The 5 vs. 12 matchup is an important part of your NCAA Tournament bracket strategy, and the 2025 March Madness bracket should provide four more games that could be highly competitive. McNeese State head coach Will Wade is a Clemson alum and will guide the champions of the Southland Conference against his alma mater on Thursday. Tipoff for this Midwest Region matchup is scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET and the Cowboys are hoping to become one of the 36% of No. 12 seeds to win in the first round. Meanwhile, in the East Region of the 2025 March Madness bracket, the Oregon Ducks will take on the Liberty Flames in the 5 vs. 12 matchup. How should you handle 5 vs. 12 in your 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket picks and which potential 2025 March Madness upsets should be on your radar? Before making any 2025 March Madness bracket predictions, be sure to check out the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
Their proven projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 91 percent of all CBS Sports brackets in four of the past six tournaments. It was all over UConn’s championship run a year ago and nailed 13 teams in the Sweet 16. It also nailed Alabama’s Cinderella run to the Final Four as a 4-seed.
It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 24 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016. There’s simply no reason to rely on luck when there’s proven technology to help you dominate your 2025 March Madness bracket picks.
Now, with the 2025 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.
Three 2025 March Madness bracket games to watch
One of the most intriguing 2025 March Madness matchups to watch: No. 5 Michigan vs. No. 12 UC San Diego in the South region. Dusty May’s first season in Ann Arbor yielded a Big Ten championship and earned the Wolverines their 32nd trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history. Michigan is led by seven-footers Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin, with Wolf having led Yale to an upset win over Auburn last season and Goldin being a key piece of May’s FAU squad that made the Final Four in 2023. Meanwhile, UC San Diego is making its first March Madness appearance in its fifth Division I season. The Tritons are a 30-win team and ranked a surprising 36th in the KenPom efficiency rankings, which is the highest for a Big West squad in KenPom history.
Another 2025 NCAA Tournament matchup to keep an eye on is No. 8 Louisville vs. No. 9 Creighton in the South Region. First-year head coach Pat Kelsey has spearheaded one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation as Louisville went from 8-24 overall and 3-17 in the ACC to 27-7 and 18-2 in the ACC. The Cardinals were 20 minutes away from winning the ACC Championship and likely having a significantly higher seed than they do, but a poor second half against Duke left them the ACC Tournament runner-ups. Still, Louisville is 20-2 over its last 22 games. Creighton is playing in its fifth straight NCAA Tournament and had at least one victory in each of its prior four. Head coach Greg McDermott has Creighton in its 13th NCAA Tournament over his 17 years at the school as he’s turned the Bluejays into one of the most stable programs in the nation.
Another 2025 March Madness game to watch out for: No. 4 seed Texas A&M will battle No. 13 seed Yale in the South Region. The Aggies are in the NCAA Tournament for the third straight season under head coach Buzz Williams. Texas A&M is led by Wade Taylor IV, who is now Texas A&M’s all-time leading scorer with 2,028 career points. Yale is extremely dangerous thanks to its prolific shooting from 3-point range. The Bulldogs are knocking down 38.77% of their 3-pointers this season, which ranks eighth in college basketball. The Bulldogs have won 16 of their last 17 games but were untested throughout the season as they lost their one game versus a team in the 2025 March Madness bracket. You can see the model’s 2025 NCAA bracket picks here.
How to make 2025 NCAA bracket predictions
Who wins every tournament-defining matchup? And which teams will make surprising runs through the 2025 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model’s track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you’ll want to see which stunners it’s calling this year before locking in any 2025 NCAA bracket picks.
So what’s the optimal NCAA Tournament 2025 bracket? And which NCAA Tournament Cinderella teams will shock college basketball? Visit SportsLine now to see which double-digit seeds you can back with confidence, all from the model that called UConn’s national title and nailed 13 Sweet 16 teams in 2024.
