Editor’s note: This article is part of the Bracket Central series, an inside look at the run-up to the men’s & women’s NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.
After a somewhat tepid Round of 64, the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament took a step up in quality in the second round. We finally got a few terrific games, with Maryland-Colorado State, Florida-UConn, BYU-Wisconsin and Houston-Gonzaga leading the way.
And speaking of that Maryland-Colorado State game, we finally got a buzzer beater, too. After the underdog Rams hit a massive go-ahead 3 with six seconds left, the Terrapins’ Derik Queen answered with a running bank shot as time expired, a reminder of the emotional swings that March provides.
Chalk still remains a theme throughout the bracket, though. As The Athletic’s Chris Vannini pointed out, this is the first NCAA Tournament since 2007 without a single team seeded No. 12 or worse in the Sweet 16. Only four conferences are represented: the ACC, the Big 12, the Big Ten and the SEC. Quite simply, this is not the year of the Cinderella squad. The silver lining: The second-weekend matchups are loaded.
All four No. 1 seeds made it through to the second weekend, meaning the top of our rankings of the most likely title winners remained…
