The Sweet 16 has arrived in the 2025 NCAA Tournament and Cinderella won't be crashing the party. This year's edition of March Madness marks the first time that the Sweet 16 will only feature teams from power conferences, with the lone double-digit seed still remaining being John Calipari's Arkansas Razorbacks.
No one will mistake Cal's team as a Cinderella outfit, which raises questions about the future of the event in the portal era, but fans should enjoy some outstanding basketball when the tournament resumes on Thursday. Let's take a look at re-ranking the field of 16, starting with the lone ACC team to get out of the first weekend.
Re-seeding the Sweet 16
1. Duke Blue Devils
While no one will mistake the ACC as a winner in March Madness, they do possess the most likely title winner in Duke. Cooper Flagg's return to health was a welcome development for the Blue Devils, who made quick work of Mount St. Mary's and Baylor to easily reach the Sweet 16.
Few teams can match the physicality of Duke's defense with their explosive offensive firepower headlined by Flagg, Kon Knueppel, and Tyrese Proctor. With a perfectly reasonable path to the Final Four going out of Newark, Duke is the favorite to cut down the nets at this point.
2. Florida Gators
While Duke is the favorite, Florida isn't far behind. The Gators survived a scare from UCONN in the Round of 32 as Walter Clayton Jr put his team on his back in the final minutes, knocking down clutch shot after clutch shot to send the two-time national champs home.
The experience the Gators gained playing in the rugged SEC matters a lot and the fact they survived a white knuckler in the dance is a good sign of their title prospects. With St. John's elite defense already gone, the Gators have a more manageable road to the Final Four out of the West Region.
3. Auburn Tigers
The poor form that saw Auburn enter the tournament on a mini skid all but evaporated in the first weekend. Alabama State hung around for a bit and Creighton delivered a good shot at the Tigers, but their depth and overall talent level prevailed in the end.
The bracket that the Tigers are in also looks more manageable as Michigan State has gotten off to slow starts in each of their first two games while the 3 and 4-seeds in the region were upset. Bruce Pearl's team was the longest-running No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for a reason and there is a lot of evidence in support of a deep run from the Tigers.
4. Houston Cougars
Seeing J'Wan Roberts contributing in the first weekend was a positive development for Houston, which got bounced in the Sweet 16 last year thanks to an ill-timed injury to Jamal Shead. The Cougars slipped a bit thanks to a bad finish to their second round game, which gave Gonzaga a chance to tie it in the final minutes, but the Cougars survived and advanced to the Sweet 16.
The Midwest Region is also a challenge for the Cougars, who saw chalk hold and have three fan bases (Purdue, Tennessee and Kentucky) that figure to be more present in Indianapolis than theirs will. That road alone makes it tougher for Houston even though they are the deepest team left in their region.
5. Tennessee Volunteers
It's easy to forget that the Volunteers were the No. 1 team in the land for a significant stretch in Tennessee and January, but that team showed up in a big way on the first weekend. Effortless destructions of Wofford and UCLA have sent the Vols to Indy in peak form, which is good news since a rematch with Kentucky (who swept them during the regular season) awaits them.
Tennessee will also have to overcome the shaky tournament history of head coach Rick Barnes, who has usually seen his teams bow out at this stage of the dance. Finding another guy to take big shots like Dalton Knecht did last season would also be a big help if the Volunteers can reach their first Final Four.
6. Michigan State Spartans
The lack of three-point shooting remains a concern for the Spartans, who were in a dog fight with New Mexico on Sunday night, but Michigan State's depth and physicality is formidable. Having legendary head coach Tom Izzo on the sidelines is also an X-factor for Michigan State, which is looking to get back to the Final Four for the first time since 2019.
There is also a bit of history that the Spartans are looking to overcome as no team that began the preseason unranked and landed a Top 2 seed has ever reached the Final Four. While that bit of trivia swallowed up St. John's, Michigan State will look to overcome it with their grit, fastbreak game and some more March magic from Izzo.
7. BYU
The red-hot Cougars are surging thanks to an excellent start that saw them win a battle with VCU before surviving a thriller against Big Ten runner-up Wisconsin in the Round of 32. Few teams in the country are playing better than BYU, which could set them up nicely against a sluggish Alabama team that they will face in the Sweet 16.
Duke likely awaits on the other side of the East Region bracket, however, which is a problem since BYU's defense will have few answers for Flagg and company. Jared Young's team has overachieved to get to this point, however, so counting them out would be a mistake.
8. Michigan
While the Wolverines were without a doubt fortunate that UC San Diego's shooting was cold in the first half of their opening game, they showed why they won the Big Ten in the Round of 32. Dusty May's team produced a stone-cold comeback against Texas A&M to stun the Aggies in the final minutes and reach the Sweet 16.
