College Basketball

Stephen A. Smith Picks Florida Over Duke In March Madness 2025 Bracket

Dan Girolamo Sports Editor

Published19 Mar 2025

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ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith has revealed his March Madness 2025 bracket, including his picks and predictions.

Stephen A. Smith March Madness 2025 Bracket

Smith revealed his bracket on Wednesday’s edition of First Take.

Smith mentioned his respect for Michigan State’s Tom Izzo as a reason why the No. 2 Spartans will beat No. 1 Auburn in the Elite Eight.

“I’m not betting against Tom Izzo,” Smith said. “I’ve got Tom Izzo and Michigan State. I got them going to the Final Four.”

Smith then went on to praise Houston’s head coach, Kelvin Sampson.

“Can we talk about the job this man [Sampson] has done in Houston?” Smith said. “I can’t say enough about the job that he has done.”

Smith has four double-digit seeds in his Sweet 16:

No. 13 Yale in the South Region
No. 11 North Carolina in the South Region
No. 11 Drake in the West Region
No. 12 Liberty in the East Region

Stephen A. Smith’s Final Four And National Champion

Who ya got???https://t.co/Q5m6LjXT3F pic.twitter.com/XwRvBv9TC1

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) March 19, 2025

While Smith has No. 1 Florida coming out of the West, the New York native is pulling for Rick Pitino and No. 2 St. John’s.

“Resurrecting basketball in New York, there’s a reason to go to the Garden to watch college basketball. There’s a reason to talk about St. John’s,” Smith said before expressing his love for Red Storm greats like Chris Mullin, Walter Berry, and Mark Jackson.

“It is beautiful to see St. John’s relevant again.”

However, St. John’s lack of shooting is why he has the Gators getting past the Red Storm.

Smith’s Final Four includes: