NCAA Tournament 2025: B/R Expert Predictions for Elite Eight

Sixty games down, only seven to go until the 2025 men's college basketball national champion is crowned in San Antonio.

And while we'd love to spend a little more time reflecting on some of those fantastic Sweet 16 games, this tournament waits for no one, four of those seven remaining games coming up in the next 48 hours.

Are we headed for the Duke-Florida national championship showdown that so many predicted on Selection Sunday? Or will we be seeing red on Saturday with the Crimson Tide and/or Red Raiders advancing to the Final Four?

Will Houston or Tennessee win that rock fight on Sunday afternoon? And does Tom Izzo have one more Final Four up his sleeve or could we be headed for an all-SEC Final Four?

For each of the upcoming Elite Eight games, presented in chronological order, we'll briefly sum up what it would take for each team to win each matchup before highlighting the biggest star on each side of said matchup.

Lastly, our college basketball experts will each offer their prediction on which team gets the win.

No. 1 Houston Cougars vs. No. 2 Tennessee Volunteers

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Houston's Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp

Matchup: No. 1 Houston vs. No. 2 Tennessee (Midwest Regional)

Details: Sunday at 2:20 p.m. ET (CBS), Indianapolis

One-Sentence Synopsis: Alabama-Duke might be a race to 100, but will these elite defenses and mutually "sometimes just OK" offenses even combine for 100 points?

Houston Wins If: Its three-point offense supersedes Tennessee's three-point defense. The Volunteers do typically allow quite a few three-point attempts, but opponents have shot just 28.5 percent against them for the season. It's 37.5 percent in the tournament, though, and Houston leads the nation in shooting 39.8 percent from distance as a team. The Cougars will need to get LJ Cryer back on track after a brutal first game in Indianapolis, but if he, Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp are stroking it like they can, that's a huge edge in what should be a low-scoring affair.

Tennessee Wins If: It forces Houston to drive and gets Chaz Lanier going. Maybe the biggest reason Tennessee allows so many three-point attempts is because teams don't feel like trying their luck against Felix Okpara and Cade Phillips at the rim. And Houston is—by a laughable margin—the worst two-point offense remaining in this tournament. If the Volunteers can convince Houston to forget that it averages 1.2 points per three-point attempt and instead try to win via shots worth 0.976 points on average, advantage Tennessee. And if that happens while Lanier does his thing and scores 20+, the Vols might win comfortably.

Star to Watch: LJ Cryer for Houston and Chaz Lanier for Tennessee. Who's ready for a good old-fashioned three-point shooting contest? Cryer led the Big 12 in made triples this season, his 111 good for 13 more than the next-closest player (Caleb Love). But Lanier is almost No. 1 in the nation with 121 made three-pointers. If they both hit the same number of triples, Houston probably wins. But if Lanier outduels Cryer, game on.

Predictions

David Kenyon: Houston

Kerry Miller: Houston

Joel Reuter: Tennessee

No. 1 Auburn Tigers vs. No. 2 Michigan State Spartans

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Auburn's Johni Broome

Matchup: No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 2 Michigan State (South Regional)

Details: Sunday at 5:05 p.m. ET (CBS), Atlanta

One-Sentence Synopsis: Both Auburn and Michigan State are seeking their first Final Four appearance since 2019, but one and only one will get there.

Auburn Wins If: That wild comeback against Michigan was the re-birth of the pre-March Tigers. You remember that freight train, right? 27-2 with a stockpile of marquee wins that put every other team in the country to shame? They vanished for a while there with losses in three of their final four games before the tournament, plus slow starts in each of their first three games of the dance. Maybe something finally clicked, though, when they turned a 48-39 deficit into a 67-54 lead in what felt like the blink of an eye. And if Good Auburn is back to stay, that's bad news for the other seven teams still standing.

Michigan State Wins If: It makes the most of Auburn's excessive physicality. The Tigers are no stranger to foul trouble, allowing 22.2 free-throw attempts per game, and they had four key players dealing with it in that Sweet 16 battle with Michigan. Meanwhile, Michigan State gets to the free-throw line almost as much as any team in the country and will have no reservations about quite literally leaning into Auburn's aggressive style. That isn't to say Michigan State needs help from the refs to beat Auburn, but it might be able to benefit from getting a Johni Broome or a Chad Baker-Mazara into some trouble.

