Thursday’s NCAA Tournament winners, losers: Brutal day for ACC

The first round of the 2025 NCAA men’s basketball tournament kicked off on Thursday. So let’s take a look at some of the biggest winners and losers from the day. 

Winner: John Calipari, head coach, Arkansas

When John Calipari left Kentucky, it was pretty clear that the program had become stale. The Wildcats had not advanced beyond the Round of 32 since 2019 and had lost in the first round of the tournament in two of the previous three seasons. The program needed a change. He needed a new challenge. He got it at Arkansas, and on Thursday, his No. 10-seeded Razorbacks advanced with a 79-72 win over No. 7-seed Kansas. 

Loser: The ACC

The ACC had just four teams make the tournament this season and there is a strong argument to be made that one of them — North Carolina — should not have been there at all. It’s already a down time for the conference, and Thursday did not do anything to change that as its two teams in action both lost in ugly games. No. 9-seed Louisville lost by 14 points to No. 8 Creighton (89-75), while No. 5-seed Clemson lost to No. 12-seed McNeese (whose head coach seemingly already has one foot out the door for his next job) in a game that was not really as close as the two-point final score (69-67) indicates. Ugly day for the conference. 

Winner: No. 1 seeds taking care of business

The gap in the playing field has leveled off in men’s college basketball in recent years, and we have even seen a couple of No. 16 seeds win games. There was no danger of that on Thursday as No. 1 seeds Auburn and Houston both won by more than 20 points. Speaking of big wins and expected teams taking care of business …

Loser: Lack of drama

If you watch the NCAA tournament for major upsets, chaotic games and last-second buzzer-beaters, Thursday was unfortunately not your day.

Outside of a few of double-digit seeds winning (No. 10 Arkansas, No. 11 Drake, No. 12 McNeese State) there were not a ton of huge upsets, while almost all of the games were decisive blowouts that really took away from the drama. It was not really an edge-of-your-seat kind of day. 

Winner: BYU bounces back 

Being a No. 6 seed has not treated BYU well in recent tournaments, losing back-to-back first-round matchups to No. 11 seeds in 2021 and 2024. That changed on Thursday with an 80-71 win over No. 11-seed VCU. That win snapped what had been a five-game tournament losing streak for the Cougars.  

Loser: Georgia’s start

It is not just that No. 9-seed Georgia lost by 21 points in an 89-68 defeat to No. 8 Gonzaga. It’s that the Bulldogs simply did not seem prepared a the start, falling into a 27-3 deficit within the first nine minutes of the game. Not even No. 16 seeds perform that poorly. 

Winner: Jamiya Neal, guard, Creighton

Neal was one of the big individual stars of the day on Thursday in No. 9 Creighton’s big win over No. 8 Louisville. Neal had one of his best days of the season, scoring a season-high 29 points with 12 rebounds and six assists. The 12 rebounds also matched his season-high.