March Madness 2025: Who are Yahoo Sports users picking in their NCAA tournament brackets?
The NCAA tournament is almost here, and thousands of fans are rushing to fill out their brackets before the first games tip on Thursday morning.
As of Wednesday morning, here’s a look at who fans are going with so far when they fill out their men’s and women’s brackets through Yahoo Sports.
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Duke the overwhelming men’s favorite
Even with Cooper Flagg’s ankle injury, the Blue Devils are the overwhelming pick to win the national championship.
More than 30% of Yahoo users have them winning the national championship this season, and more than 50% of them have the Blue Devils making the national championship game, and two-thirds of brackets have them in the Final Four.
It’s easy to see why fans are rolling with Duke. The Blue Devils rolled through the ACC without any issue, and dropped just a single game while winning both the regular season and conference championship titles. Flagg, who should go No. 1 overall in the NBA Draft later this summer, is expected to return for the Blue Devils’ first round game on Friday. He needed a wheelchair after twisting his right ankle in the ACC tournament, and did not play in their final two games.
Florida is the second most-picked team on the men’s side. The Gators, who played their way into a No. 1 seed with their win in the SEC tournament, were picked to win the national championship by 20.5% of users. Nearly 59% of people think that they’ll make it to the Final Four, too. Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament, is the only other team to get double-figure support. About 11% have the Tigers winning the championship, though more than 52% have them making it to San Antonio. Houston, the final No. 1 seed, received nearly 9% of national championship picks.
From there, the numbers drop down significantly. Only seven other schools received more than one full percent of national championship picks. About 2.5% of brackets think that UConn, which has won back-to-back national titles, will make it to the Final Four.
About 41% of brackets have Drake making it out of the first round, which is among the best for a “Cinderella” team in this year’s tournament. Saint Mary’s earned nearly 58% of support in the first round, too. While support for the Gaels drops below 10% in the second round, almost 12% of fans have the Bulldogs making it out of the first weekend.
South Carolina women picked to repeat
The women’s side is very straightforward, though far less decisive as the men’s is. Almost 29% of people have South Carolina repeating as national champions this season. The Gamecocks, who rolled past Texas in the SEC championship game, narrowly missed out on earning the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.
About 56% of users have the Gamecocks making it to the national championship game, and almost 72% have them in the Final Four.
UConn, which earned a No. 2 seed, is next. About 18% of brackets have the Huskies winning the national championship, which would be the program's first in nearly a decade. Only about 44% have them in the Final Four, however.
UCLA, the No. 1 overall seed, and USC, the last No. 1 seed, were next when it comes to winning the national championship. Almost 16% of fans have the Bruins cutting down the nets, while more than 11% went with JuJu Watkins and the Trojans. About 65% of users have UCLA making the Final Four, however, which is the second-best in that category only behind South Carolina. Texas, the last No. 1 seed in the tournament, earned about 5% of national championship picks.
Among the potential “Cinderella” picks in this year’s bracket, Iowa made it to the Sweet 16 in more than 32% of brackets. The Hawkeyes are in their first season after the Caitlin Clark era, which saw them make the national championship game in back-to-back campaigns. Less than 1.5% of users have them making it back to that point, however. Harvard, another popular underdog pick by experts, isn’t getting that support from fans. Only about 22% have the Crimson making it out of the first round.
Men’s brackets are due before the first round officially tips off on Thursday morning. The women’s tournament starts on Friday morning. While a lot of thought can go into them, there are options to autofill brackets at Yahoo Sports with a number of categories — from top seeds, popular picks, smart schools, party schools and more. With how chaotic the tournaments can get, sometimes a random bracket may be the better option.
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