The first round of the men’s 2025 NCAA tournament tips off Thursday, and we’re here to help you get ready.
This college basketball campaign has been full of intrigue — from upstart conferences to old-school coaches, a disappointing regular season for the defending champs and a freshman class for the ages. Whether you’ve watched college basketball every day or are preparing to watch your first game this week, we’re here to catch you up.
Here are 10 pressing questions that will help any viewer get ready for this weekend’s action.
What’s the latest on Cooper Flagg‘s injury?
The projected No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft and national player of the year favorite hasn’t played since spraining his ankle in the first half of Duke’s ACC tournament quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech, but Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer told ESPN’s Bracketology show that Flagg is “full steam ahead” for a return in Friday’s first-round matchup.
Although the Blue Devils won the ACC tournament without him, Flagg’s availability will be vital to the pursuit of their first national championship since 2015, when Mike Krzyzewski won his final title with a group of freshmen: Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow andTyus Jones, who — like Flagg and Kon Knueppel are projected to be— were first-round NBA picks.
Will any other injuries impact the field?
Maybe. While Flagg is ready to go, his teammate Maliq Brown (1.3 SPG) — an important presence for one of America’s elite defenses — could miss a significant stretch with a shoulder injury. That will hurt Duke’s depth in the NCAA tournament, but the Blue Devils are not the only contender with injury concerns.
Alabama star forward Grant Nelson, who scored 19 points in last year’s Final Four loss to UConn, sustained a leg injury in the Tide’s SEC tournament semifinal loss to Florida — which went on a run to win by 22 points after Grant was hurt — that has him listed as questionable for Friday’s first-round matchup against Robert Morris.
Iowa State understands Alabama’s pain. After the brackets were revealed Sunday, Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger announced that All-Big 12 third-team selection Keshon Gilbert will miss the NCAA tournament with a muscle strain. But there is good news: Otzelberger said Tamin Lipsey could be available after missing multiple games in the Big 12 tournament with a groin injury.
About 600 miles away, another team with Sweet 16 aspirations is worried, too. Memphis’ All-American Athletic Conference first-team selection Tyrese Hunter was in a walking boot during Sunday’s conference tournament title win over UAB after he had stepped on a teammate’s foot and suffered an injury days earlier. Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway called Hunter’s injury a “difficult situation” during his radio show this week, but didn’t say Hunter is officially out. Still, it doesn’t look good.
While those teams regroup, a handful of contenders feel pretty lucky. Houston star J’Wan Roberts is ready to go after he missed multiple games in the Big 12 tournament due to an ankle injury. Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian will play after also missing Big 12 tournament action with injuries. And Kentucky recently received good news about Lamont Butler, who will be available after dealing with a shoulder injury, though the Wildcats still won’t have standout Jaxson Robinson after his season-ending wrist injury.
North Carolina is in!?
Yes, the Tar Heels made the field, but have been the subject of widespread criticism thanks to a questionable résumé — though they did open the tournament with a lopsided 95-68 victory in Tuesday’s First Four against San Diego State’s top-15 defense.
The ACC had the fewest bids (four) among power-conference teams and nearly matched an all-time low of berths (three) for the league. During conference play, North Carolina finished in a tie for fourth place with SMU and Wake Forest. The Heels lost all three games to Duke, and the Blue Devils didn’t have Flagg in the ACC tournament semifinals.
North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who is theselection committee chair, left the room whenever the committee discussed the Tar Heels, members said, but his status fueled conspiracy theories online. The Tar Heels’ 1-12 record in Quad 1 games — which the committee perennially values as the most difficult to win — also drew attention. But the other metrics supported North Carolina’s inclusion, ranking 25th in ESPN’s BPI and 33rd in KenPom. It was a refreshing development for the Tar Heels, who also missed the NCAA tournament in 2023 after being crowned the No. 1 preseason team.
Another omission would have been their second in three years, a rare moment for North Carolina, which had missed the NCAA tournament only twice from 1975 to 2009.
Now, RJ Davis and his teammates will try to silence the haters, who are not as loud after Tuesday’s win.
(Side note: Don’t talk to anyone from the state of West Virginia about this — their Mountaineers had wins over Kansas, Iowa State, Gonzaga and Arizona and still didn’t make the field.)
Is the SEC the new king of college basketball?
It seems like it. The SEC has been the most dominant force of the season and it’s fair to wonder whether this is the strongest conference in college basketball history.
The SEC’s mantra of “it just means more” has meant more bids — its 14 berths shattered the NCAA tournament record set by the Big East’s 11 in 2011. Only two teams (South Carolina and LSU) missed the tournament from a conference that otherwise seems to have it all: championship contenders and possible Cinderellas.
