(Photo courtesy of CNN) “March Madness has returned once again.”
James Guiry
Connector Staff
The 2025 March Madness Tournament kicked off with an exciting first round full of surprises, as lower-seeded teams outperformed expectations and delivered a series of upsets. While the 64-team field saw fewer shockers than usual, seven lower seeds managed to defeat their higher-ranked opponents, including a stunning win by no. 12 McNeese State over five-seed Clemson, a result that shattered brackets all over the country.
The Clemson Tigers were a -7.5-point betting favorite heading into this game before ultimately losing by two points according to CBS Sports. This game knocked out most people’s perfect brackets. According to KPLC 7 News, “about 6.6 million brackets were busted” in ESPN’s Tournament Challenge after this upset, and Yahoo Sports claimed to have lost 85% of the perfect brackets in their bracket challenge after this game.
Other notable upsets occurred this year as well, as no. 9 ranked Creighton decimated no. 8 Louisville, 89-75. Two Creighton players, senior guards Jamiya Neal and Steven Ashworth both scored over 20 points. Similarly, senior guards Chucky Hepburn and Terrence Edwards both scored 22 points and 21 points, respectively, for Louisville.
No. 10 Arkansas beat no. 7 Kansas in a 79-72 game that Arkansas seemed to control for the entirety of it. The Razorbacks won largely in part to a 22-point performance from senior forward Jonas Aidoo.
The most picked upset in peoples’ brackets, according to NCAA.com, was no. 11 Drake over no. 6 Missouri, which proved to be correct as Drake beat Missouri decidedly, 67-57, finishing off the upsets for the first day of the tournament. Although Drake was the most picked upset coming into the tournament, Missouri was still favored to win by 5.5 points according to CBS Sports.
The games on Friday also started out with a nine seed beating an eight seed. No. 9, Baylor defeated no. 8 Mississippi State in a 3-point victory, 75-72. Sophomore point guard Josh Hubbard scored 26 points for the Bulldogs, but it just was not enough to get past Baylor and make it into the round of 32.
The second upset on Friday was a rankings upset, but not a betting upset. No. 12 Colorado State was favored to beat no. 5 Memphis by 1.5 points according to CBS Sports. Colorado State covered the spread, beating Memphis 78-70.
Looking into the stat sheet, Colorado State was shooting 34.8% from beyond the three-point line, while their opponents were shooting 30.4% from three. These percentages played into the points spread going into this game.
The final upset of the first round came when no. 10 New Mexico beat no. 7 Marquette 75-66. New Mexico is coached by Richard Pitino, son of former Boston Celtics coach and current St. Johns head coach, Rick Pitino, whose team also advanced to the second round over the weekend after beating Omaha by 30 points. Despite a 28-point performance from senior forward David Joplin, Marquette was not able to advance past The Lobos.
As the first round of the 2025 March Madness Tournament concludes, the stage is set for even more thrilling action. While the usual chaos of upsets didn’t reach the heights of previous years, the seven lower-seed victories have certainly shaken up the bracket. As the field narrows, it’s clear that March Madness is living up to its reputation for unpredictability, and fans can expect the drama to continue with every game leading to the coveted National Championship.
