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Time to make those picks! If you’ve already submitted them, guess what, you can still tinker! I’m here to help. For more than a decade, I’ve been putting out a treasure trove of NCAA Tournament facts/stats in the lead-up to the first round of the tourney. This is that story. This is what you’re looking for: stats, nuggets, trends, data, all the numbers to consider before you finalize those picks.
Overthink it all. It’s the best.
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As always, in addition to my own research, all additional info is provided by CBS Sports’ research team, the NCAA, KenPom.com, ESPN Stats & Info, Elias Sports, Sports Reference and BartTorvik.com. My thanks to all for helping me build this out and get it under one roof. Let’s get right to it. Here are the statistics, facts and history to know about the 2025 men’s NCAA Tournament.
- Highest-scoring team: Alabama (91.1 points per game)
- Lowest-scoring team: American (68.6 points per game)
- Fastest team: Alabama (76.3 possessions per game)
- Slowest team: Drake (59.5 possessions per game)
- Best free-throw shooting team: Wisconsin (82.9%)
- Worst free-throw shooting team: Liberty (65.4%)
- Best 3-point shooting team: Houston (39.8%)
- Worst 3-point shooting team: Troy (30.3%)
- Most experienced team(s): Kansas (3.64 average seasons)
- Least experienced team: Drake (0.33 average seasons)
- Tallest team: Duke (average height 79.8 inches)
- Smallest team: Akron (75.1 inches)
- Deepest bench: BYU (41.8% of minutes played)
- Thinnest bench: Saint Mary’s (19.3%)
Most efficient offenses, adjusted points scored per 100 possessions:
- Florida (128.6)
- Auburn (128.4)
- Duke (128.0)
- Alabama (126.5)
Walter Clayton Jr. and the Gators are as hot as anyone entering the Dance. James Gilbert / Getty Images
Most efficient defenses, adjusted points allowed per 100 possessions:
- St. John’s (87.5)
- Houston (87.8)
- Tennessee (89.1)
- Duke (89.8)
Over the years, teams that have won it all have checked a lot of boxes. You can make the stats tell you a lot of things you want to hear. But if you’ve got a pre-tournament top-30 per-possession D and a guard/wing that’s safely projected to be drafted, you’ve got a solid shot. Only a handful of teams meet this criteria each year. The past two years, UConn easily did and won it all. Here are the teams in 2025 + their defensive rankings at KenPom.
- Houston: 2nd (Milos Uzan)
- Tennessee: 3rd (Chaz Lanier)
- Duke: 4th (Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Tyrese Proctor)
- Michigan State: 5th (Jase Richardson)
- Florida: 9th (Walter Clayton Jr.)
- Marquette: 28th (Kam Jones)
- Best scorer: Memphis’ PJ Haggerty (21.8 points per game)
- Best rebounder: New Mexico’s Nelly Junior Joseph (11.2 boards per game)
- Best assist man: Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard (9.8 dimes per game)
- Best 2-point shooter: Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile (79.2%)
- Best 3-point shooter: Wisconsin’s Kamari McGee (47.6%)
- Best foul shooter: Missouri’s Tamar Bates (94.3%)
- Best thief: UC San Diego’s Hayden Gray (3.2 steals per game)
- Best shot-blocker: Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner (2.7 swats per game)
Memphis’ PJ Haggerty can light it up with the best of them. Justin Ford / Getty Images
85: This is the 86th NCAA Tournament. Thirty-seven programs have won a national title dating to 1939, when Oregon won its only championship. Oregon and Oklahoma are the teams from that first Final Four in this year’s field; Ohio State and Villanova missed out for a third straight season.
3,703: There have been 3,703 games played in NCAA Tournament history.
0: The Houston Cougars, Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, St. John’s Red Storm and Tennessee Volunteers are the best-seeded teams in the field with zero national titles.
15: This is Duke’s 15th time being No. 1 seed, tied with Kansas for second all time. UNC’s 18 ranks No. 1.
63: This is Kentucky’s 63rd tournament, most of any school in history.
24.27%: The percentage of brackets at CBS Sports that have Duke winning it all. Second is Florida at 20.67%, Auburn is third at 18.19%.
22.9: Houston’s percentage to win the title, according to BartTorvik.com. Houston has been Torvik’s highest-percentage team three years running. It was 27.9% last year (yes, ahead of UConn) and 17.6% pre-tournament in 2023. The top five for this year: Houston, Duke (20.6%), Auburn (15%), Florida (11.1%), Alabama (4.8%).
