Let the madness begin! Here are our Four Finals predictions, with early odds for each of the top seeds and who should be on the alert. (All odds are from FanDuel.)
1st seed in the South: Alabama is not only the 1st seed in the South, they are also the 1st seed overall. However, despite being the top seed, Alabama (+800) was not favored to win the National championship. That difference belongs to Houston (+500). The Crimson Tide won the SEC Tournament on Sunday, claiming the regular season title by 16-2 and entering the first round with an overall record of 29-5. And considering the Brandon Miller story as a whole, this Alabama team has done an excellent job of stopping all distractions and just playing basketball. Can it continue in the dance? We shall see. Possible first round discomfort:
San Diego State is back in the league for the third year in a row after winning the title and tournament in the Mountain West regular season. However, don't be surprised if they fall to 12th seed Charleston. The Aztecs are one of the best defensive teams in the country, but they sometimes have trouble scoring. As for Charleston, attack is not a problem for them. The Cougars average over 80 points a game, and we wanted to include them in the cashflow (+172) and the spread (+4,5, -102) in their first round matchup against SDSU. And if they make it through the first round, everyone in the South should watch out for Charleston.
Dark Horse: Despite being eliminated in the second round to Iowa State in the Big 12, third-seeded Baylor is a team to keep an eye on. The Bears won the national championship in 2021 and entered Friday's first game against UCSB with an overall record of 22-10. Baylor has high-quality wins against Gonzaga, Kansas, TCU and Texas. If Alabama or Arizona fails early, Baylor could be the team to beat in the South.
Our South Zone Winner: Alabama (+190) is the overall top seed for a reason, and unless Brandon Miller is in trouble or the Crimson Tide doesn't show up, we're not going to see anyone stop us. Bama. Alabama has completely dominated the SEC Tournament and we're not sure they've played their best basketball yet.
1st Seed Eastern: Purdue won both the regular season and the Big Ten after drawing with Penn State, 67-65, on Sunday. Purdue was the country's No. 1 team for a while after starting the season 13-0 and 22-1, but as expected, they had to get past the Big Ten. Purdue has a lot of wins by margin this season -- 17 wins by 10 points or more -- but now they're starting to win those close. Very few teams have the answer to the Top 10 Zach Edey Player of the Year . The 7-foot-4, 305-pound center of gravity is nearly unstoppable. However, the East has a lot of good teams like Marquette, Kansas State and Tennessee, so the London team is very far from reaching the Finals. Possible first round discomfort:
It's been a disappointing year for Tom Izzo and the Sparta team. Expectations were high, and the State of Michigan did not live up to it. Will a deep league make up for that? Absolute. But we don't see that happening. MSU was lucky to get a seventh seed, and due to their lack of consistency, we're not sure they can even win their first game against Southern Cal. The tenth seed USC has several sizes and we are willing to risk a few dollars for a Trojan (+110) to solve the nasty problem.
Dark Horse: Perhaps not much of a surprise, but Duke is the answer. Jon Scheyer's Blues are playing their best ball of the season after winning the ACC Tournament on Saturday, and all we have to say to the rest of the teams in this region is.. . be careful. Duke has won 9 games in a row and is more than capable of making it to the Finals. The Blue Devils have no real "easy game" but we're not sure who is hotter than Duke.
Our East Region Winner: No, we didn't take the other #1 seed but we didn't take Duke either. Every year, it looks like Duke finds his way into the Finals, but we like Marquette (+420) from the East. The Golden Eagles crushed Xavier in the Big East Tournament title game and won nine straight and 13 out of 14. Marquette nearly knocked out Purdue in November and being one of the top 10 teams in the country makes sense. do. Expect some tough wins but Marquette is our pick.
Midwest #1 Seed: Houston is the Midwest #1 seed and while they're not the top seed overall, they're a favorite at 5/ first. Houston could face Auburn in the second round and Indiana in the round of 16 Sweet, but we're a long way from that. The Cougars (31-3) won the American Athletics Conference regular season title before losing to Memphis in the AAC Tournament final. If Houston makes it through the Midwest, and that's a big if, they have a chance to win the entire title at the FInal Four. . . in Houston. Possible first round discomfort:
Iowa ranks higher than Auburn and we don't know why. The Hawkeyes have quality wins against Indiana (twice), Indiana and Northwestern but they also have some heavy losses. Meanwhile, Auburn has struggled after starting the year 8-0, but they have talent. And in this case, we think they have more talent than Iowa.
Black Horse: Penn State nearly knocked out Purdue for the Big Ten title and yes, we know they're the 10th seed, but they're more than capable of beating Texas A&M in the first round and maybe even beating the numbers. 2 Texas counties. PSU had some bad losses, but they also had high-quality wins against Indiana, Illinois, Northwestern, and Maryland. If the Penn State gets heated, they are a legitimate threat.
Our Midwest Winners: The Big Ten didn't impress us very much this year, so right there will tell you we didn't see one of the Big Ten teams -- Indiana, Iowa or Penn State -- passable. Houston has been one of the best teams in college basketball all year, and losing to Memphis in the AAC Tournament title game didn't change that. Houston's ability to win in this area (+120) isn't great but it's good enough for us and it's good enough for you too.
West Region #1 Seed: Head Coach Bill Self is back in Kansas. That's good news. The bad news is that they've just been sucked in by Texas in the Big 12 Tournament finals and most of all are defeated. We learned that after the Jayhawks lost three games in a row in January. It is true that all three losses went to the top 25 teams, but that is still worrying. Showing up in Sweet 16 is no guarantee and with a little over 3/1 to represent the West in Round 4 of the Finals, you'd better think twice before placing any money. big public into Kansas. Possible first round discomfort:
This is the hardest area to pick a nasty match in the first round, and to be honest, we're not sure there'll be one. But if we had to choose, we would pick the winner of the play-in between Arizona State and Nevada. One of these two teams will be the 11th seed of the West and face the sixth seed TCU in the first round. TCU has high-quality wins against Kansas, Baylor, and Kansas State, but they also have some big losses against teams like Northwest State and Oklahoma State.
Black Horse: Gonzaga has one of the best players in college basketball at Drew Timme, and the Bulldogs certainly have experience. It was shocking that Gonzaga had to share the West Coast Conference regular season title with Saint Mary's. However, the Bulldogs blew them away in the WCC Tournament title game. Looks like Gonzaga turned the ball around after losing to both Texas and Purdue by double digits in the non-conference game, and with a 4/1 win to win the West, we'd like to bet at least some money.
Our West Zone Winner: You already know we're not going to take Kansas here, so where does that leave us? 2 UCLA, 3 Gonzaga, 4 UConn or even 5 St. All are likely to win in this area. This is a really tough call but we'll go with Gonzaga. Every year, it seems more and more experts say this is the year Mark Few reached the top of the mountain, but it is very likely. Considering how far-reaching the West is, it might not be a bad idea to drop a little money on three or four teams to make it to the Quarterfinals of this region to guarantee you at least a profit. small -- that's assuming one of the four picks will make it to the Quarterfinals.
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