March Madness Bracket Predictions & Expert Picks: Best Bracket Predictions and Latest Odds
It's finally here. The first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament officially begins at 12:15 p.m. ET with Louisville taking on Creighton in the first of 16 games on the day. We're in the final hours, minutes, seconds to finalize your March Madness bracket predictions.
The field of 64 is set and the March Madness bracket is complete. We asked AI to fill out a March Madness bracket, complete with an exact score prediciton for every game through the national championship on Monday, April 7. Now, it's time to let the humans show their stuff, and we present our expert March Madness bracket predictions.
🤔 Need help with your bracket? We broke down the best strategies with our March Madness bracket tips for beginners.
📊 2025 March Madness bracket predictions
We asked six of our college basketball betting experts to complete a March Madness bracket. The results weren't quite unanimous, but No. 1 seeds Duke and Florida are common hopes to play for a national championship in two-plus weeks.
Need more expert opinion? Here are our March Madness media expert bracket picks.
| Expert | March Madness winner | March Madness runner-up |
|---|---|---|
| Gabe Henderson | Duke | Florida |
| Mike Spector | Florida | Duke |
| Phil Wood | Florida | Duke |
| Isaiah Sirois | Duke | Florida |
| Brenden Schaeffer | Duke | Texas Tech |
| Shane Jackson | Duke | Auburn |
🔮 March Madness bracket picks & tips
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- Free printable March Madness bracket PDF
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- March Madness bracket tips for beginners
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- Printable Women's March Madness bracket
📖 March Madness regional previews: South | East | Midwest | West
⏰ Expert last-minute bracket predictions
Editor's note: March Madness brackets were submitted before the conclusion of the four First Four games.
😈 Gabe Henderson's March Madness bracket
This just feels like a chalky season, doesn't it? Duke ticks all of the boxes needed to win a national title, from filling the KenPom requirements to having the resume. The Blue Devils also boast two of the nation's top players in Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel.
They have what I believe to be the easiest region in the March Madness bracket. All signs point to Duke and I won't shy away from my gut this season.
🐊 Mike Spector's March Madness bracket
The SEC made history with 14 teams earning NCAA Tournament berths. The hottest one of them all is the conference tournament champion Gators, whom I expect to win the national championship.
All of Florida's losses came against NCAA Tournament teams, and it owns five wins over teams seeded either No. 1 or No. 2. The Gators are one of three teams that rank in the top 10 in both of KenPom's adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency metrics, and they have arguably the easiest path of any No. 1 seed to get to the Final Four.
🐊 Phil Wood's March Madness bracket
In the South, UC San Diego will advance to the Sweet 16, but Michigan State will beat Auburn to make the Final Four. The West features a 12 seed favored over a five, so I'll take Colorado State in the "upset".
St. John's and Texas Tech are potential Final Four teams, but they won't get past Florida. Duke has the easiest path of the one seeds, as they run through the East without facing a 2, 3, or 4 seed. The Midwest is where I'm taking all my chances. I'm picking Gonzaga to advance to the Elite Eight before ultimately falling to Tennessee. In the Final Four, the Gators take down the Spartans, while the Blue Devils prove to be too much for the Volunteers.
In the championship game, the Gators take care of business against Duke, earning the national title for the best conference (ever?).
😈 Isaiah Sirois' March Madness bracket
The Duke Blue Devils are terrifying, and while they are a chalk play at +300 to win the NCAA Tournament, you have to get your share of exposure to them this year.
Since February 1, they're the best team in the country in T-Rank's power ratings by a wider gap than the one between next-best Florida and fifth-ranked Auburn. I'm lower on Houston (slow pace creates variance risk that Gonzaga or Clemson could exploit), Auburn (Louisville, Michigan, and Texas A&M are all brutal possible early matchups), and both St. John's and Michigan State being unranked in preseason polling bodes poorly.
😈 Brenden Schaeffer's March Madness bracket
In the early round of the NCAA Tournament, I love a good upset-heavy bracket just as much as the next guy. But when it comes to predicting a champion, I see only one path for the 2025 event.
The Duke Blue Devils are the most complete and dominant team in college basketball. With the nation's best player, and as the only team in the country with a top-five adjusted efficiency on both offense and defense, Duke has the balance of a champion.
😈 Shane Jackson's bracket
I won't overthink things after losing my pool last year because I picked Purdue over UConn in the national championship. Duke is the best team in college basketball and my pick to cut down the nets.
Duke’s Kenpom net rating of plus-38.27 is the highest mark since the 1999 Blue Devils (plus-43.01), who lost in the national championship game. For comparison, UConn’s net rating was plus-36.43 last year when half of my pool picked the Huskies.
Because I’m backing the most popular national champion (25.1% on ESPN), I’m fading Florida (21.3%) as the second-most picked team to cut down the nets. We typically see at least one No. 1 seed lose in the first weekend, and the Gators provide a decent leverage bet to do so in the most challenging region.
Other than that, I went with some upsets early before settling on a chalky Final Four. That’s generally the best approach to winning your pool, but it is especially true this year when the No. 1 seeds are stronger than ever.
🖨️ Printable March Madness bracket 2025
You can download a March Madness bracket PDF right here to fill in with your NCAA Tournament field.
🏀 How to fill out a March Madness bracket
- Join a pool
- Start with a clean bracket
- Pick winners for the opening round after advancing those teams to the Round of 32
- Select your 16 winners in the Round of 32
- Choose your winners in the eight respective Sweet 16 matchups
- Nail down your Final Four teams after picking the winner for each Elite Eight showdown
- Advance two teams to the national championship game
- Pick your winner in the title game, with a projected final score as a tiebreaker
- Submit your bracket
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