Men's NCAA Tournament 2025 Power Ranking the Sweet 16 Teams

Though it feels like the 2025 men's NCAA tournament has only just begun, more than three quarters of the original field has already been eliminated, leaving us just 15 games away from crowning a national champion.

And the list of remaining teams is outrageously stacked.

Of the 16 teams still standing, 15 were in the top 22 of our original 68-team power rankings, including the top eight in its entirety. The only exception is No. 10 seed Arkansas, who we had power-ranked more like a No. 8 seed at No. 31 a little over one week ago.

However, this isn't just some hoops rankings version of "Squeeze Play" on The Price Is Right where we take out a few numbers and push the rest together in the same order. Rather, most of that top eight (though still all contained to the top eight) is in a slightly different spot. And with the way it played against North Carolina and Iowa State, former No. 22 Ole Miss leapfrogged several teams.

For the most part, though, these rankings are a product of what these teams were over the course of their first 30-plus games as opposed to the most recent two victories, so we're not completely re-shuffling the deck or anything.

Of note, remaining path means nothing here. We'll also have a title odds piece Wednesday for that part to be taken into consideration, but this is a straight-up ranking of the 16 remaining teams from worst to best.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 19

How They've Looked: Large. The big-man duo of Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin went for a modest (for them) 23 points and 18 rebounds in the opener against UC San Diego before improving to 37 points, 21 rebounds and six blocks against Texas A&M. Thanks to the 7-footers, the Wolverines broke even with the Aggies in second-chance points, which is where the latter so often thrived this season.

Bread and Butter: Two-point field goals. In making 57.3 percent of their own twos while holding opponents to 46.0 percent, the Wolverines rank top 20 in the nation on both ends of the floor. An occasional reminder of that would be swell, though, as they often fall in love with their much less reliable three-point shooting.

Achilles' Heel: Turnovers. It's honestly a bit surprising the Wolverines survived the opener against UC San Diego, given their turnover margin woes and the fact that the Tritons were best in the nation in that department. Michigan kept the damage to just a minus-six and managed to prevail with UCSD shooting 23 percent from distance, but ball security could be what buries them.

MVP: Danny Wolf. The Yale transfer averages 13 points, nearly 10 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. His combination of size and versatility makes him one of the biggest matchup nightmares in the country.

Championship Blueprint: Limit turnovers, own the paint and really lean into that 11-0 record since mid-January in games decided by five points or fewer.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 18

How They've Looked: Upset-proof. A lot of folks (myself included) expected Purdue to lose to High Point. After that win on Thursday, nearly as many people (myself not included) thought the Boilermakers would lose to McNeese. But they took care of business, mostly on the glass, with Trey Kaufman-Renn going for a combined 43 points and 23 rebounds.

Bread and Butter: Getting up good shots. Purdue is roughly 10th in the nation in three-point percentage, well above average inside the arc and just generally solid at creating quality looks. That'll happen when you have maybe the best point guard in the nation and the great floor spacing that comes with an elite post presence surrounded by a bunch of three-point shooters.

Achilles' Heel: Interior defense. Both High Point and McNeese shot better than 50 percent from inside the arc, Purdue blocking a combined total of one shot in those two games. And that's nothing new. Lack of rim protection has been a major issue for the Boilermakers since losing 7'4" freshman Daniel Jacobsen to a season-ending injury one minute into the second game of the year.

MVP: Braden Smith. TKR was the hero of the first two rounds, and he and Smith definitely have a 1A/1B thing going on. Give us Smith in a close one, though, as he can control the game on both ends of the floor.

Championship Blueprint: Ride the dynamic duo, keep crashing the glass with reckless abandon and maybe check one last time to see if Zach Edey has any eligibility remaining.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 31

How They've Looked: Rejuvenated. When Arkansas announced in the buildup to Selection Sunday that Boogie Fland would be returning from his two-month hiatus for what was believed to be a season-ending thumb injury, we worried it might mess with the mojo of a team that had thrived with better-defined roles in his absence. Instead, his late steals against Kansas and his 20 minutes of turnover-free ball-handling against St. John's were so clutch for a team that looks nothing like a No. 10 seed these days.

