NCAAB · 5 months ago

5 Biggest Winners From the First Weekend of the NCAA Tournament

Grant White

Host · Writer

The SEC
The SEC was a bloodbath this season. Eleven teams finished with eight or more wins, making it one of the most evenly matched playing fields in recent history. As we're seeing, those teams stack up well against the best teams in the country.

The NCAA Tournament started with 14 SEC teams. Through two rounds, seven are left standing. So, in a tournament with 68 teams and 31 conferences represented, the SEC accounts for 43.8% of the best teams in college basketball.

Not so long ago, the SEC was known almost exclusively for its football dominance. This year, the conference produced the highest proportion of championship contenders in basketball too. If you want to test your mettle against the top teams in the country, the SEC is the place to be.
Chalky Futures Bettors
If you played it safe in your bracket this year or loaded up on one of the chalky favorites to win it all, you're sitting pretty after the opening weekend of action.

Of course, there were the usual upsets, but nothing so profound or earth-shattering that it sent the college basketball world into a state of upheaval. No, there was nothing like that in the 2025 March Madness bracket. Other than the Arkansas Razorbacks, every other spot in the Sweet Sixteen is occupied by a top-six seed.

The top-ranked teams escaped mostly unscathed this weekend, and that's got to have chalky futures bettors feeling good about their chances heading into the next round.
BYU Cougars
Let's all take a moment to appreciate the BYU Cougars for their superb end to the season.

Granted, the Cougars came up short in the Big 12 Championship. Still, this team was on the bubble just a few weeks before the tournament tipped off. Since the middle of February, BYU has won 11 of 12 despite being underdogs in six of those contests.

The odds are stacked against the Cougars again in the Sweet Sixteen. They enter their West Regional matchup against the Alabama Crimson Tide as +4.5 underdogs. But if there's a team that can expose Alabama's defensive vulnerabilities, it's the BYU Cougars.
The Mountain West Conference
Granted, things came to a crashing halt in the Round of 32. But the Mountain West Conference shone brightly through the opening two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The New Mexico Lobos and Colorado State Rams pulled off upsets in the Round of 64. Albeit, the Rams' win over the Memphis Tigers was more of a proverbial win as the lower-seeded team. Nevertheless, it was an opportunity to showcase their respective programs' development and earn more recruiting power heading into the next offseason and transfer window period.

Stacking up against the top programs in the country isn't a luxury typically afforded to Mountain West teams during football season. But the Lobos and Rams exit the NCAA Tournament knowing they can hang with the best of them. In doing so, the MWC got the credit it deserved for the quality basketball teams it has developed.
2022-23 FAU Owls
A couple of years ago, the nation adopted the FAU Owls as America's Team. The ninth-seeded Owls went on a run to the Final Four in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, only to come heartbreakingly short of a spot in the National Championship. While FAU has faltered since then, that team's best players continue to shine.

Three players from that iteration of the Owls are onto the Sweet Sixteen. Vladislav Goldin started all 39 games for the Owls in 2022-23, averaging 10.9 points per game. Johnell Davis also had a breakout campaign that year, ranking second on the team in scoring. Finally, Alijah Martin was the team's leading scorer in their Final Four loss to the San Diego State Aztecs. Now, those three players are plying their craft with the Michigan Wolverines, Arkansas Razorbacks, and Florida Gators, respectively. Moreover, FAU's head coach Dusty May has since moved on to the Wolverines and is the architect of this year's Big Ten Champions.

Even in retrospect, moral victories count for something. The 2022-23 FAU Owls accomplishments look even more spectacular now.
The SEC
The SEC was a bloodbath this season. Eleven teams finished with eight or more wins, making it one of the most evenly matched playing fields in recent history. As we're seeing, those teams stack up well against the best teams in the country.

The NCAA Tournament started with 14 SEC teams. Through two rounds, seven are left standing. So, in a tournament with 68 teams and 31 conferences represented, the SEC accounts for 43.8% of the best teams in college basketball.

Not so long ago, the SEC was known almost exclusively for its football dominance. This year, the conference produced the highest proportion of championship contenders in basketball too. If you want to test your mettle against the top teams in the country, the SEC is the place to be.
Chalky Futures Bettors
If you played it safe in your bracket this year or loaded up on one of the chalky favorites to win it all, you're sitting pretty after the opening weekend of action.

Of course, there were the usual upsets, but nothing so profound or earth-shattering that it sent the college basketball world into a state of upheaval. No, there was nothing like that in the 2025 March Madness bracket. Other than the Arkansas Razorbacks, every other spot in the Sweet Sixteen is occupied by a top-six seed.

The top-ranked teams escaped mostly unscathed this weekend, and that's got to have chalky futures bettors feeling good about their chances heading into the next round.