Stars to Watch: Johni Broome for Auburn and Jase Richardson for Michigan State. Broome was basically the only Tiger keeping Auburn in that game against Michigan until Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford finally joined the party. He ended up with 22 points, 16 rebounds and two steals in one of his typical NPOY type of performances. Richardson was also huge on Friday, giving the Spartans 20 points in their win over Ole Miss. They've been a different team since putting him into the starting lineup in early February.

Predictions

David Kenyon: Auburn

Kerry Miller: Auburn

Joel Reuter: Auburn

No. 1 Florida Gators vs. No. 3 Texas Tech Red Raiders

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Florida's Walter Clayton Jr. and Todd Golden

Matchup: No. 1 Florida vs. No. 3 Texas Tech (West Regional)

Details: Saturday at 6:09 p.m. ET (TBS/truTV), San Francisco

One-Sentence Synopsis: Two of the best offenses in the country square off as Texas Tech finally has to grapple with a single-digit seed in this tournament.

Florida Wins If: It dominates on the offensive glass again. The Gators are one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country, and that was on full display Thursday night against Maryland, turning 15 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points while racking up an overall +22 rebounding margin. And with Derik Queen and Julian Reese, it's not like the Terps struggled to rebound this season. They were just no match for Florida, which might also be true for JT Toppin and Federiko Federiko in the Elite Eight.

Texas Tech Wins If: It snaps out of its three-point funk for a big game from distance. Through three rounds, the Red Raiders have gone 23-of-92 (25.0 percent) from three-point range, which simply is not going to cut it against the Gators. But they were 152-of-403 (37.7 percent, 11.7 makes on average) over their final 13 games leading into the dance. Whether primary shooting guard Chance McMillian (missed last four games with a strained oblique) is able to go in this one could be huge, but the Red Raiders do have plenty of others who can shoot it.

Stars to Watch: Walter Clayton Jr. for Florida and JT Toppin for Texas Tech. The former was named an AP first-team All-American, the latter a second-teamer who probably didn't miss the cut by much. Slowing down either one seems just about impossible these days, and it may well be a situation where they both go for 25 and the supporting casts determine the outcome. But with Texas Tech needing to keep Florida's second chances to a minimum, it's Toppin who is more likely to decide the outcome.

Predictions

David Kenyon: Florida

Kerry Miller: Texas Tech

Joel Reuter: Florida

No. 1 Duke Blue Devils vs. No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide

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Duke's Cooper Flagg

Matchup: No. 1 Duke vs. No. 2 Alabama (East Regional)

Details: Saturday at 8:49 p.m. ET (TBS/truTV), Newark

One-Sentence Synopsis: Fresh off a combined 213 points on Thursday night, Duke and Alabama both hope to stay blistering hot to secure a spot in the Final Four.

Duke Wins If: Being the best offense beats being the fastest offense. Alabama can put up points in bunches like few others, leading the nation in points per game. But Duke has the most efficient offense in the nation. It also has the much better defense in this matchup and ought to win both the turnover and rebounding battles. Could be an unbelievable game with both teams reaching triple digits like they did on Thursday, but there's little question Duke is the better team and should win, so long as it doesn't start getting careless while embracing a game at Alabama's preferred pace.

Alabama Wins If: It shoots the lights out again. Duke won't be going under on ball screens all night like BYU did, as we are now talking about the team that leads the nation in defensive effective field-goal percentage as opposed to a Cougars team that doesn't rank in the top 200. However, how many times in tournament history have we seen a great offense just catch fire no matter how good the opposing defense is? And after already playing four games this season against top five D eFG% teams (Houston, Tennessee and Florida twice) and averaging 84.3 points in those games, it's not like the Crimson Tide are in uncharted waters or anything.

Star to Watch: Cooper Flagg for Duke and Mark Sears for Alabama. The latter scored 34 in the Sweet 16 matchup with BYU, but even Caleb Love's 35 points weren't enough to get Arizona past the Blue Devils. Flagg has scored more than 30 in a game just once this season, but he might mess around and match his 42-point special against Notre Dame in a game that will not be lacking for offense.

Predictions

David Kenyon: Duke

Kerry Miller: Duke

Joel Reuter: Alabama