NCAA Tournament 2025: March Madness Cinderella upset picks, bracket busters by college basketball model

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Few 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket picks will feature a No. 16 seed knocking off a No. 1 seed, but two of the last six editions of March Madness have featured the ultimate bracket-busting mayhem of a No. 1 seed going down in the opening round. You’d have to be bold to pick a No. 1 seed like Auburn, Duke, Houston or Florida to lose in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament 2025, but if you do and it’s correct, you’ll have ultimate bragging rights over the rest of your competitors making 2025 March Madness bracket picks. Although losing in the opening round is unlikely, three of the last four NCAA Tournaments have featured a No. 1 seed failing to reach the Sweet 16. Is there a top seed you should be wary about going on a deep run when filling out 2025 NCAA bracket picks? Before making any 2025 NCAA Tournament predictions, see the 2025 March Madness bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

Their proven projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 91% of all CBS Sports brackets in four of the past six tournaments. It was all over UConn’s championship run a year ago and nailed 13 teams in the Sweet 16. It also nailed Alabama’s Cinderella run to the Final Four as a 4-seed.

It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016. There’s simply no reason to rely on luck when there’s proven technology to help you dominate your 2025 March Madness bracket picks. 

Now, SportsLine’s advanced computer model has simulated the entire 2025 NCAA Tournament 10,000 times to come up with the perfect 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket and find out which teams will pull off the biggest upsets. You shouldn’t even think about making a pick without seeing what their model has to say.

Three 2025 March Madness bracket games to watch

One of the most intriguing 2025 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 8 UConn vs. No. 9 Oklahoma in the West Region. The two-time defending national champion Huskies will have a challenging road toward a three-peat and that’s largely due to their poor start this year. UConn opened the season 4-3 after losing four of their top-five scorers from the season before. This year, the Huskies have three players within 0.2 points of each other with the trio of Solo Ball, Liam McNeeley and Alex Karaban sharing the primary offensive responsibilities and making them a challenge to game plan against. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has a dynamic duo of freshman guard Jeremiah Fears and senior forward Jalon Moore averaging 17 and 16 points per game, respectively. The Sooners won three of their final four games in a challenging SEC.

Another 2025 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 7 Kansas vs. No. 10 Arkansas in the West Region. Bill Self and John Calipari are two head coaches that you wouldn’t traditionally expect to be squaring off in a 7 vs. 10 matchup, but both teams had to grind through difficult portions of the season to earn a bid in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks had a stretch during Big 12 play where they went 5-6 while the Razorbacks overcame a five-game losing streak in SEC play to receive an invite. However, both teams are still tremendously talented, with Kansas led by All-American center Hunter Dickinson while Arkansas will welcome back star freshman Boogie Fland after he missed the last two months with a hand injury.

Another 2025 March Madness game to watch out for: No. 5 Memphis will battle No. 12 seed Colorado State in the West Region. This matchup pits two All-American guards against one another with Memphis sophomore guard PJ Haggerty named to the All-American second team and Colorado State fifth-year senior guard Nique Clifford an All-American honorable mention. Haggerty, at 6-foot-3, is the No. 3 scorer in the nation at 21.8 points per game in a season that included a 42-point performance. Clifford, 6-6, averaged 19 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game and had two double-doubles during the Mountain West Conference Tournament. Seeing these two go head-to-head could make this contest worth the watch by themselves as one of these two players will likely play a leading role in determining which team advances to the weekend. You can see the model’s 2025 NCAA bracket picks here.

How to make 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions

Who wins every tournament-defining matchup, and which teams will make surprising runs through the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it’s calling this year before locking in any 2025 NCAA bracket picks.

So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament 2025 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that called UConn’s national title and nailed 13 Sweet 16 teams in 2024.

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