On Monday, the first weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament closes out with some of the sport’s biggest stars in action.
Sophomore standouts JuJu Watkins and Madison Booker should have no issues leading their No. 1-seeded squads, USC and Texas, respectively, to wins over No. 9-seed Mississippi State for the Trojans (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) and No. 9-seed Illinois for the Longhorns (2 p.m. ET, ESPN). Likewise, No. 2-seed UConn, captained by Paige Bueckers, Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong, should take care of the lone surviving double-digit seed in No. 10-seed South Dakota State (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
However, several other of Monday’s matchups that also feature a significant degree of star power profile as more competitive and compelling. Here are three games to be sure to tune in for:
Will the Tide or Terps play to their potential?
No. 4-seed Maryland and No. 5-seed Alabama are two teams that flashed high upsides, but also lower floors, during the 2025 season. It’s a characteristic that makes them appealing candidates to make a longer-than-expected tournament run, but also to flame out in uninspiring fashion.
For the Terrapins, a season that was tracking toward true title contention turned when Bri McDaniel was injured in mid-January. The then one-loss Terps lost three-straight…
