Mary Gilmore, Staff Writer
It’s finally March, which means madness is soon to arise. March Madness is the sports event of March, where men’s NCAA teams compete to become the champion of a month-long tournament. The 2025 March Madness tournament will have Selection Sunday on March 16. Then, the first games of the tournament kick off with the First Four matchups on Tuesday, March 18, in Dayton, Ohio, and conclude with the Final Four on April 5 and 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Selection Sunday is the start of each year of March Madness. This Sunday, the teams will be placed within the bracket. 68 collegiate teams compete in the tournament, 31 automatically qualified and 37 considered the best at-large teams. The selection process is split into three phases. The first phase selects the 37 best at-large teams in the NCAA. Best at-large teams refers to the teams that did not win their conference tournament, but the committee believes they deserve a chance based on their ranking and performance during their season. These teams are selected through an intense process where a committee inputs ballots and discussion.
The second phase of the process entails seeding the 68 teams into 16 seeds. Similar to the first phase, there are more ballots and discussion. The committee members each rate who they believe are the best eight teams. The eight teams that receive the most votes are then rated from best to worst, and the four teams with the fewest votes are moved onto the seed list. This process continues until all teams are seeded in order of best to worst. However, teams on the seed list can be moved by a majority vote to ensure accuracy. It’s a lengthy selection process that takes up most of Selection Sunday.
The last phase involves building the bracket. The 16 seeds are grouped into sets of four, with each set containing a mix of different seeds. These sets are then split into two pods, with each pod hosting four teams. Each pod ensures a balanced mix of seeds, with only one of each seed in each pod. The bracket is then split into four regions that are hosting games. This regional split helps to distribute teams and prevent early matchups between teams from the same conference, maintaining competitive balance. Teams are placed close to their natural regions when possible, and several principles guide the placement to ensure fair competition.
The tournament lock-ins this year are looking very similar to previous years. Strong basketball teams like Duke, UConn, Alabama, and so many more are already in the 31 automatically qualified teams. For the 37 best at-large teams, USA Today predicts some big-name schools, like North Carolina, Ohio State, and Georgia, will be back to compete.
Although UConn was the champion in 2023 and 2024, DraftKings Sportsbook does not expect them to go all the way again. Instead, through their analysis, they believe Auburn has the best odds to become a champion this season. They also predict that Duke, Florida, and Houston will do extremely well.
The favorite for whichever team comes out on top is still up in the air. This basketball season has been leading up to an exciting March Madness tournament that will captivate the nation.
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