NCAA
NCAA: When does March Madness 2025 get underway, dates, Final Four venues
Interest in March Madness shows no sign if waning after record numbers tuned into see the women’s final as UConn scooped the men’s title.
No sooner has the curtain come down on a memorable few weeks of March Madness basketball in both the men’s and women’s competitions as fans begin to look forward the next instalment of NCAA action in 2025.
Sunday’s women’s championship game between Iowa and South Carolina was watched by 18.7 million viewers Sunday in the United States, a record for a women’s college basketball game. The final peaked at 24 million viewers between ABC and ESPN, and was the most-watched basketball game in men’s, women’s, college or professional sports since 2019. The figure surpasses the 12.3 million who tuned in for the Hawkeyes-Tigers game in the quarterfinals and the 14.2 million for the game against the Huskies already in the Final Four.
The presence of Caitlin Clark for Iowa was a massively contributing factor with the 22-year-old being the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer and generally regarded as one of the greatest players in college basketball history. Earlier in the month Clark was named The Associated Press Player of the Year for the second year running.
Sadly for Clark, the final was a game too far with South Carolina running out winners to secure their third NCAA title and capping off a perfect 38-0 season with the game marking Clark’s final appearance for Iowa before heading to the WNBA.
UConn secure sixth title in 24 years
There were no surprises in the men’s final in Phoenix Arizona as a packed Footprint Centre saw UConn secure their second title in a row with a 75-60 win over Purdue.
The Connecticut team confirmed their dominance in the past decade with their their sixth title since 1999, and went back-to-back for the first time since the Florida Gators achieved the same feat in 2006 and 2007 with Tristen Newton leading the Huskies scoring bagging 20 points in the final.
What’s on the cards for March Madness 2025?
Once again, 69 teams will be involved both the men’s and women’s 2025 NCAA Division I basketball tournament with the games all being single-elimination matches tournament to determine the successors to 2024 champions UConn (men’s) and South Carolina (women’s).
The 2025 competition will be the 86th annual edition of the tournament will begin on 18 March with the preliminary rounds.
The men’s Final Four will be staged on 7 April, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas with the women’s version to take place at The University of South Florida and Tampa Bay Sports Commission between 4-6 April, 2025.
Incidentally the 2026 Final Four matchups will go a head in Indianapolis (men’s) with the women’s tournament set for Phoenix.