Welcome to Bracket Yard’s home for the 2025 college basketball bracket update.  Some websites call it “bracketology.”  Our website has “bracket” in the name so I think it just goes without saying that we would get involved in such a thing.

Anyway, we will periodically update the below between now and Selection Sunday in March 2025.  Is your team on track to make the tournament?  Are they destined to fall short and sadden your educational institution of choice?  All will be revealed.

2025 College Basketball Bracket Update

Last Updated: February 16, 2025

A note on “AQ” teams: Our determination for the conference champions below is based off of the team which had the highest NET ranking on the date we issued this update.

Bracket Update: Seed List (All Teams Ranked 1-68)

#	Team	Conf	AQ/At-Large
1	Auburn	SEC	AQ
2	Alabama	SEC	AL
3	Duke	ACC	AQ
4	Florida	SEC	AL
5	Tennessee	SEC	AL
6	Texas A&M	SEC	AL
7	Purdue	Big Ten	AQ
8	Houston	Big 12	AQ
9	Iowa State	Big 12	AL
10	Kentucky	SEC	AL
11	Wisconsin	Big Ten	AL
12	Arizona	Big 12	AL
13	Texas Tech	Big 12	AL
14	Michigan	Big Ten	AL
15	Kansas	Big 12	AL
16	St. John’s	Big East	AQ
17	Illinois	Big Ten	AL
18	Michigan State	Big Ten	AL
19	Maryland	Big Ten	AL
20	Marquette	Big East	AL
21	UCLA	Big Ten	AL
22	Ole Miss	SEC	AL
23	Gonzaga	WCC	AQ
24	Louisville	ACC	AL
25	Missouri	SEC	AL
26	Mississippi State	SEC	AL
27	Oregon	Big Ten	AL
28	Creighton	Big East	AL
29	Saint Mary’s	WCC	AL
30	Clemson	ACC	AL
31	Connecticut	Big East	AL
32	Memphis	American	AQ
33	Baylor	Big 12	AL
34	Ohio State	Big Ten	AL
35	West Virginia	Big 12	AL
36	Texas	SEC	AL
37	New Mexico	MWC	AQ
38	Nebraska	Big Ten	AL
39	Oklahoma	SEC	AL
40	Arkansas	SEC	AL
41	Utah State	MWC	AL
42	Vanderbilt	SEC	AL
43	San Diego State	MWC	AL
44	BYU	Big 12	AL
45	Georgia	SEC	AL
46	VCU	A-10	AQ
47	UC-San Diego	Big West	AQ
48	Drake	MVC	AQ
49	Liberty	C-USA	AQ
50	McNeese	Southland	AQ
51	Yale	Ivy	AQ
52	Arkansas State	Sun Belt	AQ
53	Akron	MAC	AQ
54	Lipscomb	A-Sun	AQ
55	Grand Canyon	WAC	AQ
56	High Point	Big South	AQ
57	Samford	Southern	AQ
58	South Dakota State	Summit	AQ
59	Northern Colorado	Big Sky	AQ
60	Milwaukee	Horizon	AQ
61	UNC-Wilmington	CAA	AQ
62	Central Connecticut State	NEC	AQ
63	Norfolk State	MEAC	AQ
64	Bryant	Am East	AQ
65	Southern	SWAC	AQ
66	Quinnipiac	MAAC	AQ
67	SE Missouri State	OVC	AQ
68	American	Patriot	AQ

Last Eight In

8	Nebraska	Big Ten
7	Oklahoma	SEC
6	Arkansas	SEC
5	Utah State	MWC
4	Vanderbilt	SEC
3	San Diego State	MWC
2	BYU	Big 12
1 (Last)	Georgia	SEC

First Ten Out

1	Wake Forest	ACC
2	Kansas State	Big 12
3	Indiana	Big Ten
4	USC	Big Ten
5	Boise State	MWC
6	North Carolina	ACC
7	Pittsburgh	ACC
8	Xavier	Big East
9	SMU	ACC
10	UCF	Big 12

2025 College Basketball Bracket Update: Projected Bracket

MIDWEST REGION (INDIANAPOLIS)

Lexington, Kentucky

1	Alabama (SEC)
16	Southern (SWAC)* OR Quinnipiac (MAAC)*

8	Saint Mary’s (WCC)
9	Baylor (Big 12)

Denver, Colorado

4	Kansas (Big 12)
13	Arkansas State (Sun Belt)*

5	Michigan State (Big Ten)
12	UC-San Diego (Big West)*

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

3	Iowa State (Big 12)
14	South Dakota State (Summit)*

6	UCLA (Big Ten)
11	BYU (Big 12) OR Georgia (SEC)

Cleveland, Ohio

2	Purdue (Big Ten)
15	Milwaukee (Horizon)*

7	Mississippi State (SEC)
10	New Mexico (MWC)*

SOUTH REGION (ATLANTA)

Lexington, Kentucky

1	Auburn (SEC)*
16	SE Missouri State (OVC)* or American (Patriot)*

8	Clemson (ACC)
9	Ohio State (Big Ten)

Seattle, Washington

4	Texas Tech (Big 12)
13	Akron (MAC)*

5	Illinois (Big Ten)
12	McNeese (Southland)*

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

3	Wisconsin (Big Ten)
14	Samford (Southern)

6	Ole Miss (SEC)
11	Utah State (MWC)

Wichita, Kansas

2	Texas A&M (SEC)
15	UNC-Wilmington (CAA)*

7	Oregon (Big Ten)
10	Arkansas (SEC)

EAST REGION (NEWARK)

