The big names get a favorable draw in a region where some of the double digit seeds are weaker
Welcome to our coverage of the 2025 NCAA Tournament! The best event in sports is here and we will be as well, providing step-by-step previews of each region and breaking down what to watch for and who to keep an eye on during the basketball feast that is the NCAA Tournament.
Overseeded: #11 VCU
These guys have to be in somewhere, they earned it, but what do the Rams have that the other 11 seeds don’t? A Q4 loss. In fact, their resume lines up better with most of the 13 seeds than it does the rest of the 11s. Texas has 10 top two quad wins to VCUs eight and doesn’t have the Q4 loss and gets the same seed. The committee left out WVU entirely, presumably because their resume wasn’t good enough, but then put this auto bid on the 11 line? It doesn’t make a great deal of sense.
Underseeded: #4 Arizona
These guys are easily the best four seed in the field. More importantly, they have a better resume than the three seed in this region. Arizona played a better schedule and get more wins against it than Kentucky did. It probably has a better resume than Wisconsin does as well. Is this slightly nitpicky? Maybe, but this is a very strong 4 seed.
Easy to like: #10 Vanderbilt
Quick quiz: when was the last times the Commodores won an NCAA tournament game? That would be March 15th of 2012. That’s the same year that Xavier came roaring back from down 10 in the second half to beat Vandy at Vandy. Now, the Commodores are back in the tournament under Mark Byington, who last won a tournament game last year when he took James Madison and beat Wisconsin. Vanderbilt has beaten Tennessee and UK this year and features no player taller than 6-8. Devin McGlockton is a 6-7 center who just get buckets.
Fun to watch: #13 Akron
John Groce (did you know he’s Travis Steele’s brother?!?!) coaches a team that plays at a blistering pace and shoots a lot of threes and shoots them well. They’ve lost once in 2025. They erased an 18 point deficit in the MAC championship and trailed by 12 with ten minutes to play before they got torch hot and won the game at very nearly the buzzer. If they get hot, they are absolutely frightening. Defense though? That’s for losers.
Easy to hate: #1 Duke/#12 Liberty
I mean, come on. You should hate Duke just on college basketball principle. Liberty is a “more of us than there are of them” situation. Moving on.
Danger team: #9 Baylor
These guys are kind of the antithesis of Akron. They play very slowly, attack the offensive glass like a pack of wolves bears, and shoot just well enough to have a top 20 offense. The resume and results aren’t what they have been in the past, but this team still beat Kansas, Arkansas, St. John’s, West Virginia, and obliterated UC. They also very nearly beat Houston on two occasions, almost got Arizona twice, and nearly beat UConn. Yeah, those aren’t wins, but they show that this team can play with anyone. A not fully healthy Duke won’t relish seeing these guys.
Akron could fit here as well, but they have a brutal draw.
Best Matchup: #6 BYU vs #11 VCU
VCU has a decent offense and BYU has a decent defense. VCU has an elite defense and BYU has an elite offense. They try to pace the game the same way and both shoot a lot of threes. The difference is that BYU will allow three point attempts and VCU will defend the arc aggressively. This game could be wild, or VCU could have inflated numbers from playing in the A10 and get destroyed. My money is on the former.
Player to watch: Anyone on Alabama who has the ball behind the arc
Mark Sears is really the guy to watch here. If he’s on a heater he can carry a team for a long time. He runs hot and cold, but he won’t be shy ever. He has three 30 points games in the last month. If there is one player that doesn’t constantly get glazed by the national media who could drag a team to the championship, it’s Sears.
But any time a Crimson Tide player catches the ball behind the arc, rim run, because it’s going up.