SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 Dominating NCAA Tournament While ACC, Big East Watch Quietly
One of the big stories going into the 2025 NCAA Tournament was how the conferences would perform.
Obviously, the SEC garnered all the headlines heading into the Big Dance, setting a record with 14 teams reaching the tournament. But the Big Ten sent eight teams, the Big 12 had seven, the Big East sent five and the ACC had four.
Mid-majors comprised the rest of the field, but they were ALL eliminated. That's right, the entire Sweet 16 comes from the Power 5. Well, almost entirely from three of the five leagues, but we'll get into that in a moment.
The SEC showed its power by sending a record-setting 7 teams into the Sweet 16
Half of the SEC's 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament made it to the second weekend. And, if you take out Texas – which lost to Xavier in the First Four, so they really didn't even make the tournament – then the league had over half of its teams reach the Sweet 16.
The top seeds did their jobs – #1 Florida, #1 Auburn, #2 Alabama, #2 Tennessee, and #3 Kentucky – and advanced to the Sweet 16. Ole Miss, a 6-seed, pulled an upset and defeated #3 Iowa State to also reach the regional semifinals.
Arkansas was the big shocker, advancing to the second weekend after knocking out St. John's in the Round of 32.
Arkansas shocked St. John's in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, and they are one of 7 SEC teams to reach the Sweet 16.
(Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
However, Missouri suffered one of the worst upsets of the First Round (losing to Drake); Oklahoma and Georgia were no match for UConn and Gonzaga (respectively); and Vanderbilt lost to St. Mary's.
Texas A&M advanced past the First Round, but both lost in the Round of 32.
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Overall, a strong showing for the SEC on the opening weekend, and the conference is sending seven teams into the Sweet Sixteen, with multiple teams remaining in three of the four regions.
Since Kentucky and Tennessee are playing each other on Friday, at least one SEC team is guaranteed an Elite Eight appearance. An All-SEC Final Four is still very much in play, and it is the only conference that could potentially send four teams to the national semifinals.
The Big Ten and Big 12 were the surprise conferences of the 2025 NCAA Tournament opening weekend
The Big 10 didn't have a lot of pub coming into the NCAA Tournament, but the conference SHOWED OUT. Not one Big Ten team lost in the First Round, which is pretty absurd.
The Second Round didn't go quite as smoothly for the league, with Wisconsin suffering an upset loss against BYU, UCLA falling to Tennessee, Illinois failing to beat Kentucky, and Oregon losing to Arizona.
However, #2 Michigan State, #4 Purdue, #4 Maryland (albeit perhaps controversially), and #5 Michigan all advanced to the second weekend of the Big Dance. Four out of eight teams reaching the Sweet 16 ain't bad.
Michigan State is one of four Big Ten teams to advance to the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
(Jeff Lange/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
The Big 12 has seen a lot of turnover in recent years, but it's hard to argue that as a group they showed up for this year's tournament. Kansas was the only conference team to lose in the First Round and several reached the Sweet 16.
Houston had a battle against Gonzaga but survived, BYU upset Wisconsin to reach the second weekend, Texas Tech cruised through its first two games, and Arizona hung on to beat Oregon late Sunday night.
Iowa State did suffer an upset loss in the Round of 32, but they had major injury issues entering the NCAA Tournament, which hurt their chances of making a deep run.
Still, for a league that has lost some of its biggest schools in recent years (namely Texas and Oklahoma, who are both out of the tournament, by the way), getting four teams out of seven into the Sweet 16 is strong work.
Overall, 15 of the 16 remaining teams represent either the SEC (7), Big Ten (4) or Big 12 (4). It makes you wonder if the transfer portal and NIL have destroyed the hopes of mid-majors making runs in the NCAA Tournament moving forward.
The Mountain West had four teams in the tournament, but all were eliminated. Colorado State and New Mexico both won First Round games as lower seeds and both had a chance to win in the Round of 32, but came up short.
The Big East and the ACC are the big losers in the 2025 NCAA Tournament
Five Big East teams made the NCAA Tournament, and they were all eliminated by Sunday afternoon. UConn and Creighton both won their 8–9 games before falling to a #1 seed.
St. John's suffered a shocker against Arkansas in the Round of 32; Marquette was upset in the First Round against New Mexico; and, Xavier won its First Four game but lost in the First Round against Illinois.
St. John's was the Big East's best hope, but a Round of 32 loss against a 10-seed isn't a great look for the conference. None of the other teams were seeded higher than seven, so it's not like they were expected to make deep runs, but an overall NCAA Tournament record of 4-5 is … not great.
Sure, the ACC has Duke, so they might ultimately win the National Championship. But that's literally it. Not one other ACC school even advanced to the Round of 32. In fact, Duke is the only team left in the tournament that isn't a member of the SEC, Big Ten or Big 12.
Overall, the conference is 3-3 in the NCAA Tournament, but that's only if you count North Carolina's First Four victory over San Diego State (I don't). Otherwise, they are 2-3 with both wins coming from Duke.
The ACC was formerly the #1 conference in college basketball, but that's just not the case anymore. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.