2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament

The 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament was a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2024–25 season. The 86th annual edition of the tournament began on March 18, 2025, and concluded on April 7 with the championship game at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. 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. 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. ASUN champion Lipscomb made its second-ever appearance, its first since 2018. America East champion Bryant also made its second-ever appearance, its first since 2022, and its first time in the first round. NEC champion Saint Francis made its second-ever appearance as well, its first since 1991, but a week after losing in the First Four, they announced they would move down from Division I to Division III. UC San Diego's qualification came in its first year of eligibility, making it only the fourth school since 1972 to do so. This was the second time since the First Four was established in 2011 that no teams in the First Four advanced past the first round, and the first since 2019. For the first time since 2017, no team seeded lower than 12 made it past the first round. In the first round the Big Ten was 8–0, setting an NCAA record for the most wins without a loss by any conference. The eight total wins were also a record, matched by the SEC in the same first round (8–5). In doing so, both conferences combined to represent 50% of the field in the second round. In the ACC, only Duke made it past the first round, the first time since at-large bids were given out that multiple teams from that conference did not make the second round. With 10-seed Arkansas advancing to the Sweet 16, it marked the 17th consecutive time at least one double-digit seed advanced to the regional semifinals. UConn was attempting to be the first team to win three consecutive titles since UCLA won seven consecutive from 1967 to 1973, but its elimination by the eventual champion Florida in the second round marked the seventh time in the last eight tournaments that the defending champion failed to make the Sweet 16. For the first time since the tournament's 1985 expansion to 64 teams, the Sweet 16 was composed entirely of teams from the Power Four conferences (SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and ACC). Though recent tournaments were some of the most upset-prone, 2025 had some of the fewest upsets in NCAA tournament history. No top-four seed lost in the first round, and 10th seeded Arkansas was the only Sweet 16 team with higher than a #6 seed. All 12 games of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight 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, and all four #1 seeds made the Final Four, an occurrence only matched by the 2008 tournament (which was also played in San Antonio). The Final Four were the four #1 seeds: Florida, Duke, Houston, and Auburn. The championship matchup was between Florida and Houston. Florida defeated Houston, 65–63, to claim its third title, and its first since 2007.