The time has finally come. This entry of bracketology will be our last of 2025. While a stroke of sadness does come with that sentence, I can’t help but ignore it, considering the end of bracketology means only one thing. We have made it to the end of the college basketball regular season. Just over a week from today, the ‘First Four’ will kick off in Dayton.

Two short days later, offices across the country will enter the most inefficient two-day stretch of their quarterly calendars. That may piss of Elon Musk, but for the rest of us, the rocket ship of drama the NCAA Tournament brings is sure to be thoroughly enjoyed on phones, tablets, computers, and in Section 400.

Brackets will be busted, glass shoes will magically fit programs that can ill afford glass windows in the press-box, let alone a carriage and horses. I can’t wait until Selection Sunday, where we’ll have a full staff live show reacting to the bracket on our YouTube channel. I’ll probably stay live after, reacting to the bracket further while providing a path for each of the 68 teams in the field to cut down the nets.

Before we talk about the movement in our final projection I’ll also address the crimson elephant in the room. Yes, the Auburn Tigers have lost two in a row for the first time this season. And yes, Auburn is no longer the top-ranked team in the AP or Coaches Poll.

That happened. But you want to know what else happened? Auburn won 16 Quadrant 1 games this year. The next best team won 9. The Tigers set the record for the most ranked wins in school history, while also losing just four games in the hardest schedule in program history.

That schedule was also, by far, the hardest any program in college basketball played this year. SEC Coach of the Year Bruce Pearl led his team to a 27-4 regular season record despite that schedule. SEC Player of the Year Johni Broome finished third in scoring, first in rebounding, and first in blocks among players participating in the greatest college basketball conference ever.

Yes, Auburn has a rebounding problem (something that has existed since Bruce Pearl took over) and Chad Baker-Mazara has a tendency to turn into a toddler on the court. Still, these Tigers are good enough to get to the ‘Sweet 16’ on talent alone, and they are battle-tested enough to win a pair of contests on the second weekend as well.

This team will find it’s way to San Antonio. Once Auburn gets there, it will need some luck, just like every champion before it. Tiger fans, get your hands up for Botta Geeta, never yield, and enjoy this team, and this month, before the moment ceases shining.

Until then, we have a final bracket projection to get through. The bubble, which has been as fluid as ever, continued to metamorphosize this week, with Oklahoma and Xavier slashing their way into the ‘Last Four In’. Texas and Nebraska, who fell from a No. 10 seed to the wrong side of the bubble, were the unfortunate souls usurped by the Sooners and Musketeers.

Boise State replaced a UNC program that probably never should have been on the bubble in the first place, while James Madison, Arkansas Little-Rock, and my North Alabama Lions all suffered defeats in their conference tournaments, eliminating them from our field. We still have just one bid stealer (No. 12 George Mason) projected to go dancing, so any program on the bubble, or even on the 10 or 11 line, should not feel safe.

Here’s our projected ‘Field of 68’. All programs that have secured an automatic bid are in bold.

First Four Out: Boise State, Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas

• The Mountain West simply was not good enough this year to warrant four teams in the NCAA Tournament. Sorry Broncos, at least you have the blue court.
• Tre Johnson led the best college basketball conference of all time in scoring as a freshman. Unfortunately, his teammates did not do enough to help him get to March.
• Nebraska folded under pressure. What else is new?
• The first year of the Calipari-era in Arkansas will result in a No. 1 seed in the NIT.

Last Four In: Oklahoma, Xavier, Ohio State, Indiana

• Oklahoma has been on our bubble all season, but we think the Sooners did just enough to squeak into the dance after wins over Missouri and Texas to end the regular season.
• Xavier’s surge continued this week with a pair of victories over bad BIG East competition. The Musketeers deserve a spot in the field, but the committee may not view their 13-7 record in the BIG East more worthy than a middling SEC program
• Ohio State got placed back onto the bubble after Georgia surged safely into the field. Bruce Thorton and the Buckeyes will still get in, but inconsistencies plagued a very talented squad all season long.
• Mike Woodson’s Indiana team will have a chance to send their head coach off with a bang. The Hoosiers will go dancing after staring disaster down the candy striped suspenders.

16 seeds: American, Cleveland State/Central Connecticut, Vermont, SIUE/Southern

15 seeds: Norfolk State, Liberty, Omaha, Quinnipiac

14 seeds: Troy, Grand Canyon, Montana, Wofford

13 seeds: McNeese, High Point, Akron, Lipscomb

12 seeds: Yale, George Mason, Charleston, Drake

11 seeds: UC San Diego, Xavier/Ohio State, Indiana/Oklahoma, VCU

10 seeds: Georgia, Utah State, West Virginia, San Diego State

9 seeds: Gonzaga, New Mexico, UConn, Baylor

8 seeds: Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Creighton

7 seeds: UCLA, Illinois, Memphis, Kansas

6 seeds: Arizona, St. Mary’s, BYU, Missouri

5 seeds: Michigan, Oregon, Louisville, Marquette

4 seeds: Clemson, Maryland, Kentucky, Purdue

3 seeds: St. John’s, Iowa State, Wisconsin, Texas A&M

2 seeds: (5) Tennessee, (6) Michigan State, (7) Alabama, (8) Texas Tech

1 seeds: (1) Auburn, (2), Duke, (3) Houston, (4) Florida

 

Projected Major conference champions: Michigan State, Houston, St. John’s, Auburn, Duke, New Mexico