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Some teams on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament bracket have cashed in their luck reserves this St. Patrick’s Day.
You won’t find Notre Dame on the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament bracket, but the luck of the Irish is flowing throughout the nation.
The release of the 2025 tournament ledger coincides with St. Patrick’s Day, the holiday defined by luck. While there are plenty of usual suspects dominating the premier seeds, some surprises have generated controversy.
Each of the bracket quadrants have a school bursting with lucky St. Patrick’s Day energy … and perhaps a bit of Thanksgiving gratitude as well.
South: North Carolina
Many claim that the luck of the Tar Heels came from within, as Chapel Hill athletic director Bubba Cunningham is a chairman on the NCAA selection committee. Cunningham has publicly claimed that he leaves the room when his Tar Heels come up, but the contract bonuses he receives for a bid are viewed as anything but lucky by the college basketball-loving public.
Save for a neutral site triumph over UCLA, there are few, if any, truly impressive victories on UNC’s ledger and some efforts (i.e. a three-point loss to then-top-ranked Kansas in Lawrence) have only depreciated in value. The Tar Heels couldn’t even take advantage of a third crack at rival Duke: after dropping two regular season meetings by a combined 30 points, a controversial lane violation spelled their semifinal doom in the ACC Tournament, but many felt it should’ve never come to that.
Call it luck, call it lunacy, but the Tar Heels are on the board as one of the final teams in. They’ll look to grant the ACC redemption in the First Four against San Diego State on Tuesday (9:10 p.m. ET, TruTV) after a Virginia team in a similar situation was unceremoniously dumped by Colorado State in last year’s edition.
West: Oklahoma
It’s said that “it just means more” in the SEC and that’s literally the case on the 2025 men’s bracket.
SEC oversaturation is normally a conversation reserved for the fall amidst the weekly College Football Playoff rankings. With 14 teams big dancing, the argument has extended to the hardwood and the Sooners are at the forefront of the debate. Porter Moser and Co. are very lucky that the committee chose to focus on its non-conference slate, which saw OU earn 12 consecutive wins and a trophy hoist at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Their luck ran out with a 6-12 conference play slate (which doesn’t include a narrow loss to Kentucky in the conference tournament) but they moved all the way up the West’s ninth seed despite placing 14th on the SEC leaderboard.
Though they face the two-time defending champion Connecticut Huskies in round one on Friday (9:25 p.m. ET, TNT), the Sooners got lucky in both personal and team-wide affairs: Moser, previously a Final Four hero at Loyola Chicago, may have significantly cooled his seat while freshman Jeremiah Fears might’ve raised his NBA Draft stock.
East: Virginia Commonwealth
Sometimes, you have to make your own luck. That’s exactly what the Rams, who likely face a turbulent post-Tournament future with head coach Ryan Odom’s services coveted by major programs a coaching vacancy, did to get back to the Big Dance floor after a one-year absence.
For just the second since 2006, the Atlantic 10 was denied any at-large bids, most of them offered to SEC surplus. That case a brighter spotlight on the conference title game, which saw VCU do battle with conference co-leader George Mason. Each entered the game with identical 15-3 records in conference play but the Rams prevailed by a 68-63 final. Their seeding suggests that might’ve barely dodged the First Four bullet, as they’re the 11th-ranked team facing No. 6 BYU on Thursday (4:05 p.m. ET, TNT).
One could complain about the Rams’ non-conference schedule, where the most impressive win is a neutral-site triumph over Mountain West champion Colorado State. But they won when they had to, engaging in the finest form of luck: self-made.
Midwest: Xavier
Texas is also part of the SEC expansion but at least they’re rightfully placed in Wednesday’s First Four action against the Musketeers (9:10 p.m. ET, TruTV).
Complaining about the SEC overflow is probably a moot point considering the group’s sterling non-conference efforts so its worth examining Xavier’s Selection Sunday luck: the Musketeers didn’t even register a conference tournament win, getting a bye to round two of the Big East proceedings before falling to Marquette.
Perhaps they can bask in the luck of a manageable schedule to close things out: Xavier faced just one fellow tournament team over its last seven regular season games (a 22-point home over Creighton). The Musketeers could perhaps also be grateful that the committee perhaps valued their prowess in advanced statistical categories, as they ranked in the top 55 nationally in both offensive and defensive rating.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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