2025 NCAA Tournament: Seth Davis, Jay Wright make Final Four, national title picks

March Madness is officially back. And the bracket is officially set for the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Near the end of the CBS Bracket Selection Show, the panelists, Clark Kellog, Seth Davis, and Jay Wright, all gave their picks of who they’ve got penciled in the Final Four.

And who will cut down the nets once it’s all said and done.

It all begins with hope for every team in the field. Fans across the country love filling out their brackets to see who they’ve got penciled in to go deep in the big dance. Kellong led off with his picks

“Well I tell ya, I’m gonna take Michigan State,” he began. “The regular season champs in the Big Ten. I’ll take them out of the South. Florida’s the most complete team in the field, in my opinion. I like them coming out of the West. Clemson is my dark horse. They’re rugged. They almost got to the Final Four last year with a number of those guys. We’ve got Duke. I’m taking Clemson in San Antonio against the Gators. And I’m going with the Gators as my champ.”

Davis was next.

“I had Iowa State here but because of the injury to Keshon Gilbert, I’ll take the Spartans,” he said. “Everybody else. And I’ll take Duke and Florida in the final. And the Blue Devils, assuming that Cooper Flagg is healthy, I think, are cutting down the nets in San Antonio.”

Then Wright finished off with his selections.

“Here we go. I like Auburn coming out of the South,” he explained. “I like the Johnnies (St. John’s) sneaking out of the West to get to the Final Four. Obviously, Duke in the East. Houston in the Midwest. And then in my championship game, I have Houston-Auburn. And I have the Auburn Tigers. They started the season and finish the season as national champs.”

Kellogg decided to go with a bit of a dark horse in picking the Clemson Tigers to make it to the national championship game. But as he mentioned above, the Tigers’ team has plenty of experience from their Elite Eight run a year ago, where Clemson fell short to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Clemson was one of the few teams to take down a historically dominant Duke team this season, 77-71 in the regular season. The Florida Gators are one of the hottest teams in America, and they’ll surely be one of the most popular picks to cut down the nets in San Antonio.

Before Sunday, Florida had scored 90 points in four straight games. And they just won the SEC Tournament in a year the conference boasted one of the strongest records in college basketball history. They’re extremely loaded with weaponry, and deep. And playing like it recently.

Seth Davis picking Duke isn’t much of a surprise. After all, the Blue Devils have been historically dominant in the 2024-2025 campaign. Since 2000, there have only been three seasons with 30 wins entering the NCAA Tournament, this season, 2010-2011, and the 2005-2006 season. To firmly cement its place among the greatest Duke teams on all-time, the Blue Devils will need to find a way to get it done in the NCAA Tournament. However, the status of Cooper Flagg’s ankle and Maliq Brown’s shoulder could play massive roles in the big dance.

St. John’s has had a historic season, winning their first Big East Tournament title since 2000. RJ Luis and Kadary Richmond form one of the most formidable duos in all of college basketball. Can they lead the Red Storm to their first Final Four since 1985? They’ve certainly got the talent to do so, but it is a remarkably stacked field. Jay Wright seems to think they can make the magic happen. Rick Pitino is already one of the most decorated coaches in college basketball history. If he can pull off such a feat, it’d be yet another remarkable achievement in his Hall-of-Fame resume.

Wright also picked the Auburn Tigers as his national champions, a team that will certainly be popular in brackets. While they were knocked out early in the 2025 SEC Tournament, the Tigers’ regular season resume was worthy of a No. 1 overall seed for a reason. As On3’s Justin Hokanson noted, Auburn lead the country in Quad 1 wins, wins above bubble, strength of record, and they also won the regular season title in one of the toughest conferences in college basketball history.

It should be an exciting NCAA Tournament. For a full look at the bracket and all the teams in the field, you can find that here.