1: Only four times has the No. 1 overall seed won the NCAA Tournament since the selection committee began ranking the No. 1 in 2004: Florida (2007), Kentucky (2012), Louisville (2013) and Connecticut last year (2024). The No. 1 overall seed has also lost in the second round thrice — and the first round once. (UMBC forever.) Auburn is this year’s No. 1 overall seed.
19: Auburn has 19 wins against teams in the field, the most of all dancers. Alabama leads the field with 25 games played vs. tournament teams. Auburn and Tennessee have 24. Ten schools with no wins against 2025 tournament teams: American, Bryant, McNeese, Montana, Omaha, UNCW, Saint Francis, SIUE, Troy and Wofford.
19: Auburn leads the field with 19 victories against top-50 KenPom teams.
6: Every champion since 2004 has been ranked in the top 12 of the Week 6 AP Top 25. Those 12 teams (seeds included) from this season, ranked in order back in Week 6, are: Tennessee (2), Auburn (1), Iowa State (3), Duke (1), Kentucky (3), Marquette (7), Alabama (2), Gonzaga (8), Florida (1), Kansas (7), Purdue (4), Oregon (5).
0: Infamously, no team has lost its first conference tournament game and then won a national title. This year, there’s only one team you should be suspicious of in this regard: Texas A&M. It’s the only school seeded fourth or better that went one-and-done in its league tourney. (Additionally, every national champion since 1985 has made it minimally to the semifinals of their league tournament, if their league staged a tournament the year they won it all.)
14 of 26: In the past 26 tournaments, 14 national champions won their conference tournament. Since 1985, 17 national champions have won their league tournaments. There is no pattern at play here.
31 and 3: Duke has the most wins (31) vs. Division I competition. Duke and Drake have the fewest losses (3).
17: Saint Francis’ 17 losses are the most in the field.
34: Speaking of Saint Francis, it’s been 34 years since the Red Flash last made the NCAAs, which ends the longest drought among teams in this year’s Dance. Among Power Five teams in the field, the school with the longest drought since its last NCAA Tournament is Georgia (2015).
8-0: It’s Florida that owns the best neutral-court record entering this tournament at 8-0. Drake (6-0) and UC San Diego (5-0) are the only other two with an undefeated neutral record with four or more games.
2/20: Alabama and Michigan faced the fewest Quad 4 teams of all (2). Arizona and Kentucky faced Quad 1 foes, the most of all in the field.
-28.5: Houston and Florida’s favored lines, the biggest of the first round. Here’s the line for every Thursday/Friday game.
Mark Pope was on the ’96 Kentucky title team, but is yet to win an NCAA Tournament game as a coach. Andy Lyons / Getty Images
9: Coaches with top-four seeds to never have made a Final Four as a coach. Matt Painter and Nate Oats got off the list last year. At LEAST one of these guys is doing the same in two weeks.
- Tommy Lloyd (Arizona)
- T.J. Otzelberger (Iowa State)
- Jon Scheyer (Duke)
- Buzz Williams (Texas A&M)
- Todd Golden (Florida)
- Grant McCasland (Texas Tech)
- Kevin Willard (Maryland)
- Mark Pope (Kentucky)
- Greg Gard (Wisconsin)
10 for 14: In 10 of the past 14 tournaments, at least one 13-seed has defeated a No. 4. The most popular 13-over-4 pick at CBS Sports’ Bracket Games: Yale (23.3%). The Elis did it a year ago when the beat Auburn.
3 out of 4: No team has lost at least three of its last four games heading into the NCAAs and won the whole thing. Auburn enters the Dance losers of three of its last four.
6 or fewer: It took UMBC 33 years to become the first No. 16 seed to win, then only five years after that for Fairleigh Dickinson to etch its name in history. Seven other times a 16-seed has finished a game within six points or fewer but lost. Those results were: 2013 Southern vs. Gonzaga (64-58); 1996 Western Carolina vs. Purdue (73-71); 1990 Murray State vs. Michigan State (75-71 in OT); 1989 McNeese State vs. Illinois (77-71); 1989 East Tennessee State vs. Oklahoma (72-71); 1989 Princeton vs. Georgetown (50-49); and 1985 Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Michigan (59-55).