Bread and Butter: Shot-blocking and downhill driving. In addition to Fland, the real change that has pushed the Razorbacks to another level lately has been the drastically improved play of Jonas Aidoo and Trevon Brazile. The veteran big men combined for 37 points, 17 rebounds and five blocks against the Jayhawks. Their presence in the paint and the guards' ability to drive has allowed the Hogs to withstand shooting 8-of-43 from distance thus far.

Achilles' Heel: Three-point shooting. When Bill Self threw a zone at the Razorbacks in the second half of the opener, it broke their brains. They couldn't figure out what to do with it. And that's largely because they don't have a go-to perimeter shooter, sitting at 32.4 percent as a team and with no one averaging more than 1.5 makes per team game.

MVP: Truly, it depends on the day. It was Fland and Adou Thiero early in the year, but they've been hurt lately. Nelly Davis has been key for two months, but rarely 'MVP' key. Zvonimir Ivišić had a stretch of dominance in the middle of the year. D.J. Wagner's been solid all season. We already mentioned Aidoo and Brazile as of late. And how about Billy Richmond III and Karter Knox combining for 31 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks in that war with St. John's? Any of the nine, when healthy, can carry this team.

Championship Blueprint: Keep blocking shots, scoring at the rim and getting a couple of TBD players grooving early in each game.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 22

How They've Looked: Splashy. Over its final eight games heading into the tournament, Ole Miss shot 29.4 percent from three-point range, never better than 35.7 percent. So color us surprised when the Rebels hit 40 percent against the Tar Heels before going 11-of-19 (57.9 percent) against Iowa State. They always had the defense to be a problem, but if they're shooting well, too? Look out.

Bread and Butter: Turnover margin. Ole Miss averages better than five more takeaways than it has giveaways, and turning 15 turnovers into 20 points was key in their win over the Cyclones. The 14 giveaways in the first game against North Carolina was the most they've had in a game since before Christmas, usually extremely secure with the ball.

Achilles' Heel: Rebound margin. They're not minus-10 per game or anything, but this is probably the worst rebounding team Chris Beard has ever had. Could prove disastrous in the next round against a Michigan State team that usually finishes around +10 in that department.

MVP: Sean Pedulla. Ole Miss has six players averaging at least 10 points per game, but Pedulla is the leader of the bunch in points, assists and steals. He went for 20, eight and four, respectively, against the Cyclones, which is better than usual, but not terribly out of character for him. It wasn't a new season high in any of those categories, at any rate.

Championship Blueprint: Stay hot from three, dominate the turnover battle and try not to get too out-classed on the glass.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 16

How They've Looked: Love-ly. As in Caleb Love, of course. He didn't do a ton in the opener against Akron, but the Wildcats also didn't much need him in that 28-point beatdown. Love was massive in what used to be a Pac-12 rivalry, though, going for 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the four-point victory over Oregon. He scored 20 in the second half as Arizona repeatedly rebuffed the Ducks' comeback efforts.

Bread and Butter: Owning the paint. Losing 7'2" Motiejus Krivas eight games into the season did nothing to change Arizona's identity as a team that dominates the glass, blocks a fair number of shots and does a lot of damage on two-point buckets. The tandem of Tobe Awaka and Henri Veesaar has been stout, and freshman forward Carter Bryant is much more of a force than he was early in the year.

Achilles' Heel: Three-point shooting. How much of a problem this part is in any given game depends on how Love is playing, but Arizona shoots a modest 33.4 percent as a team and has allowed 54 more triples than it has made. Between Duke in the Sweet 16 and either Alabama or BYU in the Elite Eight, it's likely that struggling to defend the arc will prove fatal.

