March madness recap

The 2025 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament

SPORTS | May 2025

March Madness is the highest level tournament in college basketball where 64 teams get a chance to win a national title. Team placement, or “seeds” are determined by team record and their strength of conference. Sixteen is the highest seed and one is the lowest seed. The lower the seed, the better the team. The tournament has six rounds, Round Of 64, Round of 32, Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, and The National Championship. Each round has less and less teams.  

Round Of 64: Who were the upsets? 

Nine-seeded Creighton upset eight-seeded Louisville in the first game of the tournament. Creighton acquired a new school record for halftime scoring in the tournament with 49 points. Fifth-seed Michigan avoids twelfth-seeded UC San Diego. Ten-seed New Mexico upsets seven-seed Marquette. Fifth-seed Memphis lost to projected lottery pick Nique Clifford and the twelve-seed Colorado State Rams. Eleven-seed Drake upsets sixth-seed Missouri. John Calipari willed his tenth-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks to an upset win over Bill Self’s seventh-seeded Kansas Jayhawks, which was Self’s second-ever loss in the first round. Twelve-seed McNeese upsets five-seed Clemson.

Round Of 32: Teams that could be Cinderella stories 

Michigan topples four-seed Texas A&M due to bench player Roddy Gayle Jr. scoring 21 points in the second half. Arkansas continued their winning streak with a win over the second-seeded Big East Champions St. Johns. Six-seed BYU shocks three-seed Wisconsin in a close upset win. Six-seed Ole Miss beat three-seed Iowa St.   

Sweet 16: No underdogs remain 

Every high seed lost to a lower seed. North Dakota native Grant Nelson and the Alabama Crimson Tide put on a scoring clinic against BYU with 113 points in total. 

Elite Eight: Second time in history 

All one-seeds made it to the final four, the last time this happened was 2008. 

Final Four: An unexpected result 

Duke was winning most of the game against Houston, but as the Cougars intensified their defense, Duke was crumbling under the pressure. With 19 seconds left, Duke's Tyrese Proctor missed his bonus free throw  shot, and the refs called a loose ball foul on Duke’s projected first overall pick Cooper Flagg, sending Houston guard J'Wan Roberts to the free throw line.   As Roberts sunk both of his shots to take the lead, the ball was inbounded to Flagg who missed the game-tying jumpshot. Duke was picked by 39% of Brackets to win the National Championship.

SEC (Southeastern Conference) rivals Florida and Auburn faced off in the second game. Auburn forwards Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara had a combined 33 points. However, Florida senior guard Walter Clayton Jr. was scoring at will throughout the game, finishing with 34 points and a trip to the National Championship. 

Championship: Gators win

Florida and Houston both shared a regular season record of 35-4, making this game as fair as possible. Houston won the tip at the start of the game and after missing their first shot, Joseph Tuglar got the teams first field goal. The game was fast-paced in the first few minutes, Houston’s defense and Florida’s offense made the game very entertaining. While nearing the end of the first half, Houston increased the pressure with a three-pointer from L.J Cryer which sparked an 8-0 run for the Cougars. With Clayton facing heavy defense and double-teams, Florida guard Will Richard stepped up and made the big shots to cut Houston’s lead by three making the final halftime score 31-28. The second half began with yet another three pointer by Cryer which started a 11-2 run for Houston making the score 42-30. Within the first minutes of the second half, Florida lost all momentum, picked up five fouls, including a technical foul, and their best player was still scoreless. However, all hope wasn’t lost. Clayton finally gained his first points off two free throws and Alex Condon got his third dunk to cut Houston’s lead to eight. After the Cougars scored two field goals, the Gators went on an 8-0 run to make the score within three. As the teams went shot-for-shot, a three-pointer by Clayton and free throws from Alijah Martin and Denzel Aberdeen put Florida up 65-63. With 19 seconds left, the ball ended up in the hands of Houston guard Emmanuel Sharpe. As Sharpe was in deep three-point range, Clayton came flying and forced a turnover with five seconds left. Clayton was crowned tournament MVP.