5 or lower: This is a 🚨🚨🚨 for your bracket picks: EVERY NCAA Tournament since 2013 has had a No. 5 seed or lower reach the Final Four. Seems nearly impossible this year … yet it’s going to happen again, I guess!
2024, 2016, 2009, 2008: The four most recent instances all four top seed made the Elite Eight.
1985: There has been one NCAA Tournament where three teams from the same conference ended up in the Final Four: the 1985 Big East. The SEC will try to get at least three of its 14 to San Antonio. The last time a league had an intra-conference matchup in the title game was the Big 12 in 1988 (Kansas vs. Oklahoma).
2008: Famously, the only time all four No. 1s reached the Final Four. The Final Four that year, like this year, is in San An. But since 2010, only 18 of the 50 Final Four appearances have come from No. 1 seeds. Zero made it in 2023, joining 2006 and 2011 as the only three Final Fours without any.
1-thru-4 to win is a no-no: You almost never wanna go all chalk at the top in the first round. In 2017, all 1s 2s, 3s and 4s won their first-round game. Prior to that, the last time that happened was 2007. It’s happened just six times since 1985.
62 vs. 58: No. 1 seeds have made the Final Four 62 times. That’s narrowly more than the combined Final Four showings of Nos. 4-16 since seeding began (58).
4 or more since ’91: Every NCAA champion since 1991 has come from a league with at least four NCAA bids in the field. The ACC did get four in this year (barely).
No. 2: Only three times in the past 27 NCAA Tournaments have all four 2-seeds made the Sweet 16. It’s happened just six times since 1985: ’89, ’95, ’96, ’09, ’19, ’24. Pick at least one No. 2 to lose early. It’s probably going to happen.
12: Every seed, from No. 1 to No. 11, has made a Final Four. When does someone from the 12-line do it? This year the options are, again, exclusively mid-major: Drake, UC San Diego, Liberty and McNeese.
The best mid-major in the country this season just might be the 30-4 UC San Diego Tritons. Ian Maule / Getty Images
7: Though 7/10 games feel a bit like 8/9 games, they’re not. The 10s have never swept the 7s, with the exception of one year (1999). No. 8 seeds are 75-81 vs. No. 9s all time. Here is every first round head-to-head since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985:
#1 vs #16: 154-2 (.987)
#2 vs #15 145-11 (.930)
#3 vs #14 133-23 (.853)
#4 vs #13 123-33 (.789)
#5 vs #12 101-55 (.647)
#6 vs #11 95-61 (.609)
#7 vs #10* 95-60 (.613)
#8 vs #9 75-81 (.481)
*2021 matchup between Oregon (7) and VCU (10) was a no contest due to COVID
30-26: 11-seeds are 30-26 in the first round since 2010. You gotta pick at least one, and probably two, to win Thursday/Friday.
3 > 6: 3-seeds have been unusually good against 6-seeds going back to 2005, owning a 22-6 record in those second round games.
10 > 8+9: You’re more likely to make the Sweet 16 as a 10-seed than as either an 8 or 9. No. 10s are 19-36 vs. 2-seeds, while 8-seeds are 16-60 and 9s are 6-72 vs. top seeds. Breaking down the math further: No. 10 seeds historically have about a 15% chance of making the Sweet 16, while the combined chances for No. 8s and No. 9s nearly that exact number. Seeding matters. A No. 7 seed has made it to the Sweet 16 29 times since 1985. Contrast that to a No. 8, which has only gotten there 15 times.
13-13: In the past 13 NCAA Tournaments, teams seeded No. 5 or No. 6 that enter the tourney being ranked outside the top 30 at KenPom have a 13-13 record. Oregon and Memphis qualify this year.
78.6-to-1: Per bracketodds.com’s calculator, those are the chances we’ll have four No. 1 seeds reach the 2024 Final Four. If you go to all No. 2s, it’s 404.4-to-1. Two 1s and two 2s is 28.95-to-1.
9,223,372,036,854,775,808: The number of different possible bracket outcomes. Wondering how to pronounce that number? I got you. That would be nine quintillion, two hundred twenty-three quadrillion, three hundred seventy-two trillion, thirty-six billion, eight hundred fifty-four million, seven hundred seventy-five thousand, eight hundred eight. It’s much larger than the number of possible outcomes seen by Doctor Strange in Avengers: Infinity War.
