While some might bemoan the lack of Cinderella in the second weekend of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the consolation for your tiny dancer tears is a Sweet 16 schedule loaded with heavyweight matchups. Across the eight programs that will be playing during East Regional and West Regional games on Thursday night, five of them have won national championships in the last 35 years; combined, they account for nearly one-third of the NCAA Tournament titles in that span.
The night gets started with offensive fireworks from No. 2 seed Alabama and No. 6 seed BYU in Newark, New Jersey, followed shortly by No. 1 seed Florida taking on No. 4 seed Maryland after the Terps delivered the tournament’s first true buzzer-beater thanks to the late heroics of star freshman Derik Queen.
In the first of two night caps we get No. 1 Duke squaring off against a familiar foe in No. 4 Arizona, who not only carries its own program history against the Blue Devils but some personal history as well thanks to Wildcats, and former North Carolina, star guard Caleb Love. The final game of the night features the only double-digit seed of the entire Sweet 16, but it’s hard to be a true Cinderella when Arkansas is coming from the SEC and led by a Hall of Fame coach in John Calipari. The No. 10 seed Razorbacks are coming off a big opening weekend but face one of the most consistent programs from the Big 12 in No. 3 seed Texas Tech, as Grant McCasland looks to reach the Elite Eight for the first time as a head coach.
But the storylines aren’t enough for a college basketball fan when we get to this portion of the tournament. We only have but so many games left in March Madness, so we might as well make some picks for every one we have left. After breaking down the points spreads and the totals, we’ve selected a best bet for all four of Thursday’s regional semifinal games along with the selections from our committee of experts.
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