Potential 2025 Bracket Busters in First Two Rounds of Men's NCAA Tournament

When the men's NCAA tournament tips off next Tuesday with the First Four games, every team in the 68-team field will have a potential path to the national title. Every year, a handful of unlikely teams take advantage of that opportunity, busting brackets in the process.

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The 2023-24 NC State Wolf Pack is the perfect example, as they used an unlikely run through the ACC tournament to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament field, then made it all the way to the Final Four as a No. 11 seed, torching more than a few brackets along the way.

With that in mind, we've highlighted five teams with the potential to be bracket busters in this year's tournament. We're focusing solely on teams projected to be a No. 8 seed or higher, which would mean reaching the Sweet 16 would take at least one major upset, if not two.

Who's ready for more March Madness chaos?

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Note: Projected seeds reflect the Bracket Matrix as of Friday afternoon.

Arkansas Razorbacks

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Projected Seed: No. 10

With five Quad 1 wins and a resume that includes victories over Kentucky (projected No. 3 seed), Michigan (projected No. 5 seed) and Missouri (projected No. 7 seed), Arkansas is not your typical double-digit seed.

Head coach John Calipari essentially built the Razorbacks roster from scratch, with just 8.7 percent of their scoring this year coming from returning players, and it has taken some time for all of those pieces to mesh while also navigating injuries to Boogie Fland and Adou Thiero.

Despite those losses, the Razorbacks still have an extremely talented roster, with Trevon Brazile, D.J. Wagner, Johnell Davis, Karter Knox, Zvonimir Ivisic and Jonas Aidoo all capable of scoring in double figures.

However, it's a defense that ranks No. 20 in KenPom's adjusted efficiency that stands as their biggest strength, and they are 12-3 when they hold the opposition to 70 points or fewer.

After going 4-1 down the stretch and beating South Carolina in their SEC tournament opener, they fell 83-80 to Ole Miss on Thursday, but this is still a team capable of beating anyone on any given night.

Creighton Bluejays

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Ryan Kalkbrenner

Projected Seed: No. 9

The Creighton Bluejays were No. 15 in the preseason AP poll for a reason.

With one of college basketball's best big men in Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner (19.8 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 2.7 BPG) and a top-tier point guard in Steven Ashworth (16.5 PPG, 7.0 APG, 99 made threes), their star power far exceeds their likely NCAA tournament seed.

Aside from an 81-57 stinker on the road against Georgetown in the Big East opener on Dec. 18, there are really no bad losses on their resume. Even that was technically only a Quad 2 loss.

Meanwhile, when they hit their stride in conference play, they went 11-1 over a 12-game stretch with wins over St. John's, Marquette, UConn, Xavier and Villanova twice during that span.w

This is a much better team than their record and seeding will suggest, and with the right matchup, Kalkbrenner is the type of player who can put a team on his shoulders on both ends of the floor.

Drake Bulldogs

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Bennett Stirtz

Projected Seed: No. 11

The Drake Bulldogs were also featured in this article a year ago, with a team led by MIssouri Valley Player of the Year Tucker DeVries and his father, head coach Darian DeVries, who are both now at West Virginia.

That group landed a No. 10 seed after a 28-6 regular season and lost by five points to Washington State in the first round.

This year's team is 30-3 and had perhaps the best at-large case of any mid-major team outside of the Mountain West Conference and West Coast Conference, but they left nothing to chance and claimed their spot by winning the MVC tournament.

JUCO transfer Bennett Stirtz won MVC Player of the Year by averaging 19.1 points, 5.7 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.2 steals, essentially filling the do-it-all void that DeVries occupied a year ago.

With non-conference wins over Kansas State and Vanderbilt, and a 6-0 record overall on the Quad 1 and Quad 2 lines, this team has done more than just dominate lesser competition.

UC San Diego Tritons

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Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones

Projected Seed: No. 12

It was not all that long ago that No. 13 seed UC Irvine upset No. 4 seed Kansas State in the 2019 NCAA tournament, so don't sleep on a dominant champion out of the Big West conference.

The UC San Diego Tritons went 28-4 overall and 18-2 in conference play, and they closed out the regular season riding a 13-game winning streak.

They don't have the gaudiest resume, but they beat a very good Utah State team out of the Mountain West in December and knocked off top conference foe UC Irvine team on the road in February.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones is one of the best mid-major players in the country, averaging 19.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.3 steals. The Big West Player of the Year shoots 58 percent from the floor and is a very efficient scorer.

However, if this team makes a March Madness run, it will be on the strength of a stingy defense that allows just 62.0 points per game while averaging 10.2 steals and forcing 16.3 turnovers.

VCU Rams

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Projected Seed: No. 11

The Atlantic 10 is not traditionally only a one-bid league, but that was the case at the 2023 NCAA tournament, and it could be again this year if the VCU Rams take care of business in the conference tournament.

Dayton and George Mason are technically still in the bubble conversation, but probably on the outside looking in if the field were set today, and the overall mediocrity of the conference has made it easy to underestimate a good VCU squad.

The closest thing the Rams have to a signature win is a road victory over Dayton and a neutral site victory over Colorado State, but a team that averages 13.4 offensive rebounds and 8.2 steals per game fits the mold of a team capable of pulling off an upset or two in March.

They spread the scoring around well, but also have a legitimate star in A-10 Player of the Year Max Shulga, who averages 15.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 41.3 percent from beyond the arc.

There are only 21 teams that rank inside the Top 40 in KenPom's adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency metrics, and VCU is the team from that group furthest off of the national radar.