3 get 1s: The SEC set a record with 14 bids (I don’t think this will ever happen again), but it did not tie the record for most No. 1 seeds. The 2009 Big East and 2019 ACC are the only leagues to get three to the top line.
37: Ohio State, 39th at KenPom, is the highest team in that metric to not make the tournament.
41/54: Ohio State’s 41 NET ranking makes it the highest-rated team to not make the field. (2024 Indiana State at 28 is the record.) San Diego State’s 52 ranking was the lowest of any at-large in this year’s field. (Rutgers‘ 77 ranking is 2022 is the record.)
23 of 25: A top-three seed has won the national title 24 of the past 25 tournaments. The exceptions: 2014 UConn (7) and 2023 UConn (4).
7: In 12 of the past 13 tournaments, a 7-seed or worse has cracked the Elite Eight. Who’s doing it this year?
1-37: The Big South has existed since 1986. It’s 1-37 all time in the NCAA Tournament. The only win? Winthrop back in 2007. This year’s candidate is 13th-seeded High Point, which seems to have a shot against No. 4 Purdue in the Midwest. They’ll play in Providence.
9 for 16: Gonzaga’s made the Sweet 16 in nine straight tournaments. No other team has a streak longer than four. The all-time record is 14 (UCLA 1967-80), but the modern record is 13 (UNC 1981-93).
32: This is BYU’s 32nd NCAA Tournament. It’s the most of any school without ever making a Final Four.
15: Texas’ number of losses this season, matching 2017 Vanderbilt, 2018 Alabama and 2019 Florida for the most by an at-large team. Texas and Oklahoma going 6-12 in league play is a record for worst winning percentage in conference play by an at-large team.
Tre Johnson is the most naturally gifted freshman scorer at Texas since Kevin Durant. Carly Mackler / Getty Images
29: It has been 29 years since a No. 6 seed made the Final Four. Who was it? Chris Webber and the Fab Five at Michigan. The highest-rated 6 per KenPom is Missouri (16th).
17: Of 68 schools dancing, 14 have won a national title: UCLA, North Carolina, Kentucky, Duke, UConn, Kansas, Michigan State, Arizona, Baylor, Marquette, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Louisville, Maryland, Oregon and Wisconsin.
5: The only top-eight seed yet to win a national title is a No. 5 seed. Go ahead, end the streak, Clemson, Memphis, Michigan or Oregon.
25: The number of years it’s been since St. John’s won an NCAA Tournament game, the longest active drought for any power-conference team with at least one NCAA Tournament win in its history. Georgia’s (in this year’s field) has the second-longest at 23 years.
39 for 39 in 16: The ACC, which got four teams in, is hoping to continue a proud trend. The conference is the only league to have at least one team into the Sweet 16 since the field expanded in 1985.
+.186: Montana rates as the “luckiest” team in the field, per KenPom. In the past 20 NCAA Tournaments, the luckiest team in the field lost its first game 18 times. The unluckiest team this year: Gonzaga.
1 or 2 to the Four? Not if unranked: There has never been a No. 1 or 2 seed that started the season unranked to go on and make the Final Four. Eight times these teams have made the Elite Eight, most recently Oregon in 2016. Top-two seeds in this year’s bracket that were unranked at the start: St. John’s and Michigan State.
20+: There have been four 20-point upsets against the spread in the NCAA Tournament since 1985: No. 15 Santa Clara (+20) over No. 2 Arizona in 1993; No. 15 Norfolk State (+21.5) over No. 2 Missouri in 2012; No. 16 UMBC (+20.5) over No. 1 Virginia in 2018; and No. 16 FDU (+23) over No. 1 Purdue. Alabama State, SIUE, Robert Morris, Norfolk State are all +20 or more. As will whichever team gets Duke.
29/27: Tennessee coach Rick Barnes will be making his 29th appearance in the NCAAs. He’s 30-28 all time. Tennessee as a program has been here two fewer times: 27.
6: The number of schools Rick Pitino has coached in the NCAA Tournament. That’s the most in college sports history, besting five by Steve Alford, Tubby Smith and Lon Kruger. Pitino’s chronological order: Boston U, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona, St. John’s.
2,324: The distance as the crow flies from College Park, Maryland to Seattle, giving Maryland the longest trip by that measure. The Terps are flying to Seattle, as is Liberty, which is based in Lynchburg, Virginia, and basically has the same trip. The shortest? Duke has to drive less than 22 miles from its campus to PNC Arena in Raleigh. Louisville, an 8-seed, only has to drive 78 miles to Rupp Arena.
