2025 NCAA Tournament: Sunday viewing guide, updated bracket, schedule and open thread

We have a long day of waiting ‘till the Tide tips at 5:10 Central, where hopefully a healing and refocused ‘Bama can punch their ticket to another Sweet 16.

Here’s what’s on tap for the day in the Round of 32 (all times Eastern, via CBS Sports):

There is a lot more balance here than yesterday’s defense-first showings.

* The shootout of the day figures to be Illinois and Kentucky — two teams with flaky defenses and potent offenses. Both fanbases are going to take a loss here hard, as first weekend flameout was not in the cards for either.

* Your designated rock-fight is Iowa State vs Ole Miss, two nasty defensive squads. The Cyclones are without their best player and leading scorer. Is there enough firepower to get by without him?

* Don’t sleep on Duke / Baylor either. Great interior defensive teams playing very well down the stretch. Will it be an upset? Probably not. But you look at Duke’s output vs non-ACC teams as opposed to what they rang up in conference play, and you start questioning the dominance narrative.

* Low-key potential upset of the day (or at least really good game,) is Oregon v Arizona. The longtime PAC 12 rivals face off after a month of hot play by both. The Ducks have the size on the interior to be one of the few teams to counter what the Wildcats want to do.

* I suspect UConn v Florida is more sizzle than steak. Both teams are 8-2 heading into this, but no team in the country has looked better the last month than the Florida Gators. Plus, the analytics like them to win by double digits. That’s not out of the realm of probability either, especially the rest of the Big East’s showing.

Also, Dan Hurley is a whiny beeyatch and that post-loss press conference would be amazingly salty

Here is your ‘Bama — Saint Mary preview:

And here is your updated bracket (click to embiggen):

As always, join in the discussion and be good to one another. We’ll see you at 5 for the Tide-Gaels

Roll Tide