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The 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, also known as March Madness, took place from March 18 to April 7, with the championship game held on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The tournament featured 68 teams from 35 states and the District of Columbia, competing in a single-elimination format to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2024-25 season. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) dominated the tournament, with 14 of its 16 teams qualifying, while the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) had a historic low of only four teams earning bids. The Elite Eight included four #1 seeds, three #2 seeds, and one #3 seed, with upsets occurring when a lower-ranked team defeated a higher-seeded opponent. The Final Four and National Championship games were highly anticipated, with fans eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the road to San Antonio.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament |
| Date | March 18, 2025 – April 7, 2025 |
| Location | Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, US |
| Stadium | Alamodome |
| Participants | 68 teams from 35 states and the District of Columbia |
| Conference | Pac-12 Conference |
| Format | Single-elimination tournament |
| Sport | Basketball |
| League | National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I |
| Gender | Men |
| Sponsor | CBS Sports, TNT Sports |
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What You'll Learn
The 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
The tournament seeds and regions were determined through the NCAA basketball tournament selection process and were published by the selection committee after the brackets were released on March 16. The remaining 37 bids were issued "at-large", with selections made by the NCAA Selection Committee on Selection Sunday, March 16. The First Four games involved eight teams: the four lowest-seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at-large teams. The winners of these games advanced to the main tournament bracket.
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) broke the record for the most bids earned to the tournament, with 14 of the 16 teams qualifying. Each regional final game had an SEC team playing. On the other hand, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) had historic lows, with only four teams earning bids—the smallest percentage of the conference since tournament expansion in 1975. Big South champion High Point, Big West champion UC San Diego, Ohio Valley champion SIU Edwardsville, and Summit League champion Omaha made their tournament debuts.
The 2025 tournament had some of the fewest upsets in NCAA tournament history. No top-four seed lost in the first round, and the 10th-seeded Arkansas team was the only Sweet 16 team with a higher ranking than a #6 seed. All 12 games of the regional semifinals and finals were won by the higher-seeded team. As a result, the Elite Eight had four #1 seeds, three #2 seeds, and one #3 seed, tying it with 2007 as the lowest seed total for an Elite Eight in tournament history. The Final Four were the four #1 seeds: Florida, Duke, Houston, and Auburn. Florida defeated Houston 65–63 in the championship game to claim its third title, and its first since 2007.
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The Southeastern Conference (SEC)
The SEC men's basketball tournament has been held at various sites throughout its history, including the Georgia Dome, Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Bridgestone Arena, the BJCC Coliseum (now known as Legacy Arena), Rupp Arena, Louisville Gardens, and Amalie Arena (formerly known as the St. Pete Times Forum).
From 1933 to 1950, the official SEC Champion was determined by a tournament, except for 1935 when no tournament was held. In 1951, a round-robin schedule was introduced, and the SEC title was awarded to the team with the highest regular-season in-conference winning percentage. The round-robin schedule consisted of 14 games from 1951 to 1964, and then it was expanded to 16 games in 1965 and 1966.
In 1979, the tournament was renewed, and the winner received the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However, the official league champion remained the team with the best regular-season record. In 2000, the Arkansas Razorbacks became the first team since the league expansion in 1992 to win the conference tournament by playing all four days.
The 2025 Men's Basketball Championship will be held in San Antonio, Texas, on April 5 and 7.
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The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
The ACC's eighteen member institutions are spread across twelve states: California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. The geographic domain of the conference is predominantly within the Southern and Northeastern United States along the US Atlantic coast, but recent conference realignment has expanded its reach to California and Texas.
The ACC is highly regarded academically, with its members considered among the top collegiate competitors in the nation. Nine ACC institutions are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities: Cal, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, Stanford, and Virginia. The ACC sponsors competition in twenty-eight sports, and its members have claimed dozens of national championships in multiple sports throughout its history.
The ACC's members participate in the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium (ACCAC), which facilitates inter-institutional academic and administrative collaboration. The ACCAC has expanded its scope beyond the initial doctoral student-exchange program established in 1999 to include other domestic and international collaborations. The ACC requires its members to sponsor at least four sports: football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and either women's soccer or women's volleyball.
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The Elite Eight
The "Elite Eight" comprises the final eight teams in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, representing the regional finals or national quarterfinals. The winners advance to the Final Four. The Elite Eight is also the halfway mark of the men's tournament since each qualifying team must win three rounds to reach the national quarterfinals, with three rounds remaining to reach and win the national championship game.
The phrase "Elite Eight" was originally coined by the Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship, a single-elimination tournament run by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA). In 1956, the field was reduced from 16 teams to eight, and the phrase "Elite Eight" was born. The IHSA trademarked the term in 1995; the trademark rights are now held by the March Madness Athletic Association, a joint venture between the NCAA and IHSA.
In Division I and Division III, the Elite Eight consists of the two teams in each of the four regional championship games. On average, three of the four No. 1 seeds make it to the Elite Eight each year. There have only been four seasons where two double-digit-seeded teams have made it to the Elite Eight: 1990, 2002, 2021, and 2022.
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The Final Four
The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, also known as the Final Four, is the culmination of a season of college basketball in the US. The first Final Four tournament took place in 1939, and since then, 95 schools have appeared in the Final Four. The tournament is the pinnacle of the college basketball season, with teams vying for the national championship title.
Historically, the Final Four was also considered the Regional Championship, with the National Championship held separately a week later. From 1952 to 1955, the Regional Championships were hosted at four sites, two in the East and two in the West. It wasn't until 1956 that the four regions were given unique names. Up until 1981, a consolation game was played before the Championship, with the winning team taking third place and the losers receiving fourth.
The 2025 Final Four will take place in San Antonio, Texas, on April 5 and 7, with the Alamodome playing host.
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Frequently asked questions
The 2025 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship game took place on April 7, 2025.
The Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The teams that participated in the 2025 Men's Basketball Championship game are not readily available. However, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) had 14 of its 16 teams qualify for the tournament.
The Men's Basketball Championship is an annual tournament that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion.
68 teams from 35 states and the District of Columbia participate in the tournament.
