NCAA Tournament Committee Top 16 Rankings: Where the Top Teams Stand in the First Reveal

Originally posted on College Football News | Last updated Feb 15, 2025 12:53 PM ET

What did the NCAA Tournament Committee tell the world with its first Top 16 Rankings reveal for the 2025 March Madness fun?

It would've been nice to get this at the end of the day after a giant day of top 25 matchups, but in reality this is about getting it close to the pin.

The idea is to give a sense of how close everyone is in a range of four - a 1 seed is a 1 seed, a 2 is a 2, and so on, even if it means the higher-ranked 1 seed gets the lower-ranked 16 seed.

Here's the first batch of rankings, what they were last year, biggest surprises, and how the seeds fall.

NCAA Tournament Top 16 Reveal

1. Auburn (South Region)
2. Alabama (Midwest Region)
3. Duke (East Region)
4. Florida (West Region)
5. Tennessee (East)
6. Texas A&M (South)
7. Purdue (Midwest)
8. Houston (West)
9. Iowa State (Midwest)
10. Kentucky (West)
11. Wisconsin (South)
12. Arizona (East)
13. Texas Tech (South)
14. Michigan (West)
15. Kansas (Midwest)
16. St. John's (East)

NCAA Tournament Top 16 Regions

This will all change once it actually happens, but if the season ended right now ...

East Region
1. Duke
2. Tennessee
3. Arizona
4. St. John's

Midwest Region
1. Alabama
2. Purdue
3. Iowa State
4. Kansas

South Region
1. Auburn
2. Texas A&M
3. Wisconsin
4. Texas Tech

West Region
1. Florida
2. Houston
3. Kentucky
4. Michigan

NCAA Tournament Top 16 Reveal Surprises

There wasn't anything crazy, but the three slight surprises were ...

1. Alabama at the 2. This is before Alabama and Auburn play, but if it loses, it should've been behind Duke.

2. Five of the top six teams from the SEC. This will either look brilliant or be exposed in March. (Expect the latter.)

3. No Illinois? There's no real complaining about Michigan at the moment, but Illinois has had the stronger overall season so far. Michigan State and Marquette should be close.

2024 NCAA Tournament Top 16 Reveal: First Release

1 Purdue (Midwest Region)
2 UConn (East Region)
3 Houston (South Region)
4 Arizona (West Region)
5 North Carolina
6 Tennessee
7 Marquette
8 Kansas
9 Alabama
10 Baylor
11 Iowa State
12 Duke
13 Auburn
14 San Diego State
15 Illinois
16 Wisconsin

What the seeds turned out to be in the 2024 NCAA Tournament

1 Seeds
Houston
North Carolina
Purdue
UConn

2 Seeds
Arizona
Iowa State
Marquette
Tennessee

3 Seeds
Baylor
Creighton
Illinois
Kentucky

4 Seeds
Alabama
Auburn
Duke
Kansas