NCAA Tournament Bracket Watch 2025: North Carolina has a needle to thread, Texas comes up big

New York Times

13-03-2025

(Editor's note: This article is part of the Bracket Central series, an inside look at the run-up to the men's & women's NCAA Tournaments, along with analysis and picks during the tournaments.)
Ohio State's out, Xavier's in, Texas is alive, Vanderbilt should be fine and North Carolina is going to need serious help if it can't help itself with one of the upsets of the season.
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Those are the Wednesday men's basketball happenings that helped shape Thursday's bracket, which had to say farewell to Ohio State after a damaging loss to Iowa in the Big Ten tournament. The 17-15 Buckeyes have some great wins, but it's hard to see them making it now. Xavier takes that spot — which means a different team from the state of Ohio playing in a First Four game in Dayton — and can go a long way toward keeping it by beating Marquette in Thursday's Big East quarterfinals.
Texas kept itself in play — and the SEC in play for an absurd max out of 14 NCAA Tournament bids — with a 79-72 win over Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament that was more convincing than the final score. The Commodores have a sturdy profile and should have a stress-free Sunday unless utter chaos grips several of these conference tournaments. The Longhorns are the first team out at this point, with North Carolina and Xavier on the other side of the cut line.
But if Texas follows this up with a second win over rival Texas A&M, this one on a neutral court? That's a giant add to the profile, compared with North Carolina trying to improve to 8-0 in Quad 2 (to go with a 1-11 record in Quad 1 games) if it can beat Wake Forest on Thursday. That would almost certainly earn a semifinals date with Duke. Being on the other side of the bracket of Clemson and Louisville is a tough break for Hubert Davis' team, which is playing well enough to have a real chance at a Quad 1 win against either.
Beat Wake, lose to Duke, don't get all the help required and North Carolina will be down to hoping some of the selection committee members end up voting with brand-name bias on the brain.
Thursday also sees some key Big 12 matchups that could affect seeding higher in the bracket. Iowa State-BYU is the headliner, Texas Tech-Baylor is a big one — and of course, the three SEC teams not named Auburn that have designs on a No. 1 seed will be rooting hard for Colorado to shock Houston after pulling an upset of West Virginia.
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(Photo of RJ Davis: Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)