The second round of the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament delivered intense matchups, surprising upsets, and dominant performances, setting the stage for an exciting Sweet Sixteen.
Conference Dominance and Struggles
The SEC has established itself as the most dominant conference, achieving a 7-1 record in the second round. By sending 7 teams to the Sweet Sixteen, the SEC set a record for the most teams from a conference to reach the third round. The Big Ten and Big 12 have also had a big presence in the tournament, each sending four teams to the Sweet Sixteen. However, the ACC and Big East have struggled in the tournament, with Duke being the only ACC representative in the Sweet Sixteen while none of the Big East teams made it past the second round.
“SEC is a very dominant conference because they recruit well and they had 14 teams in the selected in the tournament,” junior Kaiir Jones said.
Key Upsets and Cinderella Runs
The biggest underdog story of the second round came from No. 10 seed Arkansas, which surprised everyone by beating No. 2 St. John’s, a fan favorite, to win it all. Billy Richmond III scored 16 points off the bench for the Razorbacks and helped them to keep the lead the entire game.
Maryland and Colorado State came down to the wire in a thrilling matchup between the two teams. The Terrapins had the ball down by one (71-70) with only 3.6 seconds left. Ja’Kobi Gillespie inbounded the ball to freshman center Derik Queen, who got the ball at the top of the key. Queen drove left to the low block and banked a jump shot fadeaway over Colorado State defender Ethan Morton, for the 72-71 win over the Rams. Michigan, BYU, and Ole Miss also secured unexpected victories over higher-seeded opponents.
Top Seeds Hold Strong
The Duke Blue Devils had a dominant win against the nine-seeded Baylor Bears by a score of 89-66, led by junior guard Tyrese Proctor. Proctor shined with a career-high of seven 3-pointers on 7-8 shooting and ended the game with 25 points. In addition to Proctor, both Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel scored in double digits.
“Maryland is coming off of good momentum,” junior Michael Taylor said, “I think they have enough to win it all.”
