Helena Frye
The NCAA basketball tournament, also known as March Madness, is an annual single-elimination tournament featuring 64 teams playing across several weeks in March and April. The tournament is highly anticipated by fans, with many tracking their brackets for the duration of the tournament. The first round starts on a Thursday in March, with half the teams playing their first-round game on Thursday and the other half playing on Friday. The winners of Thursday's games then play their second-round games on Saturday, with Friday's winners playing on Sunday. By the end of the first weekend, the number of teams is narrowed down from 64 to 16, also known as the Sweet 16. The Sweet 16 then play over the following weekend, with the winners advancing to the next round until the final four teams are left.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 64 or 68 |
| Number of rounds | 4 |
| Number of regions | 4 |
| Date of first round | Thursday, March 20 |
| Date of second round | Saturday, March 22 |
| Date of third round | Thursday, March 27 |
| Date of fourth round (Elite Eight) | Saturday, March 29 |
| Date of Final Four games | Saturday, April 5 |
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The first round
Upsets are more likely to occur in the first two rounds, but it is generally advised to avoid picking upsets involving a No. 1, 2, or 3 seed in the early rounds. For example, a No. 1 seed has only lost to a No. 16 seed twice in history. If you do pick an upset and are incorrect, you not only miss out on points for that game but also the potential for many more points in the later rounds if you had chosen the high seed to advance.
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The Sweet 16
The higher-seeded a team is, the more likely they are to win. However, lower-seeded teams have been known to make a run for it and go far in the tournament. In 2011, VCU made the Final Four from the First Four, and UCLA achieved the same feat in 2021.
The 2025 Sweet 16 took place on Thursday, March 27, and Friday, March 28.
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The Elite Eight
The tournament format follows four regional brackets with teams ranked from one to 16, plus an additional eight teams competing for the last four main bracket slots during the First Four Games. The First Four games are followed by the First and Second Rounds, then the Sweet Sixteen, and then the Elite Eight.
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The Final Four
The NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness, is an annual college basketball tournament featuring 64 teams, although some sources state 68. The tournament is split into four groups, called "regions", and each region contains 16 teams, although one source states that each region contains 14 teams. The tournament begins with a First Four, where four teams play on Tuesday and four teams play on Wednesday. The first round then starts on Thursday, with half of the teams playing their first-round games, and the other half playing on Friday. By the end of the first weekend, two full rounds have been played, and the field of 64 teams is narrowed down to 16, known as the "Sweet 16".
The "Final Four" is the stage of the tournament where only four teams remain. In 2025, the Final Four games took place on Saturday, April 5, in San Antonio, Texas. The teams that reached this stage in 2025 were Duke, led by 18-year-old Cooper Flagg, who was one of the most complete players in recent college basketball history; UCLA, who had made the Final Four in 2021 as well; and two other teams that are not mentioned by name in the sources.
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The national championship
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, commonly known as March Madness, is an annual basketball tournament featuring 64 teams, reduced from 68 teams in previous years. The tournament is single-elimination, meaning that a team is eliminated after one loss, and the winner of the tournament is crowned the national champion. The tournament is known for its excitement and unpredictability, with the first weekend being the most thrilling part as basketball is broadcast from morning to night for four consecutive days.
The tournament begins with the First Four, which consists of eight teams competing for a spot in the main bracket of 64 teams. The First Four starts on a Tuesday for the men's tournament and on a Wednesday for the women's tournament. The first round of the main tournament then commences on Thursday, with half of the teams playing their first-round games, while the other half play on Friday. By the end of the first weekend, two full rounds have been played, and the field of 64 teams is narrowed down to 16, known as the Sweet 16.
The Sweet 16 begins the following Thursday, with half of the remaining teams playing, followed by the winners advancing to Round 4 (the Elite Eight) on Saturday. The other half of the Sweet 16 teams play on Friday, and the winners play their Elite Eight games on Sunday. From here on, the tournament progresses towards the Final Four and eventually the National Championship game.
In the men's tournament, each team has a shot at the National Championship, with the odds of reaching the ceiling provided by ESPN BET. In 2025, the young Blue Devils, led by Wooden Award favourite Cooper Flagg, were considered contenders for the title. In the women's tournament, UCLA took the number one seed in 2025, with South Carolina, Texas, and USC also claiming top seeds.
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Frequently asked questions
The basketball brackets for the 2025 March Madness tournament were revealed on March 16, 2025.
There are 68 teams in the 2025 tournament, split into four regions.
Brackets can be filled out by predicting the winners of each round of the tournament. The higher-seeded a team is, the more likely they are to win.