MVP: Caleb Love. He got a bit forgotten amid the RJ Davis, Hunter Dickinson, Mark Sears and Johni Broome chatter, but this fifth-year senior is also now comfortably top 30 on the all-time scoring list at 2,727 points. Nobody tell him that he's 42 behind J.J. Redick or he might try to score 43 against the Blue Devils.

Championship Blueprint: Control the glass, get Love in a groove and hope for some good luck in the three-point defense department.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 11

How They've Looked: Capable. With a limited backcourt, the opener against Troy's turnover-forcing defense could've been a major problem, but Kentucky held its own in a game that was never all that close in the second half. And in the second round against Illinois, Kentucky's defense did a wonderful job, turning 14 steals into 26 points in winning what could've been a much higher-scoring affair.

Bread and Butter: Getting up good shots. Kentucky's offense ranks top 40 in the nation in two-point percentage, three-point percentage and turnover percentage. Suffice it to say, there's a reason they rank sixth in scoring at 85.0 PPG in spite of below-average offensive rebounding.

Achilles' Heel: Defense. Kentucky is well outside the top 300 in turnovers on defense, allows three-point attempts at one of the 50 highest rates and barely ranks top 300 in two-point field-goal defense. Though the Wildcats were fine on that end of the floor in the opening weekend, they entered the dance having allowed at least 82 points in six of their final seven games; at least 94 in each of their final three losses.

MVP: Otega Oweh. Alabama had Oweh's number this season, holding him to 10 points between his latter two games against the Crimson Tide. Aside from that, though, he's been pretty unstoppable, scoring at least 20 in seven of his last 11 games. He shredded Troy for 20, eight and six and has shown an ability to put this team on his back.

Championship Blueprint: Speed up the game, hit more threes than they allow and someone help Amari Williams defend the paint.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 15

How They've Looked: Offensive. That's the 'high-scoring' pronunciation, not the 'causing displeasure' one, just to be clear. Seven different Cougars made multiple field goals against an excellent VCU defense in the first round, and eight did the same against Wisconsin while reaching at least 91 points for the fifth time in their last 10 games. For both the Rams and Badgers, it was the highest point total they allowed all season.

Bread and Butter: Great shooting. The Cougars take and make a lot of threes, averaging 10.6 made triples at a 37.3 percent clip. That's 1.12 points per three-point shot, but they're even more efficient inside the arc at 58.4 percent on two-point attempts (1.17 points per shot). There's a reason only Houston has managed to even remotely slow them down since early February.

Achilles' Heel: Perimeter defense. BYU's last five opponents have averaged more than 12 made three-pointers and fewer than 10 turnovers per game. It has been more pronounced lately, but it's not exactly a recent development. Three-point defense has been a season-long struggle for the Cougars.

MVP: Richie Saunders. BYU's leading scorer by a margin of more than 200 points, Saunders is shooting 43 percent from three-point range for the year. He rarely flirts with 30 but has scored at least 22 in six of the Cougars' last 10 games. If the offense is to continue firing on all cylinders, he's the biggest piece of that puzzle.

Championship Blueprint: Keep shooting well, win the rebounding battle and maybe get an occasional stop on defense.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 10

How They've Looked: Crabulous. Against an upset-minded Grand Canyon team, Maryland blew the game wide open in a hurry, turning a 7-2 deficit into a 33-13 lead in the span of about nine minutes. And in a back-and-forth spectacular with what was a scorching-hot Colorado State team, Maryland had just enough magic up its star freshman's long-sleeved shirt to win at the buzzer.

Bread and Butter: Mistake-free basketball and quality defense. Maryland doesn't commit many fouls or turnovers. It does generate a good number of steals for a +141 turnover margin, and it does keep second chances to a minimum. Incredibly, the only defensive category in which the Terrapins aren't top 100 on KenPom is free-throw percentage against.

