NCAA Bracket 2025: Favorites and Cinderella Teams for Men's March Madness

The Auburn Tigers and Duke Blue Devils have been the leading candidates to win the NCAA men's basketball tournament for most of the season.

The Tigers and Blue Devils head into the Big Dance as two of the four No. 1 seeds. Auburn earned the No. 1 overall seed.

A lot of brackets will have Auburn and Duke filled in as the champion, but as we know in March, there will be surprises.

A handful of mid-major teams carry the potential to go down in March Madness lore, like FDU, Florida Atlantic and NC State did in previous seasons.

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Auburn gained the No. 1 overall seed despite three losses in its last four games.

Bruce Pearl's team was the class of the SEC for most of the season and that allowed it to stay ahead of Duke on the overall seed line.

Auburn went 28-5 and has a National Player of the Year candidate in Johni Broome.

Broome can be a matchup nightmare for any opponent, but he will face a potentially difficult test against Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner in the second round.

At their best, the Tigers can cruise into the Final Four, but there have to be concerns about them because they fell three times in the last two weeks.

The first of those three defeats came against the Texas A&M Aggies, who are the No. 4 seed in Auburn's South Region.

Auburn lost to the Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers during that stretch as well. It also fell to Duke in nonconference play and to the Florida Gators in February.

The record against other top seeds is concerning, but Auburn has a well-rounded unit and may use the losing run as motivation to surge forward in the NCAA tournament.

Duke comes into the NCAA tournament with one major question.

Cooper Flagg, the likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft, suffered an ankle injury in the ACC tournament quarterfinals.

Flagg is expected to be available for the NCAA tournament, but there is a possibility the ankle sprain bothers him.

Duke shouldn't have to worry about its opening-round matchup with either American or Mount St. Mary's.

The Blue Devils might even be fine with a hampered Flagg in the second round against the Mississippi State Bulldogs or Baylor Bears.

The real danger for Duke starts in the Sweet 16 if the Oregon Ducks or Arizona Wildcats advance to that matchup.

An Elite Eight showdown with the Alabama Crimson Tide could be an all-time showdown, and one that gets into the 90s or 100s. That would be Duke's toughest test to get into the Final Four.

However, no one was able to slow down Duke with a healthy Flagg, and if he returns in good shape, the Blue Devils will be a favorite pick to cut down the nets in San Antonio.

The Colorado State Rams come into the Big Dance with the nation's sixth-longest winning streak.

The Rams won their way into the field in the Mountain West tournament and could be a dangerous No. 12 seed against the Memphis Tigers.

Colorado State has a star built for March in Nique Clifford, who averages 19 points and 9.7 rebounds per game.

Clifford scored at least 24 points in each of his last four games and had a pair of double-doubles in the Mountain West tournament.

Memphis played with fire throughout the American Athletic Conference tournament, and although it won that event, it looked susceptible to an upset in all rounds.

Colorado State could take advantage of an up-and-down Memphis team and then it could do some damage in the underdog role against the No. 4 seed Maryland Terrapins.

A run to the Sweet 16 would be great not just for the Rams, but for the Mountain West as a whole since the league went 4-6 with a single Sweet 16 participant last season.

The Akron Zips can run and score with any team in the country.

The MAC regular-season and tournament champion ranks 16th in adjusted tempo and in the top 50 in two-and-three-point offense on KenPom.

Akron regularly scored in the 80s and 90s in MAC play and it even eclipsed the 100-point mark on four occasions.

The Zips' offense will be a tough matchup for the Arizona Wildcats in the first round.

Arizona did make the Big 12 tournament final, but it entered Kansas City with a 3-5 record in its last eight regular-season games.

If Akron gets past Arizona, it may have a tough time with a red-hot Oregon Ducks team, but the Ducks have allowed 74 or more points in each of their last six losses, a trend that plays in Akron's favor.