Raleigh, North Carolina

1	Duke (ACC)*
16	Norfolk State (MEAC)*

8	Connecticut (Big East)
9	Texas (SEC)

Providence, Rhode Island

4	St. John’s (Big East)*
13	Yale (Ivy)*

5	Maryland (Big Ten)
12	Liberty (C-USA)*

Denver, Colorado

3	Arizona (Big 12)
14	Grand Canyon (WAC)*

6	Gonzaga (WCC)*
11	Vanderbilt (SEC) OR San Diego State (MWC)

Cleveland, Ohio

2	Tennessee (SEC)
15	Central Connecticut State (NEC)*

7	Creighton (Big East)
10	Oklahoma (SEC)

WEST REGION (SAN FRANCISCO)

Raleigh, North Carolina

1	Florida (SEC)
16	Bryant (AmEast)*

8	Memphis (American)*
9	West Virginia (Big 12)

Seattle, Washington

4	Michigan (Big Ten)
13	Lipscomb (A-Sun)*

5	Marquette (Big East)
12	Drake (MVC)*

Providence, Rhode Island

3	Kentucky (SEC)
14	High Point (Big South)*

6	Louisville (ACC)
11	VCU (A-10)*

Wichita, Kansas

2	Houston (Big 12)
15	Northern Colorado (Big Sky)*

7	Missouri (SEC)
10	Nebraska (Big Ten)

Bracket Update Notes (Most Recent at Top)

February 10

14 bids for any conference is insane, but here we are with the SEC. They very nearly got three of the 1-seeds as well, but they will have to settle for two. As usual, it’s tough to keep them away from each other in the second round, but at the moment, it would only be possible in one pod.

January 27

Tough one this week. The SEC and Big Ten have many, many bids, and then throw in the Big 12, and you have three conferences essentially dominating the tournament. It is difficult, if not impossible, to keep those teams away from each other in the early rounds without jumbling the pods where teams go. We managed to avoid as many R32 same-conference games as possible, but the cost was some teams going to weird places. The hope is that this irons out the closer we get to March.

January 20

It took a perfect storm of losing a big game and other teams in position doing well, but Marquette dropped from the final one seed to a four. On the S-Curve, they were actually in position for a three, but sacrifices had to be made to keep the same conference out of too many pods, and not overly screw top teams on travel.

Auburn and Duke are the two teams to beat this season.

Ohio State is a team that we have in, but they almost do not deserve it. Just the teams below them deserve it a little less. Nebraska has played its way out of the field for now, losing four in a row.

January 15

We issued a brief video update to account for a busy day in college basketball the night earlier, with a few changes to the top four lines.

January 14

A few big shake-ups, as a little bit of movement can produce a large swing in NET. There were some teams that had wins convert into Quadrants 1 and 2, which is how we ended up with Arizona and Texas Tech back in the dance.

Marquette has a very strong resume, about as good as Iowa State’s. It was difficult picking between them for the last 1-seed.

Oregon has one of the better resumes out there, with seven Q1 wins, and I looked for ways to push them onto the 2-line. Alas, they are one spot short because the others in front of them did not deserve to fall back off of it.

We were a little more generous this time with Houston, but they need to resolve the situation of no Q1 wins. They are nowhere near being a 1-seed as a result, despite their high NET.

Iowa is in, but a little iffy. They are the only at-large besides Houston (at the moment) to have no Q1 wins.

January 6

This is our first round of bracket assembly for the year.  At this point, there are a lot of undeveloped resumes, so I would not get too bent out of shape if your preferred team is not here.  Give it about a month for conference play to seep in, and we should have a much better view of where a particular team is going by February.

One team I find particularly interesting is Texas Tech.  They have a high NET ranking, but their resume is undeserving of the tournament otherwise.  Some other prognosticators have them in, but we do not.

If Memphis did not have that Quad 3 loss, they would be a high seed.  Aside from that, they have one of the more impressive team sheets so far.

Marquette has an excellent resume to this point, and one that I think is deserving of a one-seed.  Not everyone agrees, but this should make the Golden Eagles fans very happy.

We have Houston as a five despite their very high NET ranking, and even at that, it’s kind of generous.  They have no Quad 1 wins as of yet while every other team between 1 and 38, except them, on our S-Curve has at least one.  Most have at least two.  If not for that NET, we would probably have them in an 8-9 matchup somewhere.  The good news for them is that they still have time to work on the resume, and it needs beefing up in some way.

In two pods do we have two teams from the same conference (the SEC) potentially meeting in the second round, which would require at least one to win a play-in game.  This is not ideal, but likely to change.  The SEC has a lot of teams on the two, seven, and ten lines, and without wholly screwing someone out of their rightful seed, we’ll just have to live with it for the time being. As of now, we have the SEC as an eye-popping 12-bid conference, which is in part due to them being good and in part due to the conference being gigantic. It is almost unavoidable that some will encounter each other.