Men's NCAA Tournament 2025: Winners and Losers of First Four

The opening stage of the 2025 men's NCAA tournament has wrapped up, finalizing the 64-team bracket set to begin action on Thursday.

No. 16 Alabama State began the First Four in style with a last-second winning shot to eliminate St. Francis, and No. 11 North Carolina followed with a rout of San Diego State. No. 11 Xavier and No. 16 Mount St. Mary's then advanced with victories over Texas and American, respectively.

There were four winners and four losers, obviously.

Within those matchups, though, some particular moments or units defined the results. We're diving into those storylines.

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Winner: Alabama State's Hail Mary

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Welcome to March Madness, right?

The opening game of the 2025 NCAA tournament went to the wire. In a clash between Alabama State and St. Francis, the scoreboard showed a 68-all deadlock with 3.4 seconds to play in regulation.

ASU's Micah Simpson launched a full-court pass, which dropped into a crowd of four bodies. Somehow, the deflected ball quickly found Amarr Knox under the basket, and he banked in a layup with exactly one second left.

One errant heave from St. Francis later, Alabama State won a 70-68 thriller and advanced to face top-seeded Auburn.

Alabama State earned NCAA tourney bids in 2009 and 2011 but fell in a First Four contest. This will be the Hornets' first opportunity to play a Thursday/Friday contest since taking on Duke in 2004.

Loser: San Diego State's Offense

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Yes, the Aztecs were a defense-led team all year. Giving up 95 points on the biggest stage of the season certainly wasn't a good thing.

But the offense didn't provide much help.

North Carolina had only built a 16-11 advantage by the second TV timeout. By no means did SDSU face an insurmountable deficit early on and fall apart; no, the Aztecs just never hit any shots.

Again, this is a familiar issue for San Diego State—which shot a meager 38.3 percent in the recent Mountain West tournament loss to Boise State, for example. Even in a couple of SDSU's victories this season, the offense was below 40 percent.

Seeing four starters finish a combined 13-of-39 with 40 points, though? In a make-or-break moment in March Madness? That's a rough one.

Winner: North Carolina's Timing

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The most popular takeaway from a 95-68 victory over SDSU is whether the performance justified North Carolina's controversial inclusion.

Honestly, I'm not interested in that discussion.

More than anything, the night showed just how UNC played far below its potential during the regular season. The talented roster should've never been on the bubble or needed to win a First Four matchup to reach the official first round.

But, hey, if there's ever a moment to get hot—like multiple controversial Syracuse teams in the last decade—this is exactly the right one.

Knocking down 14 threes, the most in a game for the iconic program during its NCAA tournament history, definitely qualifies as getting hot.

North Carolina won't be short on confidence on Thursday against Ole Miss.

Loser: American's Post Defense

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Dola Adebayo

Injuries, man—they are the worst.

American won the Patriot League in large part thanks to Matt Rogers, a fifth-year player who recently landed his third all-conference honor. He averaged a team-best 17.0 points and provided a valuable long-range pop as the tallest player in the Eagles' rotation.

Early in the clash with Mount St. Mary's, though, Rogers fell awkwardly on his right let. He briefly returned a bit later but ultimately played just eight minutes.

Without the 6'9" forward, American had no answers down low.

Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilia, who both stand 6'8" or taller, overwhelmed the Eagles with 22 points each. They finished a combined 18-of-21 on two-point shots in an 83-72 victory for the Mount.

Duke looms for the Mountaineers on Friday in the first round.

Winner: Xavier's Late Charge

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At the under-12 timeout of the second half, Texas held a promising 10-point edge on Xavier in the showdown of 11-seeds.

It didn't take long for that feeling to vanish.

Marcus Foster tallied eight straight points for Xavier, which quickly clawed back and evened the score before the next TV break.

Foster hit a couple more key shots down the stretch, as did veteran star Zach Freemantle to propel the Musketeers' thrilling 86-80 win. They overcame a strong showing from Texas freshman Tre Johnson, who scored 23 points in what probably was the NBA draft prospect's final college game.

Xavier's next contest will be against sixth-seeded Illinois on Friday.