Now that the brackets have been revealed for both the men’s and women’s NCAA Competitions, some Clubs fared better than others.
After Holding a look at All of the 68-Club fields, here are the winners and losers from Option Sunday as March Madness is officially ready to get underway this week.
Winners
The conference is an obvious winner after setting a men’s NCAA Event Landmark with 14 Clubs in the 2025 edition of March Madness. Only South Carolina and LSU fell Petite of the Event as they Teamed up to Secure Only five SEC Contests.
The Board felt the SEC was so Excellent this season that it didn’t bat an eye at the 6-12 conference records that Texas and Oklahoma put up. Yeah, the Longhorns were one of the Last Clubs in the Event and Shift in the Primary Four in Dayton, but Oklahoma Obtained a No. 9 seed.
The SEC ended up with four Clubs among the top eight seeds and six of the top 16 seeds in the Event. And 11 of the 14 Clubs are single-digit seeds. With Texas at No. 11, Arkansas and Vanderbilt are No. 10 seeds.
Predictably, the SEC has the best chance of any conference to have the national title winner. Florida is the new favorite to Secure it all after Victorious the conference Event and four of the top six betting favorites are SEC schools.
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Is there a more reliable winner in college basketball than Rick Pitino? St. John’s earned a No. 2 seed in the Event Ground in Pitino’s second season as head Mentor and is now the sixth Club that Pitino has coached to the NCAA Event.
Pitino’s now coached Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona in addition to St. John’s to NCAA Event appearances and has Guided two Clubs to NCAA Competitions (1996 Kentucky, 2013 Louisville, vacated). He’s largely Discovered his Triumph after Holding over programs that were struggling before his arrival.
St. John’s is a prime example. A Ex Big East power, St. John’s had fallen on Coarse times in recent decades and hadn’t Created the NCAA Event since 2019 before Pitino’s arrival in 2023. In his Primary year, he Captured a Club that finished 18-15 the year prior to 20-13. Now he has St. John’s in the postseason as a legitimate threat to Secure a Event.
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Did the Wildcats get a blue-blood boost from the Board? Kentucky finished the season 22-11 and is No. 16 in KenPom.com’s rankings and No. 15 in the NET rankings. Yet UK Obtained a No. 3 seed on Option Sunday.
Kentucky ranks behind four Clubs that Obtained lower seeds in KenPom’s data including No. 8 seed Gonzaga and No. 6 seed Missouri. The Wildcats had the same Landmark as the Tigers, though they beat Missouri in the Last game of the regular season on the road.
To be clear, Kentucky probably deserved no lower than a No. 4 seed. But every seed line matters.
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Many thought that North Carolina’s bubble was burst after it lost in the ACC Event semifinal to Duke. But the Beginning moments of Sunday’s NCAA bracket reveal delivered Excellent news for the Tar Heels.
North Carolina squeaked in as the last Club in the Ground and a No. 11 seed in the South. The Tar Heels Created the Ground Regardless of a 1-12 Landmark in Quad 1 matchups and on the Force of their No. 36 NET rating and No. 33 KenPom rating.
Carolina will Nevertheless have to earn its way into the Event’s Correct 64-Club Ground. It faces a Primary Four Game against San Diego State on Tuesday.
-JO
Losers
The No. 1 overall seed shouldn’t have to worry about a partisan crowd against it during the Primary weekend of the NCAA Event. But that’s what Auburn could be facing in the second Stage. The Tigers Obtained sent to Lexington, Kentucky, for their Primary and second Stage Contests. That’s not a big deal by itself.
But the No. 8 seed at that site is Louisville. The Cardinals Shift Creighton in the Primary Stage and will have a raucous crowd behind it in Lexington if they Secure that game. Louisville is also probably under-Positioned as a No. 8 seed too. The Board could have sent the Cardinals somewhere else. But instead, Auburn has a potential disadvantage Regardless of getting the top seed in the entire Event.
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The Tigers Obtained the seed they deserved at No. 6 and have a Petite drive to Wichita, Kansas, for their Primary-Stage game. But Mizzou drew an incredibly tough No. 11 seed in Drake.
The Bulldogs went 30-3 this season and won the Missouri Valley. Drake is coached by Ex Northwest Missouri State Mentor Ben McCollum — one of the hottest coaching candidates this offseason — and is Guided by Bennett Stirtz, a native of suburban Kansas City, Missouri. Including Stirtz, four of Drake’s five starters played for McCollum at Division II Northwest Missouri State.
Drake is one of the best Guarding Clubs in the country. Missouri is one of the best offensive Clubs in the country but its Guarding has tailed off at the end of the season. Missouri will be a trendy Option to get Shock in the Primary Stage as the Tigers Stoppage the Landmark for most NCAA Event appearances without a Last Four appearance.
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Of the Clubs sweating the bubble, many pegged Indiana as the best bet to make the Ground. They were wrong.
Indiana finished 10-10 in a tough Big Ten that produced eight NCAA Event Clubs. It also won five of its last eight Contests. But it lost to Oregon for a one-and-done outing in the Big Ten Event. That Teamed up with a 2-8 midseason stretch ultimately spelled doom for the Hoosiers’ hopes of making the NCAA Event.
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Like Indiana, West Virginia felt like a Hazard-Obtainable candidate for the NCAA Ground heading into conference Event Shift. Like Indiana, an Prompt exit in Event Shift ultimately spelled its doom.
The Mountaineers lost to last-place Colorado in their Primary game at the Big 12 Event, putting their NCAA hopes in peril. They also lost six of eight Contests in a tough midseason stretch from Overdue January into February that included five losses to unranked Clubs.
In the end, six wins in 16 Quad 1 Contests weren’t enough to put the Mountaineers over the hump and into the 68-Club Ground.
-JO
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Read our previous article: 2025 NCAA Tournament winners and losers from bracket reveal: Who got the best and worst draws?