78.1%: UC San Diego has, by far, the best cover percentage of all NCAA Tournament teams at 78.1%. That’s the highest I can ever recall, in fact. Florida, Robert Morris, Omaha and Michigan State are next. Baylor’s 40% ATS number is the worst in the field.
14: A No. 14 has beaten a No. 3 in six of the past 11 tournaments. Last, Kentucky got beat by Oakland and Jack Gohlke. I warned you in this space a year ago it was due to happen again. … Anybody feeling Troy or Montana?
15: UC San Diego’s 15-game winning streak is longest heading into the Dance.
41-14/.746: Kansas has the best NCAA Tournament record/win percentage since 2008 (minimum of six games played) in the field. KU has also never made the Sweet 16 in the same season it was preseason No. 1.
336: Four teams are making their NCAA tourney debut. Welcome to the club, High Point, Omaha, Saint Francis and SIUE! That’s 336 schools to ever play in the NCAAs.
8: The number of first-year coaches who’ve brought their schools dancing: Mark Byington (Vanderbilt), Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State), John Calipari (Arkansas), Pat Kelsey (Louisville), Dusty May (Michigan), Ben McCollum (Drake), Mark Pope (Kentucky), Kevin Young (BYU).
34: Most consecutive NCAA tourneys: Kansas (35), Michigan State (27), Gonzaga (26). Purdue is in 10 straight, the only other school in double digits. After a run that will never be broken — 23 years — Kansas’ Bill Self is no longer coaching a team with a top-four seed. Kansas is a No. 7, its worst since 2000 (8).
1997: The West Region has three coaches with multiple national titles (Pitino, Self, Hurley), marking the first time since 1997 a region had three coaches who fit that criteria. (H/T ESPN)
21 or better: Six of the top 21 teams at KenPom are in the the West. Florida (2), Texas Tech (7), Maryland (11), St. John’s (12), Missouri (15), Kansas (21). It’s obviously the best region of the four.
JT Toppin, left, Elijah Hawkins and the Red Raiders are part of a LOADED West Region. Scott Winters / Getty Images
7: School in this NCAA Tournament with the most appearances to never win a game: Akron (7).
14-over-3 = bad for Big 12: The past four times a No. 3 seed has been upset by a 14, all those games had Big 12 teams on the losing end. This year, Iowa State and Texas are on the 3-line.
53: A No. 12 seed has won 53 first-round games since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The ’88, ’00, ’07, ’15, ’18 and ’23 tournaments are the only ones since the field expanded to not have a No. 12 seed win. In the past 14 tournaments they are 24-36 vs. No. 5s. Don’t overlook 11s, though. That’s still a real upset, and in the last eight tournaments, they are 18-14 vs. the No. 6s, including 3-1 last year. The most popular No. 12-over-5 pick at CBSSports.com/on the CBS Sports app: Colorado State (30.4%).
.750: Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s winning percentage in the second round and Elite Eight. He is 24-8 in those games (i.e., on a two-day turnaround). Should Michigan State get past Bryant, it would face either Marquette or New Mexico. Izzo has winning records vs. both of those coaches.
26-18: Since seeding the field began, No. 1 seeds have more national titles (26) than the rest of the seeds combined (18).
10-15: Pick at least one double-digit seed to reach the Sweet 16, because it has happened all but two years since ’85 (1995, 2007). And 16 times there have been at least three double-digit seeds that made it to the regional semifinals. Last year, No. 11 NC State did it, was the only double-digit Sweet 16er, then made the Final Four. Challenge yourself in your bracket picks. It’s going to happen again.
8: Since 1980, there have been eight reigning champions that have made the Final Four the next tournament. UConn ended the 17-year drought last season … and did what Florida did then by winning it all. The Huskies’ hopes of a three-peat are a long shot.
12 for 13: There have been 13 NCAA Tournaments since the First Four’s format was introduced. In 12 of those 13 tournaments, a First Four team has won at least two games. VCU (2011) and UCLA (2021) went to the Final Four. Last year it was Colorado. Who’s pushing through in ’25? UNC just beat SDSU by 27 on Tuesday night.
+330: Duke’s odds to win the whole thing. That’s shorter than dominant UConn a year ago (+400). The Blue Devils are the most talented team in the field. Can Jon Scheyer win it all in his third season? Happy bracketing!