Flagg’s closest national player of the year challenger, Johni Broome, and his Auburn Tigers own the No. 1 overall seed with the Florida Gators — who have lost only one game since Feb. 1 — also dancing as a 1-seed, while Alabama and Tennessee secured 2-seeds. Overall, the SEC has six of the top 16 seeds in the field (38%).
Four of the top six teams (Auburn, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida) are favored to win the national title at ESPN BET belong to the SEC, too.
As for the possible Cinderellas, Oklahoma and Texas squeezed into the field, but the Sooners (Jeremiah Fears) and Longhorns (Tre Johnson) have projected lottery picks in ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft.
Kentucky, which has lost first-round games in two of the past three tournaments, has wins over eight top 15 teams. The Wildcats have been hindered by injuries, but at their best, they can beat any team in America. Texas A&M (Texas Tech, Auburn), Missouri (Alabama, Florida) and Ole Miss (Alabama, Tennessee) all have wins over elite teams this season, too.
With dominance comes pressure, though. When the Big East set the record in 2011, it took home the national title with Kemba Walker and UConn cutting down the nets. A record-setting season will become a major disappointment if the SEC’s drought — the conference hasn’t won a national championship since Kentucky in 2012 — continues this season.
Are UConn’s three-peat hopes over?
Are you sitting down? Because the answer to that question is somewhat complicated.
First, it’s really difficult to win three in a row: The last time a team won three consecutive national championships was in 1973, which ended a seven-year run of national titles for John Wooden’s UCLA teams. No one under the age of 52 was even alive when that happened. But UConn’s dominance over the past two seasons suggested Dan Hurley, who rejected flirtations from the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, could win another one this year.
The return of Alex Karaban, who was part of those two title teams, and the additions of NBA prospect Liam McNeeley and other key players seemed to back that possibility, too. But the Huskies haven’t recovered from their 0-3 trip to the Maui Invitational in November.
Many thought that trip was a blip for the Huskies, but it ended up being a sign of things to come. They could not defend anybody on the island, and they can’t defend anybody now. They were fourth and seventh in adjusted defensive efficiency (a true measurement of a team’s capabilities) in 2023 and 2024, respectively, but have fallen to 94th this season.
That’s a problem that even Solo Ball‘s emergence — he has gone from 3.3 PPG as a freshman to 14.6 PPG as a sophomore — could not fix.
Yet, this is also Hurley. And it’s March. The Huskies had won four in a row entering the Big East tournament, so maybe they have found their mojo late in the season? It’s possible, if unlikely.
This UConn season feels more like “The Hangover Part III” than the “The Godfather Part III.” The magic has to end sometime, right?
Rick Pitino is … back?
It seems like it. Pitino has lived a few lives throughout his career, but he seems to be having more fun than ever at St. John’s — earlier this month, his Red Storm team made an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Every postgame news conference this season has been full of viral one-liners. And he is wearing tailored, all-white suits on the sideline.
Pitino’s personality, wardrobe and coaching prowess have helped restore St. John’s basketball in New York City, where the locals have embraced the team that won the Big East regular-season and conference tournament championships. The Yankees posted a “Good Luck St. John’s!” message on the jumbotron this week. And Madison Square Garden has been packed for the program coached by Pitino, an NYC native.
It’s an incredible story. But it’s also more than that.
St. John’s has America’s best defense entering the tournament. And while the Red Storm are not a great shooting team — their 3-point percentage is lower than the Magic’s NBA-worst mark (31.1%) — his 2012-13 Louisville squad couldn’t shoot, either, and he led those Cardinals to a since-vacated national title on the backs of an elite defense. That could happen again for Pitino, who is already the only coach in college basketball history to win national championships with two teams (Kentucky and Louisville). He could add a third with Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. and another gritty team.
Can Tom Izzo’s Michigan State (or another team) end the Big Ten’s title drought?
Izzo coached Jason Richardson 25 years ago during his team’s run to the national title. Now, his team is relying on Richardson’s son, Jase Richardson, to help the Spartans cut the nets down again.
That 2000 national championship, however, was also the Big Ten’s last national championship.
This year, a Spartans team that plays top-five defense has a chance to end that drought for the conference. They have won eight of their past nine games and were dominant during league play on their way to the Big Ten’s regular-season championship.
But Izzo won’t have to shoulder the burden of that quest alone. A decade ago, Wisconsin reached the national title game but lost to Duke. This season, John Tonje could carry the Badgers back to that stage.
