Big Ten & SEC Make NCAA Tournament History After First-Round Games

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Cole Sullivan | Last updated Mar 22, 2025 12:10 PM ET

The first round of the NCAA Tournament was largely dominated by the favorites. While March Madness is known for its unpredictability, the opening games on Thursday and Friday provided relatively few surprises.

Nonetheless, there were plenty of takeaways from the round, including some unprecedented history made by the Big Ten and SEC.

According to OptaSTATS, no conference had ever seen eight different teams win a game in a single NCAA Tournament—until now. Both the Big Ten and SEC made history by accomplishing this feat in the first round, with each conference now representing 16 of the 32 teams still alive in the bracket..

Before this season, no conference had ever had 8 teams win a game in a single NCAA Tournament.

The @bigten and @SEC both did it this year.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) March 22, 2025

The Big Ten had an impressive 8-0 showing in the first round, with all eight of their teams advancing: Purdue, Wisconsin, Michigan, UCLA, Maryland, Illinois, Michigan State, and Oregon.

On the other hand, the SEC, after sending a staggering 14 teams to the tournament, finished the first round with an 8-6 record. The teams advancing to the second round include Auburn, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Florida, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.

While the Big Ten did not land a No. 1 seed in any of the four regions, every team performed at a high level in the first round, securing multiple double-digit victories.

Now, in the Round of 32, there will be three matchups between the Big Ten and SEC: No. 5 seed Michigan faces No. 4 seed Texas A&M on Saturday, followed by No. 7 seed UCLA against No. 2 seed Tennessee, and No. 6 seed Illinois will go up against No. 3 seed Kentucky on Sunday.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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