NCAA Tournament 2025: Previewing every Sweet 16 matchup
Everyone loves a Cinderella, there's no denying that. But sometimes, a bit of chalk is fun too.
This year's NCAA Tournament has an absolute dearth of Cinderellas. The lone double-digit seed to advance past the second round is 10th-seeded Arkansas, and a John Calipari-coached SEC team can hardly be considered a Cinderella. But it goes further than that. Only four teams outside of the top four seeds in their regions advanced to the tournament's second weekend, in Arkansas, fifth-seeded Michigan, and six seeds Ole Miss and BYU. There are no non-Power Four teams in the Sweet 16 at all.
While this is a massive bummer for those of us who love an upset, there are still plenty of good storylines to see here. Tennessee takes on Kentucky in an epic clash of rivals who don't particularly care for each other, as the Vols look to avoid a third loss to the Wildcats this season. Houston looks to continue its push towards a national title with Kelvin Sampson's deepest Cougars team ever, but faces a battle-tested Purdue team with a pair of sharpshooting guards here to torment defenses.
On the other side of the bracket, we have Florida and Maryland, each looking to recapture their glory days with their best teams in a generation, look poised to deliver the kind of heavyweight bout typically reserved for a Final Four matchup.
Alabama and BYU square off in a game where both teams could very easily score 100 points in the all gas, no brakes special of the tournament, while Ole Miss' pint-sized speedsters look to run past a plodding, grinding Michigan State team capable of slowing down even the fastest of offenses.
With so much going on, check out our handy guides to help you know exactly who's going to win this weekend.