Achilles' Heel: Depth. It's not a problem until it is. We've made this same argument all season about Maryland's Crab Five approach, which resulted in a grand total of two points, one assist and one block from its bench against the Rams. We've seen teams win a title with just one or two reliable reserves, but it's hard to recall anything quite like this where it's the starting five or bust.

MVP: Derik Queen. He hit the game-winner against Colorado State, but he was the MVP long before that. Over his final 10 games prior to the tournament, he averaged 19.4 points and 10.7 rebounds. He's at 14.5 and 10.5, respectively, with four blocks and four assists through two March Madness games.

Championship Blueprint: Own the paint with Queen and Julian Reese, capitalize on the +4.0 turnover average and avoid foul trouble at all costs.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 6

How They've Looked: Late-arriving. Michigan State eventually blew out Bryant and pulled away from New Mexico toward the end, but it took the Spartans a while to get going in either game. And star freshman Jase Richardson never showed up in the latter, held scoreless until the final two minutes against the Lobos. Going to take better first halves to survive another weekend.

Bread and Butter: Rebounding. Michigan State is also No. 1 in the nation at three-point field-goal defense, but ranking second in the nation in rebound margin is the more noteworthy skill here. The Spartans aren't quite as ridiculously dominant on the glass as some of their Final Four runs of yore. They're at +9.5 per game now compared to +15.4 back when Jase Richardson's dad was the star in 2001. But it's still a major edge.

Achilles' Heel: Three-point shooting. Compared to starting 122-of-425 (28.7 percent) through their first 22 games, the Spartans have been a whole lot better at 89-of-256 (34.8 percent) since. It's still not exactly a strength of theirs, and going 4-of-15 (while almost breaking even in rebounding) against New Mexico is why that game stayed close throughout.

MVP: Jase Richardson. Tough night against the Lobos, but he was averaging 17.1 points and 4.7 rebounds in the 12 games prior to that one. And even though he shot 1-for-10 against UNM, he still impacted the game with four assists, two steals and a colossal late-game sequence in which he scored six points in the span of two possessions.

Championship Blueprint: Dominate the glass, defend the perimeter and get Richardson back on track.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 8

How They've Looked: Secure. Turnovers were never much of an issue for Texas Tech, but the Red Raiders had a combined total of 12 giveaways (only four live-ball turnovers) in defeating both UNC-Wilmington and Drake. They also shot 65.6 percent from inside the arc.

Bread and Butter: Offense fueled by JT Toppin and a ton of threes. Texas Tech leaned into its size advantage against Drake, but it had averaged 36.2 three-point attempts (to 27.5 two-point attempts) in its previous six games. Save for Federiko Federiko, everyone in the rotation can make it rain. Though, Toppin prefers to do his damage much closer to the rim.

Achilles' Heel: Inconsistent defense. Routinely dominating on that end of the floor is what propelled Texas Tech to the national championship game in 2019. But this year's Red Raiders are just average as far as rim protection and forcing turnovers are concerned. And when allowing more than 75 points this season, they've gone 2-5 with both wins coming in overtime.

MVP: JT Toppin. Said it before and we'll say it again: If Toppin had played the entire season the way he has been playing since early February, he probably wins National Player of the Year. After posting double-doubles in each of TTU's first two tournament games, Toppin is sitting at 22.6 PPG and 10.6 RPG over his last 13 contests. He's 17-of-20 on two-point attempts thus far in the dance.

Championship Blueprint: Get hot from distance, limit second-chance opportunities and ride Toppin to the top of the mountain.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 5

How They've Looked: Rejuvenated. In losing five of their final nine games prior to Selection Sunday, the Crimson Tide looked the part of a team that not only faced one of the toughest schedules ever, but also insisted upon facing it at the fastest tempo in the country. They looked a little refreshed in wins over Robert Morris and Saint Mary's, though, even if the defense struggled with Bobby Mo.