Having a big-centric offense led by Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf makes Michigan a true throwback in an era of 3-and-D offense. The Wolverines will have the difficult task of trying to slow down Auburn before a potential grudge match with Michigan State, which swept them in the regular season, in the Elite Eight.
9. Alabama
No one's stock slipped more in the first weekend than Alabama's, which gave up 81 against Robert Morris and played sluggishly against a very physical Saint Mary's team. The talent advantage that the Crimson Tide had on offense was enough to push them past the Gaels but the road ahead is very challenging for Nate Oats' team.
A date with BYU on Thursday night promises to reach the 90s in scoring, meaning a shootout win will be necessary for another trip to the Elite Eight. Dealing with Duke's physicality is also problematic for Alabama, which has looked very bad when faced with tough defenses who can push them around throughout the season.
10. Texas Tech
Perhaps the quietest first weekend belonged to Texas Tech, which handled UNC Wilmington and Drake with relative ease to reach the Sweet 16. Another double-digit seed awaits the Red Raiders as Arkansas knocked out St. John's, meaning that Texas Tech won't face a lower seed before the Elite Eight.
That top seed would be Florida, however, and the Gators have shown they can withstand the physicality that the Red Raiders would like to throw at them. Texas Tech has the safest road to the Elite Eight but they may have a very difficult time getting beyond that.
11. Kentucky Wildcats
Mark Pope's first year in Lexington will go down as a success after Kentucky returned to the Sweet 16. A strong first-round effort against Troy was backed up by taking advantage of the bad version of Illinois showing up, but the fact that Lamont Butler is playing on essentially one shoulder has had a big impact on the Wildcats' defense.
Even though Kentucky swept Tennessee during the regular season, it is difficult to expect a very banged-up Wildcats side to beat them for a third time. Surviving that game would likely earn a date with Houston, which would expose Kentucky's defensive deficiencies on another level.
12. Ole Miss Rebels
Fewer teams had a bigger March Madness glow-up than Ole Miss, which entered the NCAA Tournament slumping before dismantling North Carolina and Iowa State to get to the second weekend. Perhaps the lights of March Madness brought another gear out of head coach Chris Beard, who has done some of his best work in the NCAA Tournament over the years.
Beard is also very familiar with Michigan State, who he knocked out of the 2019 Final Four when he was at Texas Tech, and they have the physicality to survive a war with the Spartans. Taking down Auburn in the Elite Eight would be a challenge, however, as Ole Miss played the Tigers three times this season and looked outmatched in all of them.
13. Maryland
Derik Queen may have saved the One Shining Moment video with the tournament's first buzzer-beater on Sunday night but the Crab Five have lived life on the edge for a while. While a first-round win over Grand Canyon was a notable exception, Maryland has played in plenty of close games over the course of the season and that recipe will come back to bite you at some point in March.
Drawing Florida in the Sweet 16 is a tough ask because Maryland doesn't have a true answer to Clayton, who is one of the best players in the tournament this side of Flagg. If they can pull off a big upset, the Terrapins would have to feel great about their chances to take down Texas Tech, but the road to get to that Elite Eight game is fraught with peril.
14. Arizona Wildcats
Having a March Madness veteran like Caleb Love on your side is a big win for Arizona. Love carried the Wildcats past Oregon on Sunday night, scoring 29 points and putting up nine rebounds in the win, but they have the unenviable task of drawing Duke in the Sweet 16.
That contest will be in Newark, which will be a veritable Duke home game since a lot of their alumni base is in the New York metropolitan area. These teams also met in November and Duke won by 14 on the road, which is not a good omen for a rematch at this stage of the season.
15. Purdue Boilermakers
Like the Wolverines before them, Purdue was fortunate that their first-round opponent couldn't hit outside shots as High Point was an upset minded 13-seed. Following up that game with a demolition of McNeese was a good sign for Purdue, but the Boilermakers' flaws are more notable in a stacked field like this one.
Drawing Houston in the Sweet 16 is also a tough task since the physicality the Cougars bring is a perfect counter to the Boilermakers' perimeter-oriented game in the post Zach Edey-era. The one benefit that Purdue has is that this game will be played 70 miles from their campus, allowing plenty of their fans to flood the building in Indianapolis and make this more of a road game for the top seed.
16. Arkansas Razorbacks
In the Hall of Fame coaches tournament that was held in one of the Providence pods, Calipari emerged as the winner with big wins over Bill Self's Kansas team and Pitino's St. John's squad. Boogie Fland's return also energized the Razorbacks, who have looked like a much more dynamic team since a season-turning win in Calipari's return to Lexington in mid-February.
Drawing Texas Tech in the Sweet 16 may be the end of the road for the Razorbacks, however, as they don't really have a good answer for JT Toppin on their roster. Potentially landing Florida in the Elite Eight would also be rough as the Gators have significantly leveled up since the teams last met in mid-January.