March Madness 2025: Men's Bracketology and NET Rankings Before Selection Sunday
The NCAA men's basketball tournament field of 68 is almost finalized.
Fourteen automatic bids have already been handed out to conference tournament champions. Another 17 automatic bids will be earned on Saturday and Sunday.
The list of at-large teams could change over the next two days if a bid stealer or two emerge from the American Athletic Conference, Atlantic 10 or Mountain West.
A few blue bloods of the sport are hanging on around the bubble. The Indiana Hoosiers and North Carolina Tar Heels will have to wait until Sunday night's selection show to learn their respective fates.
There isn't a whole lot of bubble drama after Indiana and UNC because teams hovering around the bubble either flamed out early or won a few games but didn't spring upsets in their conference tournaments.
NET Rankings
- Duke
- Auburn
- Houston
- Florida
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- Texas Tech
- Gonzaga
- Maryland
- Iowa State
- Michigan State
- Arizona
- St. John's
- Kentucky
- Wisconsin
- Missouri
- Illinois
- Texas A&M
- Purdue
- Kansas
The full NET rankings can be found here on NCAA.com.
Indiana, North Carolina Firmly on Bubble
Indiana and North Carolina are in wait-and-see mode after their respective eliminations in the Big Ten and ACC tournaments.
North Carolina came close to pulling off a miraculous comeback against Duke in the ACC tournament semifinals on Friday night, but the Tar Heels were unable to complete the upset.
Indiana didn't improve its stock at all at the Big Ten tournament with a second-round loss to the Oregon Ducks.
Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller has Indiana and UNC as two of the last three teams into the field of 68. The Texas Longhorns are "Last Team In".
The results in the Mountain West didn't help the bubble teams. The Boise State Broncos and Colorado State Rams, who are both on the wrong side of the bubble in Miller's projection play on Saturday for the tournament title.
Attention will be on the Big West tournament final as well. The UC Irvine Anteaters could make it a two-bid league if they beat the UC San Diego Tritons.
Bid stealers are still alive in the AAC and A-10 as well. The bubble teams need the Memphis Tigers and VCU Rams to win those tournaments on Sunday to feel safer about their NCAA tournament prospects.
Any semifinal or final upsets would turn the AAC and A-10 into two-bid leagues, and in turn, knock the likes of Indiana and UNC out of the Big Dance.
Race for No. 1 Seeds
The fight for No. 1 seeds is on in the SEC.
The Auburn Tigers and Florida Gators are currently two of the four No. 1 seeds in Miller's projected bracket along with the Houston Cougars and Duke.
The Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers are currently projected as No. 2 seeds.
Auburn squares off with Tennessee and Alabama faces Florida in Saturday's SEC tournament semifinals.
An Alabama-Tennessee final could shake up the decision-making for the fourth No. 1 seed.
Conversely, an Auburn-Florida title game would likely set the No. 1 seeds in stone.
Duke and Houston are in the ACC and Big 12 tournament finals on Saturday night. Duke is likely a No. 1 seed regardless of the result, while Houston can lock in its position by beating the Arizona Wildcats.
Alabama and Tennessee each could have two opportunities to beat contenders for a No. 1 seed.
Auburn's been arguably the best team in men's college basketball this season, so it should be a top seed regardless of result in Nashville. That makes Florida the vulnerable team if the Gators lose to Alabama and if either the Crimson Tide or Volunteers go on to cut down the nets in Nashville.