Bread and Butter: Scoring in bunches. Alabama led the nation in scoring at 90.1 points per game last season, and it has even kicked it up a notch to 90.8 this year. It's not just their nation-leading tempo, though. It's nation-leading tempo plus an effective field-goal percentage that almost ranks top 10. The Tide have reached triple digits eight times and has been held below 80 only four times.

Achilles' Heel: Turnover margin. Alabama was minus-three in the turnovers department against Robert Morris and minus-five against Saint Mary's, falling to minus-87 for the year. They're not overly careless with the ball on offense, but they rarely generate takeaways on defense. It's a big part of why opponents average north of 81 points against them.

MVP: Mark Sears. He especially looked gassed by the end of the season, but he was back to his old self in the opener against RMU, finishing that one with 22 points, 10 assists and five rebounds. If he can replicate that against BYU in the Sweet 16 and then against Duke in the Elite Eight, Alabama will be in business.

Championship Blueprint: Run and score, run and score, then run and score some more.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 7

How They've Looked: Defensive. What else is new, right? Wofford hit 11 three-pointers, but never had much of a prayer while the Volunteers finished +14 in points off turnovers. And though UCLA scored 16 meaningless points late in Round 2, Tennessee held the Bruins to 42 points through the first 35 minutes of that one—and scored another 15 off turnovers.

Bread and Butter: Lock-down defense. Tennessee ranks top 10 in the nation in block percentage, three-point percentage against, effective field-goal percentage against and adjusted defensive efficiency. The Volunteers couldn't do much of anything to slow down Florida in the SEC championship, but they have generally been impenetrable, sitting at 26-1 when allowing 72 points or fewer.

Achilles' Heel: Tertiary scoring. Tennessee is now 21-0 when Chaz Lanier scores at least 18 points, and it can usually count on a fair amount of offense from veteran point guard Zakai Zeigler. Beyond that, though? Jordan Gainey is a quality sixth man, but the last time a starter aside from Lanier or Zeigler scored 10 points was five games ago.

MVP: Chaz Lanier. As just mentioned, the Vols have been unbeatable when this North Florida transfer scores at least 18 points, which he has done in nearly 60 percent of their games. Getting him going early and often has been so key to their success.

Championship Blueprint: Get Lanier open looks from the perimeter, force the opposition to settle for contested threes and pray that both Rick Barnes and Tennessee basketball aren't actually cursed to never win one.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 3

How They've Looked: Ehhh. Auburn won each of its first two games by double digits, but if you were looking for the team that was the unanimous No. 1 in the AP poll for five weeks during the season to reestablish itself as a wrecking ball, you were left a bit disappointed. National Player of the Year candidate Johni Broome was particularly underwhelming, with 22 points on 22 shots for a pair of sub-100 O-ratings.

Bread and Butter: Unstoppable offense. When Auburn was really humming along at full strength this season, no one could slow this offense down. And the Tigers did at least show more of that (83 and 82 points in the first two games) than they did in the SEC tournament (62 and 65). This is also one of the best shot-blocking teams in the nation, though they only tallied seven rejections through the first weekend.

Achilles' Heel: Free throws. Not only does Auburn commit more than its fair share of fouls, allowing 44 more free-throw attempts than it has taken, but its two primary big men are black holes at the charity stripe, Broome shooting 59.2 percent while Dylan Cardwell is at a "could you at least try out a granny shot or something?" 31.7 percent. Those two shot a combined 6-of-14 as Auburn lost its SEC tournament semifinal by five.

MVP: Johni Broome. He hasn't been on point yet this tournament, but he had a combined 80 points in his final three games leading into the dance. He could be back with a vengeance for the Sweet 16.

Championship Blueprint: Reignite the offense, block a lot of shots and do what the best team from the best conference ought to do.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 4

How They've Looked: Resilient. Not much went Florida's way for the first three-quarters of that second-round showdown with Connecticut. But the Gators battled. They made their threes (9-of-19). They turned UConn's few turnovers (six) into points (10). They had an answer every time the Huskies threatened to put the game out of reach. And down the stretch, they asserted their dominance and rallied for a win. Championship-level performance in what may end up being their worst game of the tournament.

