NCAA Bracket 2025: Updated Men's Schedule and Predictions After Thursday's 1st Round
The first day of the NCAA tournament is officially in the books, and, boy, was it exciting.
In a battle of all-time greats, John Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks overpowered Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks, handing Kansas its earliest exit since 2005-06.
But the biggest stunner of the day came from the Midwest Region, where No. 12 McNeese topped No. 5 Clemson 69-67 in the first round, picking up its first NCAA tournament win in program history. The Cowboys limited Clemson to just 13 points in the opening half—the second fewest all-time by a team seeded 5th or better (1999 Wisconsin, 12)—and did enough to survive a furious Clemson rally late.
Hours later, No. 11 Drake defeated No. 6 Missouri, earning their first tournament win since 1970-71. The Bulldogs limited a potent Missouri offense, ranking sixth in offensive efficiency per KenPom, to just 57 points.
As of late Thursday night, less than 60,000 perfect brackets remain of the initial 34-plus million, according to NCAA.com, and it's expected that many more will fall on Friday.
Before the Round of 32 starts on Saturday, another 16 games will take place on Friday. Heading into the weekend, here’s a look at what Friday’s slate has in store and early predictions for Saturday’s schedule of matchups.
Thursday's First Round
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Thursday, March 20 (First Round)
No. 9 Creighton 89, No. 8 Louisville 75
No. 4 Purdue 75, No. 13 High Point 63
No. 3 Wisconsin 85, No. 14 Montana 66
No. 1 Houston 78, No. 16 SIU Edwardsville 40
No. 1 Auburn 83, No. 16 Alabama State 63
No. 12 McNeese 69, No. 5 Clemson 67
No. 6 BYU 80, No. 11 VCU 71
No. 8 Gonzaga 89, No. 9 Georgia 68
No. 2 Tennessee 77, No. 15 Wofford 62
No. 10 Arkansas 79, No. 7 Kansas 72
No. 4 Texas A&M 80, No. 13 Yale 71
No. 11 Drake 67, No. 6 Missouri 57
No. 7 UCLA 72, No. 10 Utah State 47
No. 2 St. John's 83, No. 15 Omaha 15
No. 5 Michigan 68, No. 12 UC San Diego, 65
No. 3 Texas Tech 82, No. 14 UNCW 72
Friday's First Round Schedule
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No. 9 Baylor vs. No. 8 Mississippi State: 12:15 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 15 Robert Morris vs. No. 2 Alabama: 12:40 p.m. ET, truTV
No. 14 Lipscomb vs. No. 3 Iowa State: 1:30 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 12 Colorado State vs. No. 5 Memphis: 2 p.m. ET, TBS
No. 16 Mount St. Mary's vs. No. 1 Duke: 2:50 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 10 Vanderbilt vs. No. 7 Saint Mary's: 3:15 p.m. ET, truTV
No. 11 North Carolina vs. No. 6 Ole Miss: 4:05 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 13 Grand Canyon vs. No. 4 Maryland: 4:35 p.m. ET, TBS
No. 16 Norfolk State vs. No. 1 Florida: 6:50 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 14 Troy vs. No. 3 Kentucky : 7:10 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 10 New Mexico vs. No. 7 Marquette: 7:25 p.m. ET, TBS
No. 13 Akron vs. No. 4 Arizona: 7:35 p.m. ET, truTV
No. 9 Oklahoma vs. No. 8 UConn: 9:25 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 11 Xavier vs. No. 6 Illinois: 9:45 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 15 Bryant vs. No. 2 Michigan State: 10 p.m. ET, TBS
No. 12 Liberty vs. No. 5 Oregon: 10:10 p.m. ET, truTV
Friday's play could mirror Thursday's chaos, delivering perhaps more upsets.
No. 12 Colorado State will face No. 5 Memphis, entering the tournament as one of the hottest teams in the nation. The Rams have won 10 straight games, shooting 45.2 percent from beyond the arc during that span.
With the absence of star guard Tyrese Hunter and the Tigers' four combined losses in Quad 2 and Quad 3 games, a Colorado State victory would not be a surprise.
Elsewhere, Liberty enters their first-round matchup against No. 5 Oregon as winners of 11 of their last 12.
Averaging 76.6 points per game, Liberty does most of their damage from beyond the arc, shooting at a 39 percent clip (7th best in the nation).
On the defensive end, the Flames limit opponents to just 28.3 percent from deep (4th best in the nation) while ranking in the top 50 in defensive efficiency per KenPom.
Oregon has not lost in the opening round in their last eight tournament appearances, but Liberty is more than capable of ending that impressive streak.
Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies, the back-to-back champions, will aim to silence their doubters by getting off to a strong start against No. 9 Oklahoma, while two No. 1 seeds (Duke and Florida) will both begin their quest for a championship.
Remaining Schedule
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Saturday, March 22 (Round of 32)
No. 12 McNeese vs. No. 4 Purdue: 12:10 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 10 Arkansas vs. No. 2 St. John's: 2:40 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 4 Texas A&M: 5:15 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 11 Drake vs. No. 3 Texas Tech: 6:10 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 9 Creighton vs. No. 1 Auburn: 7:10 p.m. ET, TBS/truTV
No. 6 BYU vs. No. 3 Wisconsin: 7:45 p.m. ET, CBS
No. 8 Gonzaga vs. No. 1 Houston: 8:40 p.m. ET, TNT
No. 7 UCLA vs. No. 2 Tennessee: 9:40 p.m. ET, TBS/truTV
The round of 32 will continue throughout the weekend before the Sweet 16 begins on Thursday, March 20. The Elite Eight will tip off Saturday, March 29, and end March 30, with the Final Four set to begin on Saturday, April 5. The national championship game will be played on April 8. Times for those upcoming games have not yet been determined.
Two of the four No. 1 seeds will be in action on Saturday.
No. 1 Houston will face No. 8 Gonzaga in what’s expected to be a thrilling showdown.
While Gonzaga has just a 5-5 record in Quad 1 games, Mark Few’s team has always shown up in March and is just the fourth-ever team (Duke, North Carolina, UCLA) to reach the Sweet 16 in nine consecutive tournament appearances.
Meanwhile, the Cougars are aiming for their sixth consecutive Sweet 16 appearance and have won 14 in a row, completely dominant on both ends of the court.
Houston will begin as the favorite, but this one could go either way.
Elsewhere, No. 1 Auburn will take on No. 9 Creighton in what should be another offensive showdown.
While Auburn will begin as the deserved favorite given their talent and year-round dominance, Creighton has reached the Sweet 16 in three of their last four tournament appearances and enters their matchup against the Tigers on the heels of their most complete performance of the season in an 89-75 victory over No. 8 Louisville.
As if that wasn’t enough to get you hyped for Saturday, the slate also includes matchups between St. John’s-Arkansas, Wisconsin-BYU, and Texas A&M-Michigan.
All three of those games are expected to be close contests.
No. 11 Drake and No. 12 McNeese will also look to continue their Cinderella stories when they take on Texas Tech and Drake.
With the first round set to continue tomorrow and the national championship not until April 8, it’s quite likely that we haven’t seen the full depth of this year’s madness yet.
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