The NCAA men’s tournament is underway. The initial 68-team bracket was revealed on Sunday with Auburn announced as the No. 1 seed playing out of the South region.
Duke is the No. 1 seed in the East, Houston is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest and Florida is the No. 1 seed in the West after beating Tennessee in the SEC championship game. Tennessee, Michigan State, Alabama and St. John’s earned No. 2 seeds.
North Carolina survived its wait on the bubble. Indiana did not. Nor did West Virginia, whose state governor threatened potential legal action over the Mountaineers’ omission, calling it a “miscarriage of justice.”
Alabama State and North Carolina both advanced in Tuesday’s Final Four games. Mount St. Mary’s and Xavier, which beat Texas, won on Wednesday to lock in the 64-team field for the first round.
How Auburn got the No. 1 overall
Auburn secured the No. 1 overall seed thanks to winning the SEC regular season and producing a 28-5 record while playing the nation’s second-hardest schedule.
The Tigers lost three of their last four games, including a defeat to Tennessee in the SEC tournament semifinal. But the NCAA tournament committee overlooked Auburn’s late-season struggles and rewarded an overall résumé that features the best regular season in an SEC that that produced a record 14 NCAA tournament teams.
Auburn edged out a 31-3 Duke team loaded with projected NBA talent that beat Auburn in December and was historically dominant in a 19-1 conference run to the ACC regular-season title. Duke then backed up its regular season with an ACC tournament championship and enters NCAA tournament play with a nation’s best 20.8-point average margin of victory.
If Cooper Flagg returns healthy from a sprained ankle, Duke will be the favorite to win the championship in the eyes of many. But it was dinged by the committee for its strength of schedule (57th) while playing in a down ACC.
Auburn, meanwhile, produced the nation’s most Quad 1 wins, going 16-5 against those opponents. Each of Auburn’s five losses (Duke, Tennessee, Florida, Texas A&M, Alabama) came against teams that are highly seeded in the NCAA tournament. Led by National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome, Auburn will look to convert the No. 1 overall seed into the program’s first NCAA championship.
Men’s March Madness favorites 2025
Naturally, the No. 1 seeds are the favorites. No. 2 overall seed Duke and consensus No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft Cooper Flagg lead the way at +325, tied with Florida, whereas No. 1 overall seed Auburn is third in odds at +400. Houston is the “longshot” No. 1 seed at +600.
Here’s a full look at the favorites to win the men’s tournament, everyone who sits at better odds than +2500.
- T1. Duke (+325)
- T1. Florida (+325)
- 3. Auburn (+400)
- 4. Houston (+600)
- 5. Alabama (+1600)
- 6. Tennessee (+1800)
- T7. Michigan State (+2500)
- T7. St. John’s (+2500)