Bread and Butter: Transition offense. Florida can destroy you just fine with its half-court offense, one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the nation to go along with a rotation that simply doesn't miss all that many shots. But if the Gators are able to get out and run on a regular basis, they're probably going to run you right out of the gym.

Achilles' Heel: Perimeter defense. Teams only shoot 29.3 percent from distance against Florida, but best coach in the bleeping sport Dan Hurley sure felt that was where the Gators were more exploitable. His Huskies didn't make many of those open three-point attempts, but they were available. UConn also only committed six turnovers in that game, which helped limit the aforementioned transition offense.

MVP: Walter Clayton Jr. Alijah Martin was massive early against UConn, but of course it was Clayton leading the charge in the end. Florida's leading scorer and primary source of assists has been maybe the most valuable player in the nation not named Flagg or Broome. He has scored at least 22 points in six of the Gators' last seven games.

Championship Blueprint: Get the elite offense (No. 2 on KenPom) into a rhythm, turn some steals into easy buckets and just keep firing on all cylinders.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 2

How They've Looked: Elite. As Houston is wont to do against overmatched foes, it suffocated SIU-Edwardsville in the first round for a 78-40 rout. And though things got a little shaky in the final three minutes against Gonzaga, the Cougars never trailed at any point of that victory over a top-10 foe in KenPom's efficiency rankings.

Bread and Butter: Oppressive defense and quality three-point shots. Gonzaga almost became the first team to score 80 in regulation against Houston, but of course it was incredible defense (by Mylik Wilson in particular) that sealed the deal in the closing seconds. The Cougars also shot 50 percent from distance in that game, most of that coming from L.J. Cryer.

Achilles' Heel: Interior scoring. Even against SIU-E, Houston only shot 44.7 percent on two-point attempts, lowering what was already one of the worst success rates on deuces in the tournament field. The Cougars also shot 45.7 percent inside the arc against Gonzaga, even with Joseph Tugler tallying a rare double-double.

MVP: L.J. Cryer. We've gone back and forth between Cryer and Milos Uzan as Houston's MVP all season, but Cryer just matched a career high with 30 points (on 15 field-goal attempts) Saturday against the Zags. Not much of a tough decision at the moment.

Championship Blueprint: Clamp down on D, make it rain from three and continue to play like a team that has won 28 of its last 29 games.

Pre-Tournament Power Ranking: No. 1

How They've Looked: Inevitable. Even as Baylor was right there within two points of Duke at each of the first three media timeouts on Sunday afternoon, there was a foreboding feeling that the knockout punch was coming before long. Sure enough, the Blue Devils ended the first half on a 24-6 run and that was that.

Bread and Butter: Overall efficiency. Duke ranks No. 1 in the nation in adjusted offensive efficiency and top five on defense. The gap between their effective field-goal percentage (57.9) and what they allow (44.1) is just absurd. In both departments, Duke is slightly better than last year's Connecticut team (56.9 and 44.4, respectively), who felt unbeatable by the end.

Achilles' Heel: Not forcing turnovers. Calling it an Achilles' Heel is probably a bit much, but Duke doesn't generate many takeaways. In fact, there was a six-game stretch earlier this season in which the Blue Devils tallied four or fewer steals in each, resulting in relatively close calls against Notre Dame and Wake Forest. They also had just three steals (five total turnovers forced) against Baylor.

MVP: Cooper Flagg. After an 18-9-6 line against Baylor, pretty sure we can put any concerns about that ankle to rest. He's now one block behind Khaman Maluach for the team lead in that category, though. Whether he'll finish in first place among Blue Devils in all five categories is now up for debate, but he should have at least a few more games to reclaim that edge.

Championship Blueprint: Stay healthy, stay efficient and avoid running into an upper-echelon SEC team having one of its most prolific shooting nights of the year.