Now that the March Madness brackets have been revealed for both the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, some teams fared better than others.
After taking a look at each of the 68-team fields, here are the winners and losers from Selection Sunday as March Madness is officially ready to get underway this week.
The conference is an obvious winner after setting a men’s NCAA tournament record with 14 teams in the 2025 edition of March Madness. Only South Carolina and LSU fell short of the tournament as they combined to win just five SEC games.
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The committee felt the SEC was so good 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 final teams in the tournament and play in the First Four in Dayton, but Oklahoma got a No. 9 seed.
The SEC ended up with four teams among the top eight seeds and six of the top 16 seeds in the tournament. And 11 of the 14 teams 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 win it all after winning the conference tournament and four of the top six betting favorites are SEC schools. — Nick Bromberg
Is there a more reliable winner in college basketball than Rick Pitino? St. John’s earned a No. 2 seed in the tournament field in Pitino’s second season as head coach and is now the sixth team that Pitino has coached to the NCAA tournament.
[Full NCAA tournament bracket revealed | Printable bracket]
Pitino has now coached Boston University, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville and Iona in addition to St. John’s to NCAA tournament appearances and has led two teams to NCAA championships (1996 Kentucky, 2013 Louisville, vacated). He’s largely found his success after taking over programs that were struggling before his arrival.
St. John’s is a prime example. A former Big East power, St. John’s had fallen on rough times in recent decades and hadn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2019 before Pitino’s arrival in 2023. In his first year, he took a team that finished 18-15 the year prior to 20-13. Now he has St. John’s in the postseason as a legitimate threat to win a championship. — Jason Owens
Kentucky will take on Liberty first in the NCAA tournament. (Matthew Maxey/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images via Getty Images)
Did the Wildcats get a blue-blood boost from the committee? Kentucky finished the season 22-11 and is No. 16 in KenPom.com’s rankings and No. 15 in the NET rankings. Yet UK got a No. 3 seed on Selection Sunday.
Kentucky ranks behind four teams that got lower seeds in KenPom’s data, including No. 8 seed Gonzaga and No. 6 seed Missouri. The Wildcats had the same record as the Tigers, though they beat Missouri in the final 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.
— Nick Bromberg
Many thought North Carolina’s bubble was burst after it lost in the ACC tournament semifinal to Duke. But the opening moments of Sunday’s NCAA bracket reveal delivered good news for the Tar Heels.
North Carolina squeaked in as the last team in the field and a No. 11 seed in the South. The Tar Heels made the field despite a 1-12 record in Quad 1 matchups and on the strength of their No. 36 NET rating and No. 33 KenPom rating.
Carolina will still have to earn its way into the tournament’s true 64-team field. It faces a First Four matchup against San Diego State on Tuesday. — Jason Owens
The No. 1 overall seed shouldn’t have to worry about a partisan crowd against it during the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. But that’s what Auburn could be facing in the second round. The Tigers got sent to Lexington, Kentucky, for their first- and second-round games. That’s not a big deal by itself.
But the No. 8 seed at that site is Louisville. The Cardinals play Creighton in the first round and will have a raucous crowd behind it in Lexington if they win that game. Louisville is also probably under-seeded as a No. 8 seed too. The committee could have sent the Cardinals somewhere else. Instead, Auburn has a potential disadvantage despite getting the top seed in the entire tournament. — Nick Bromberg
Bruce Pearl and Auburn are the No. 1 overall seed in the men’s tournament. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
The Tigers got the seed they deserved at No. 6 and have a short drive to Wichita, Kansas, for their first-round 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 former Northwest Missouri State coach Ben McCollum — one of the hottest coaching candidates this offseason — and is led 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 defensive teams in the country. Missouri is one of the best offensive teams in the country, but its defense has tailed off at the end of the season. Missouri will be a trendy pick to get upset in the first round as the Tigers hold the record for most NCAA tournament appearances without a Final Four appearance. — Nick Bromberg
Of the teams sweating the bubble, many pegged Indiana as the best bet to make the field. They were wrong.
Indiana finished 10-10 in a tough Big Ten that produced eight NCAA tournament teams. It also won five of its last eight games. But it lost to Oregon for a one-and-done outing in the Big Ten tournament. That combined with a 2-8 midseason stretch ultimately spelled doom for the Hoosiers’ hopes of making the NCAA tournament. — Jason Owens
Like Indiana, West Virginia felt like a safe candidate for the NCAA field heading into conference tournament play. Like Indiana, an early exit in tournament play ultimately spelled its doom.
