March Madness Sweet 16 bracket predictions: Picks for NCAA tournament

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March Madness is down to the Sweet 16.

And so far, the 2025 NCAA tournament has been all about the power conferences.

Half of the record 14 Southeastern Conference schools in the tournament remain, with at least two teams from the conference in three of the four regions. The Big 12 and Big Ten each have four teams still dancing, while Duke is the lone Atlantic Coast Conference team left. The Blue Devils are among the four No. 1 seeds all still in the bracket. Meanwhile, all the Big East teams were eliminated by the second round.

But what really stands out after the first weekend is that the tournament has been void of any real Cinderella. No team from a mid-major conference is represented in the Sweet 16. It’s also the first Sweet 16 since 2007 without a team seeded 11 or higher.

John Calipari’s 10th-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks, from the SEC, is the last double-digit seed left in the tournament after upsetting Big East champion St. John’s in the second round.

The lack of early round upsets might just mean we’re in store for some exciting Sweet 16 games between powerhouse programs. Who will win?

Despite Marquette and Wisconsin bowing out in the first and second rounds, respectively, Journal Sentinel digital producers Chris Kuhagen and Emmett Prosser are back with some fearless Sweet 16 predictions in each of the NCAA tournament regions.

Like our predictions last week when the bracket was revealed, Kuhagen has the South and East regions, while Prosser is picking the Midwest and West regions:

March Madness Sweet 16 predictions: South Region

Auburn (1) over Michigan (5)Mississippi (6) over Michigan State (2)

Analysis: It’s the SEC vs. Big Ten in the two Sweet 16 games in the South Region. Both of the SEC schools will emerge to the Elite Eight in two hard-fought heavyweight battles.

It hasn’t…

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Source link : https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/college/ncaa-tournament/2025/03/25/sweet-16-predictions-march-madness-ncaa-tournament-picks/82643724007/

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Publish date : 2025-03-25 17:03:00

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