have a matchup of similar teams. They both didn’t get much hype  preseason and have come on late (an archetype that historically doesn’t do well in March, but  let’s ignore that), rely on defense to win ball games, and have Hall of Fame head coaches. I think  St. John’s gets it done, though. They will have the best player on the floor in RJ Luis Jr. and will  be on an insane winning streak coming into that game.

On the other side, I made my doubts about Houston clear when discussing their region. I  think playing against Duke will be the end of their run. This Blue Devils team is so strong, they  lack flaws, and I think their young players will not back down in the biggest moments. 

This leaves me with a final of St. John’s and Duke, and even beyond the hypothetical  matchup, which Duke would win, I think Duke is the most likely national champion. Pick any  catch-all metric you want, you’ll find that Duke is the best team, and Cooper Flagg is the best  player. It’s a boring pick, I know, but this is a ball knower competition, not a creativity  competition. 

There you have it, almost 2000 words of lukewarm analysis and random guesses. The one  takeaway from all of this is that I don’t really know what I’m doing, unless I win, in which case  this was all calculated and explained by science. Regardless, I’m excited to spend the next week parked on my couch and watching all of the madness unfold.