The most captivating hour of sports television is once again in the books as the NCAA men’s basketball selection show announced the 68-team field for the 2025 edition of March Madness.
Some conferences won big, while others came away as losers — a scary situation in the present day paranoia of conference realignment and constant jockeying for position.
Here are three winners and three losers after the men’s bracket was set.
Winners
SEC
The conference was once an afterthought among the Power 5 when it came to basketball, but not anymore. The SEC has assembled a juggernaut with a record 14 of 16 teams making the tournament. That means big money for the conference.
The committee showed respect for the conference by giving four teams one or two seeds, but also choosing multiple teams on the bubble to be in the field. Texas, Oklahoma and Vanderbilt were all question marks of varying degrees, but are in. Texas and Oklahoma each went 6-12 in conference play.
North Carolina Tar Heels
The Tar Heels had to sweat it out since losing in the ACC Tournament semifinals to Duke Friday night. But despite a 1-12 record against Quad 1 opponents, North Carolina will head to Dayton for a First Four matchup against San Diego State.
UNC has won eight of its last 10, but in a weak ACC none of the eight wins came against tournament teams, and one of the losses came to a Cooper Flagg-less Duke team.
Bonus — Dayton tourism
Nearby Xavier is headed to Dayton for the First Four as are mega fan bases in North Carolina and Texas. Bars and hotels, rejoice!
