Selection Sunday for the 2025 NCAA Tournament is just one week away. We've already got several conference tournaments in action and in just a few days, Champ Week will be in full swing.
With Champ Week comes the potential of bid-stealers, as some feisty teams will spring upsets in their conference tournaments and ruin the NCAA Tournament dreams of bubble teams everywhere. So who are some teams to watch out for as potential bid-stealers with a week until Selection Sunday?
Potential NCAA Tournament bid-stealers to watch for 2025
There are plenty of teams that have realistic shots at stealing a bid, but here are five in particular to keep an eye on.
North Carolina Tar Heels
North Carolina? A bid-stealer? You may view the Tar Heels as a team that should be worried of bid-stealers as opposed to being one themselves. But after taking another loss to Duke to fall to 1-11 vs Quad 1 opponents, the Tar Heels enter the ACC Tournament without an NCAA Tournament resume. Their hopes are now reliant on winning in Charlotte.
That said, they had won six-straight prior to a competitive game with the Blue Devils. It's not like UNC is incapable of going on a run to win the ACC Tournament. Technically speaking, they could possibly still earn an at-large simply by making the finals, but at this point, I'm calling the Tar Heels a bid-stealer if they make the Dance.
Bradley Braves
We could get a bid-stealer as soon as this Sunday. The Drake Bulldogs take on the Bradley Braves in the Missouri Valley Conference finals, and Drake, having put together as good an NCAA Tournament resume as a mid-major from a one-bid league could, should be in the Dance regardless. That means that if Bradley wins, we'll have a bid-stealer. And the Braves are capable. They already beat Drake earlier this season.
Colorado State Rams
The Mountain West has become a great league in recent years, and Colorado State has played a role in that, going to two of the last three tournaments. This year the Rams struggled through their non-conference slate to fall out of at-large contention, but they've been outstanding in league play. They won their final seven regular season games and have beaten some of the MWC's best teams. They're a real threat to win their conference tournament and steal a bid.
North Texas Mean Green
Memphis is the lone team out of the American Conference that's going to receive an at-large bid, which is a shame considering where the league has been in the past. But there are still quality teams there beyond the Tigers, and North Texas is one of them. The Mean Green still have a final regular season game to play, but they've won their last seven and have been close against quality opponents this season, including Memphis. UNT always plays stingy defense, and that makes them a pain to matchup against.
UC Irvine Anteaters
This one could be iffy as a bid-stealer because technically Big West leader UC San Diego isn't safe as an at-large team yet. The Tritons still need to avoid taking any disastrous losses for one more week, and even then, their tournament resume is pretty mediocre. Still, if they can do that and reach their conference tournament final, they've got a good shot at an at-large.
And that's where UC Irvine comes in. The Anteaters have had their own stellar season and beat UCSD earlier this year. If they beat them again in the finals, both may be dancing.