Michigan, which runs its offense through 7-footers Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf, won the Big Ten tournament championship. With two bigs playing like guards as the maestros of Dusty May’s offense, the Wolverines won’t be an easy team to face for any opponent. They have real national title hopes, too.
And Maryland has a top-10 defense to complement one of the best 3-point shooting offenses (37.3%) in the country. Plus, projected lottery pick Derik Queen is a fabulous freshman (16.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 1.1 BPG) who could lead the Terps to the Final Four — a stage they haven’t reached since winning the national title in 2002.
Purdue, however, isn’t in the same category. The Boilermakers, who lost to UConn in last season’s national title game, haven’t looked good in a month. But they do have Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith. And Illinois has been on a roller coaster, but does have two potential first-round picks in Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley.
Overall, the Big Ten clearly has a chance to end its misery. (Though we have said that many times over the past 25 years.)
Which coaches need a big win in the NCAA tournament?
Kelvin Sampson has led Houston to the Sweet 16 (five times), the Elite Eight (twice) and the Final Four (2021) over the past six seasons. With nearly 800 wins, his legacy is solidified and is already widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in college basketball. He is also one of the few coaches who have led four different teams — Washington State, Oklahoma, Indiana and Houston — to the NCAA tournament. But this might be his best (and last) shot at a national championship.
The Cougars have always been a great defensive team under Sampson, who took the helm in Houston in 2014. But this season’s team is top 10 at the offensive end of the floor, too. L.J. Cryer, Milos Uzan, Emanuel Sharp and Roberts anchor a team that has lost only one game since Nov. 30.
Rick Barnes is in the same spot. At 70 years old, he is also chasing his first national title. His Tennessee squad is a top-three defensive team and has replacedDalton Knecht— the Lakers rookie who was last season’s SEC Player of the Year — with standouts Chaz Lanier, Zakai Zeigler andIgor Milicic Jr.
Barnes (833 career wins) also doesn’t need a title to hold his spot in college basketball history. A title will elevate him and Sampson into a different domain, though — and both have the right players in place to make it happen.
Which Cinderellas are poised to crash the party?
We thought you would never ask.
We’ll start with Colorado State. The Rams have had one of America’s best teams in recent months and have a star named Nique Clifford, who played his first three years at rival Colorado. Clifford has put up breathtaking numbers: He is averaging 25.3 PPG since March 1. And Memphis, which could be short-handed, can’t be excited about that first-round matchup.
Yale beat a 4-seed from the SEC last season in the first round (Auburn) and now the Bulldogs will face another 4-seeded SEC team in Texas A&M. Bez Mbeng won Ivy League Player of the Year and is the third-leading scorer on the roster. Déjà vu?
Drake is scary, too. (No, not him.) The Bulldogs have been one of America’s best defensive squads in recent months, and Bennett Stirtz could put up big numbers in a first-round matchup against Missouri.
If BYU gets past VCU in the first round — the Cougars have been America’s best offense over the past month — Kevin Young’s squad could make a run to the second weekend (and perhaps beyond).
McNeese, which will face Clemson in the first round, has won 57 games over the past two years under coach Will Wade and has lost only once since Dec. 14. Akron is 21-1 over its past 22 games as it prepares to face Arizona in the first round. And High Point, led by standouts Kimani Hamilton and Kezza Giffa, has the nation’s second-longest winning streak (14 games) entering the tournament.
Are there other fun storylines to watch?
Well, the selection committee is adamant that it doesn’t care about TV ratings, but its members seem to care about the drama that might boost ratings. (No, this is not a North Carolina reference.)
If Arkansas beats Kansas and St. John’s beats Omaha in the first round, then John Calipari and Pitino, the former Kentucky coaches will meet in the second round with a Sweet 16 invitation on the line. They are cordial, although Pitino recently said they are “not the best of friends.” Still, the hype around this game will be magnified for multiple fan bases.
Michigan State will face Bryant in the first round, whose head coach Phil Martelli Jr. is the son of Phil Martelli Sr., the former St. Joseph’s head coach — one of Izzo’s best friends. Jeremy Roach could face his former team, Duke, in the second round if Baylor advances past Mississippi State.
And McNeese’s Wade is a Clemson grad. His first-round opponent? You guessed it: Clemson.
Tony Madlock led Alabama State to its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2011 and became the first coach in school history to win an NCAA tournament game thanks to Amarr Knox ‘s miraculous game winner over Saint Francis in the First Four. The fun part for Madlock? He gets to make history with his son, TJ Madlock, who scored 11 points as a starter Tuesday.
A father-son duo breaking records? That will be an easy team to root for when Alabama State faces top overall seed Auburn on Thursday.
Get your popcorn ready.br/]
