2025 men's NCAA tournament instant bracket: Predicting every game - ESPN

For the past three decades or so, I've printed out a blank bracket on Selection Sunday to fill out as the NCAA tournament is announced. I used to hem and haw over my selections for days, and it never worked out, so now we're taking tinkering out of the process and revealing my bracket picks… instantly.

Nothing is really changing in the next four days anyway, right? This might be a bad year to say that, given the spate of injuries that occurred during Champ Week. But the larger point stands — the games, the evaluations, the statistics, the data we need to make our picks is all in.

So here's my true instant bracket, filled out (by hand!) as the field was announced. And I promise not to make any changes. No second-guessing here!

Jump to: South Region | East Region | Midwest Region | West Region | Final Four

SOUTH REGION

No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels 71, No. 11 San Diego State Aztecs 64
No. 16 Alabama State Hornets 74, No. 16 St. Francis Red Flash 72

EAST REGION
No. 16 American University Eagles 62, No. 16 Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers 59

MIDWEST REGION
No. 11 Xavier Musketeers 81, No. 11 Texas Longhorns 78

FIRST-ROUND PICKS

No. 1 Auburn Tigers 94, No. 16 Alabama State Hornets 52
No. 9 Creighton Bluejays 76, No. 8 Louisville Cardinals 73

No. 12 UC San Diego Tritons 70, No. 5 Michigan Wolverines 68
No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies 69, No. 13 Yale Bulldogs 63

No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels 82, No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels 79
No. 3 Iowa State Cyclones 80, No. 14 Lipscomb Bisons 63

No. 7 Marquette Golden Eagles 79, No. 10 New Mexico Lobos 75
No. 2 Michigan State Spartans 86, No. 15 Bryant Bulldogs 63

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SECOND-ROUND PICKS

No. 1 Auburn