The Mountaineers lost to last-place Colorado in their first game at the Big 12 tournament, putting their NCAA hopes in peril. They also lost six of eight games in a tough midseason stretch from late January into February that included five losses to unranked teams.
In the end, six wins in 16 Quad 1 games weren’t enough to put the Mountaineers over the hump and into the 68-team field. — Jason Owens
Lauren Betts and UCLA edged out South Carolina for the top seed in the women’s tournament. (Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
It wasn’t a question of if the Bruins were going to get a No. 1 seed in the tournament. That was never in doubt after their dominant season and finally beating USC to claim the Big Ten tournament title earlier this month. They undoubtedly earned a top seed. But the Bruins are the big winner on the women’s side after they snuck the top overall seed in the tournament over South Carolina.
While they struggled at times throughout the year, the Gamecocks finished the season on a massive tear. They won seven straight and then blew out Texas — which also earned a top seed — in a 19-point win in the SEC championship game. Many expected the reigning national champions to earn the top overall seed, especially since they had 16 Quad 1 wins on the year.
Instead, Lauren Betts and the Bruins are on top. While a trip to Tampa is far from guaranteed, they have the early advantage over the rest of the field. — Ryan Young
Before Sunday, the Ivy League had produced a total of two at-large two bids in the history of the women’s NCAA tournament. As of Sunday evening, that number now stands at four.
No. 3 seed Harvard beat top-seeded Columbia in the Ivy League championship game to secure the conference’s automatic bid and open up the possibility of a three-bid Ivy League. Ultimately the selection committee deemed the Ivy worthy. Columbia made the field as an at-large team, and so did Princeton. And for the second straight year, the Ivy League is a multi-bid league after sending Princeton and Columbia to the NCAA tournament in 2024. — Jason Owens
Hailey Van Lith has put the Horned Frogs in an incredible position to make the program’s deepest NCAA tournament run in school history.
TCU, who was winning single-digit games a few years ago, went 31-3 this season while cruising to the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles. It ended the season on a 10-game win streak, and pulled off a No. 2 seed in the tournament. That is the highest the school has ever received. TCU hasn’t been to the tournament since 2010.
While a Final Four trip to Tampa isn’t guaranteed by any means — Texas, Ohio State and Notre Dame are all in their region — the Horned Frogs are in a spot to make it out of the first weekend of the tournament for the first time in program history. They still have to pull it off, but being in this position is absolutely a win for the school. — Ryan Young
On Feb. 17, Notre Dame was the newly crowned No. 1 team in the nation and rolled to a dominant win over No. 11 Duke at home. Fast forward one month, and Notre Dame is not even a No. 1 seed or a No. 2 in the NCAA tournament.
The Fighting Irish finished the season with three losses in five games, including a defeat to that same Duke team in the semifinals of the ACC tournament. Their other losses also arrived at the hands of tough opponents in No. 24 Florida State and No. 25 Louisville.
It added up to enough to drop Notre Dame from No. 1 to No. 8 in the latest AP poll. The selection committee didn’t deem Notre Dame as one of the nation’s top eight teams. The Fighting Irish earned a No. 3 seed and will play in a Birmingham 3 region with No. 1 seed Texas. — Jason Owens
Hannah Hidalgo and Notre Dame appear to be stumbling at the wrong time. (Lance King/Getty Images)
The Rebels came so close to hosting in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, which can make all the difference when it comes to making it out of the first weekend. They went 20-10 this season while picking up big wins over Kentucky and LSU; both were ranked in the top 10 at the time, and made it to the SEC tournament semifinals. They also took USC to a two-point battle in their season-opener.
In the end, the Rebels were edged out of a hosting spot by Maryland, who was only slightly better on the season. The Terps (23-7) finished third in the Big Ten and took the final No. 4 seed in the tournament. They’ll get to host in College Park.
Ole Miss will have to travel to Waco, and will have Baylor waiting on the other side with a trip to Spokane on the line.
The Terps had a slight edge here but the difference between the two teams is marginal. Ole Miss’ road out of the first two rounds — which is something the program has seen only twice in the past two decades — is now harder. — Ryan Young
The Dukes should have earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. They rolled through the Sun Belt without a single loss and finished the season 28-5. By all accounts, a run that dominant even in a non-Power 5 conference is remarkable. The only issue with James Madison, though, was that it lost in the conference tournament. The Dukes fell to Arkansas State in overtime in that championship game, which ended up costing them a trip to the tournament.
Sure, their wins weren’t great comparatively. But a perfect run through conference play deserves at least a shot at the NCAA tournament, even if they were relegated to a play-in game.
The Dukes deserved better. — Ryan Young
