It’s a No. 1 seed against a No. 1 seed in the NCAA National Championship Game after all. After so many upsets in the early stages of the tournament, it’s a little funny to think that we’re going to see two top seeds getting it on in the national final.
Although, Wisconsin versus Duke isn’t exactly the kind of matchup most experts had in mind prior to the Final Four, where Kentucky’s pursuit of perfection came to a screeching halt, they remain ecstatic for this Monday’s game nonetheless. On that note, let’s see which team some of these experts are predicting to win in Indianapolis.
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2015 NCAA National Championship Game Experts Picks and Predictions
Sports Illustrated
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Pete Thamel
Wisconsin
Brian Hamilton
Duke
Of the four Sports Illustrated college hoops experts who submitted their brackets, only Pete Thamel’s and Brian Hamilton’s are still dancing. Well, sort of. See, even though Thamel predicted Iowa State to get into the national championship game, he at least has Wisconsin winning it all. Hamilton, on the other hand, whiffed on Kentucky getting into the title game, but he has Duke as the last team standing.
CBS Sports
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Dennis Dodd
Duke
Chip Patterson
Duke
CBS Sports boasts of one of the best collection of college basketball experts. Most of these experts, however, have little to be proud of as far as how their brackets went is concerned. Nine experts from this media outlet predicted that Kentucky would cut the nets down at the end of the national championship game. They’re all wrong. Only Dennis Dodd chose another team to emerge as national champion—Duke. Aaron Rodgers can call Dodd a “crybaby” all he wants, but Dodd will have the last laugh if the Blue Devils beat Rodgers’ Wisconsin.
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Chip Patterson, meanwhile, was one of those nine college hoops savants who picked Kentucky. But after Saturday’s Final Four matchups, he felt compelled to write a Wisconsin-Duke preview in which he included a new prediction. In the article, Patterson predicted that Duke would beat Wisconsin, 74-70. Patterson stated that “it is hard not to like Wisconsin chances to cut down the nets”, but he chose Duke because Coach K’s team is “peaking at the right time.”
FiveThirtyEight
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
FiveThirtyEight
Wisconsin
ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight website, meanwhile, created an interactive March Madness bracket that tells the statistical chances of each team reaching the next round. In its latest update, the bracket picked Wisconsin as the favored team to win in the national title game. Wisconsin has a 53 percent chance, while Duke has 47 percent. According to the website, the calculation takes into account each team’s power ranking, pre-season ranking, injuries, and even geography among other factors.
Bleacher Report
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Scott Polacek
Wisconsin
With a battalion of columnists and contributors, it comes with little surprise that Bleacher Report is one of the first media giants to release a Wisconsin-Duke preview. In an article that was released a couple of hours after Wisconsin took down Kentucky, Scott Polacek expressed his excitement for Monday’s game, saying that he expects it to be a “thrilling title game.”
After a lengthy discussion and breakdown of the matchup, Polacek punctuated his article by penciling Wisconsin to become champion. He believes that the range of Wisconsin’s big men, the team’s offensive rebounding , and Frank Kaminsky’s coverage of Jahlil Okafor will lead the Badgers to their first national title since 1941.
USA Today
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Scott Gleeson
Wisconsin
Scott Gleeson is one of those few experts that picked Wisconsin to win over Kentucky in the Final Four. He’ll continue to pull for Wisconsin in the title game as he’s also picked Frank Kaminsky and company to cop the Wooden NCAA National Championship trophy. Two of Gleeson’s USA Today colleagues, Shelby Mast and Eric Prisbell, also had Wisconsin winning against Kentucky in the national semifinal but as of this writing, they’re yet to disclose their respective picks for the national championship game.
Rant Sports
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Seth Lassen
Wisconsin
Rant Sports isn’t as huge as CBS, SI, or USA Today, but people there still know their college basketball. One of them is Seth Lassen, who wrote a list of five bold predictions in the national championship game. Among Lassen’s fearless forecasts is that neither Wisconsin nor Duke will make more than five three-pointers. That’s a bold guess indeed, as Wisconsin makes 7.2 threes per game, while Duke knocks down 7.3 per contest. In the end, Lassen thinks that Wisconsin will beat Duke in overtime, 79-77.
Top Bet
Expert
National Championship Game Pick
Top Bet sportsbook
Wisconsin
It’s nice to see both our Final Four predictions proven correct by Duke and Wisconsin. This time around, we’ll go with Wisconsin, which seems to be a team on a mission not only to bring the title to Madison, but also to beat another team led by a group of one-and-done players.
Top Bet’s prediction: Wisconsin beats Duke, 76-72.
Choosing to stick with these experts’ picks? Create a betting account now and allow their NCAA basketball knowledge to pay off for you in a big way.
