2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament explained

Year:	2025
Teams:	68
Finalfourarena:	Alamodome
Finalfourcity:	San Antonio, Texas

The 2025 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament will involve 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament to determine the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's college basketball national champion for the 2024–25 season. The 86th annual edition of the tournament will begin on March 18, 2025, and will conclude with the championship game on April 7, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Tournament procedure

Pending any changes, a total of 68 teams will enter the 2025 tournament. A total of 31 automatic bids are awarded to each program that win a conference tournament. The remaining 37 bids are issued "at-large", with selections extended by the NCAA Selection Committee on Selection Sunday, March 16. The Selection Committee will also seed the entire field from 1 to 68.

Eight teams (the four-lowest seeded automatic qualifiers and the four lowest-seeded at large-teams) play in the First Four. The winners of these games will advance to the main tournament bracket.

2025 NCAA Tournament schedule and venues

The following are the sites selected to host each round of the 2025 tournament:.^[1]

First Four

• March 18 and 19
  • University of Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio (Host: University of Dayton)

First and Second Rounds (Subregionals)

• March 20 and 22
  • Amica Mutual Pavilion, Providence, Rhode Island (Host: Providence College)
  • Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky (Host: University of Kentucky)
  • Intrust Bank Arena, Wichita, Kansas (Host: Wichita State University)
  • Ball Arena, Denver, Colorado (Host: Mountain West Conference)
• March 21 and 23
  • Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio (Host: Mid-American Conference)
  • Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Host: Marquette University)
  • PNC Arena, Raleigh, North Carolina (Host: North Carolina State University)
  • Climate Pledge Arena, Seattle, Washington (Host: University of Washington)

Regional Semi-Finals and Finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight)

• March 27 and 29
  • East Regional
    • Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey (Host: Seton Hall University)
  • West Regional
    • Chase Center, San Francisco, California (Host: Pac-12 Conference)
• March 28 and 30
  • South Regional
    • State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia (Host: Georgia Institute of Technology)
  • Midwest Regional
    • Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana (Hosts: Horizon League, IU-Indianapolis)

National Semifinals and Championship (Final Four)

• April 5 and 7
  • Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas (Hosts: UTSA, University of the Incarnate Word)

San Antonio will host the Final Four for the fifth time, having previously hosted in 2018.

Media coverage

Television

See main article: NCAA March Madness (TV program). CBS Sports and TNT Sports have US television rights to the tournament.^[2] As part of a cycle that began in 2016, CBS will televise the 2025 Final Four and the national championship game.

Television channels

• Selection Show – CBS
• First Four – TruTV
• First and Second Rounds – CBS, TBS, TNT, and TruTV.
• Regional Semifinals (Sweet 16) and Finals (Elite 8) – CBS and TBS
• National Semifinals (Final Four) and Championship – CBS

Radio

Westwood One will have exclusive coverage of the entire tournament.

Internet

Video

Live video of games is available for streaming through the following means:^[3]

• NCAA March Madness Live (website and app, CBS games available for free on digital media players; access to all other games requires TV Everywhere authentication through provider)
• Paramount+ (only CBS games)
• Max (only TBS, TNT, and truTV games)
• Watch TBS website and app (only TBS games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
• Watch TNT website and app (only TNT games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
• Watch truTV website and app (only truTV games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
• CBS website and app (only CBS games, required TV Everywhere authentication)
• Websites and apps of cable, satellite, and OTT providers of CBS, TBS, TNT, and truTV (access required subscription)

For the app this year, a multiview which showed all games airing simultaneously was available for the second straight year.^[4]

In addition, the March Madness app will offer Fast Break, whiparound coverage of games similar to NFL RedZone on the First weekend of the tournament (First and Second rounds).

AudioLive audio of games is available for streaming through the following means:

• NCAA March Madness Live (website and app)
• Westwood One Sports website
• TuneIn (website and app, required TuneIn Premium subscription)
• Varsity Network app
• Websites and apps of Westwood One Sports affiliates

The March Madness app also supported Apple CarPlay and Android Auto through a native app.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Future Dates & Sites. March 30, 2012. NCAA.
2. News: Bonesteel. Matt. CBS And Turner lock down NCAA Tournament Through 2032. The Washington Post. April 12, 2016. April 12, 2016.
3. Web site: Maiman . Beth . March Madness TV schedule: How to watch and live stream every game in the NCAA men's basketball tournament . NCAA . March 9, 2017 . March 8, 2017 . March 9, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170309203801/http://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/march-madness-2017-tv-schedule-how-watch-and-live-stream . live .
4. Web site: Costa . Brandon . 2023-03-16 . March Madness Live Returns with Four-Game Multiview on Desktop; Greater Focus on Discoverability Across Devices . 2023-03-17 . Sports Video Group . March 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230317042041/https://www.sportsvideo.org/2023/03/16/march-madness-live-returns-with-four-game-multiview-on-desktop-greater-focus-on-discoverability-across-devices/ . live .
5. Web site: Miller . Chance . 2023-03-10 . NCAA March Madness app will support Live Activities, CarPlay, and more this year . 2023-03-17 . 9to5Mac . March 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230317042036/https://9to5mac.com/2023/03/10/stream-march-madness-app-live-activites/ . live .