There are way too many pretty girls at the ball in this year’s edition of the Big Dance. With no runaway favorite from the field of 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament, even the experts are torn as for who they predict will emerge as national champions.
Nevertheless, we’ve gathered some inputs from the best college basketball minds around the internet, and their picks to win it all definitely vary from one another. Let’s hear from these pundits below to provide us with some further insights on our very own March Madness brackets and betting opportunities alike.
As we’ll notice later on in this here feature, the Arizona Wildcats, currently priced at +750 to win the men’s basketball championship, have a good number of backers amongst our selected experts. SB Nation’s Chris Dobbertean is one of them, stating that the Wildcats – set to play in Phoenix should they indeed make it to the Final Four – will have the home crowd behind them en route to winning the national title.
Dobbertean noticed that a huge hurdle could stand in Arizona’s way in the Elite Eight where they’ll likely meet Gonzaga; the team that defeated the Wildcats by seven points in December on neutral grounds. However, the ‘Cats didn’t have Allonzo Trier and Parker Jackson-Cartwright during that contest, and as what we’ve seen from the Pac-12 Tournament, Arizona at full strength is a totally different beast that could very well run the Big Dance’s table when all is said and done.
CBS Sports
Expert
Prediction
Matt Norlander
Kansas
Chip Patterson
Kansas
Jerry Palm
Duke
Howard Megdal
Arizona
Dennis Dodd
Arizona
Kyle Boone
North Carolina
All but one of CBS Sports’ analysts from their six-man panel had Arizona reaching the Final Four, yet only two of them went with the Wildcats as the overall winners. Instead, we received a couple of votes in favor of the Kansas Jayhawks (+800), along with ACC standouts Duke (+600) and North Carolina (+600) each receiving a nod apiece.
Matt Norlander and Chip Patterson were the ones that stuck to their guns with Kansas in spite of the team’s early exit from the Big 12 Tournament. In fact, Patterson went on to say that the loss to TCU is quite a blessing in disguise. It gave the team more time to rest and prepare for the Big Dance, with or without the possibility of another Josh Jackson suspension.
Jackson, who was suspended from the conference tournament opener due to an off-court incident (which also explains the baffling defeat to the Horned Frogs) is an NBA-ready player who Norlander considered as the key cog to Kansas’ success and brief downfall this season. Together with the electric backcourt of Sporting News Player of the Year Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Graham, the Jayhawks are replete with starting talent that’s almost unparalleled for as long as Jackson remains an active body in the tournament.
Sporting News
Expert
Prediction
Mike DeCourcy
North Carolina
Ryan Fagan
Villanova
Speaking of Sporting News, the long-running publication’s expert tandem of Mike DeCourcy and Ryan Fagan each had differing opinions with their respective brackets. DeCourcy went with UNC as the overall tournament winners, and Fagan sided with defending champion Villanova to pull off the rare repeat.
The Tar Heels have been nothing short of dominant come March Madness season. In every previous instance that they’ve secured a No. 1 seed in the tournament under head coach Roy Williams, they’ve advanced to no less than an Elite Eight appearance. Throw in the fact that North Carolina was one possession away from winning another national title last season, and you can bet that the boys from Chapel Hill, with their five outstanding starting upperclassmen, can very well complete their tour of vengeance and prevent another one of these hilariousmemes from going viral again.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats of Pennsylvania are still an enticing pick to win it all again this season and at a price of +800 at that. Based from the good folks at FiveThirtyEight, Nova’s 15-percent chance of repeating as national champs is still tops amongst the entire March Madness field, and that’s despite the team having been pitted in the East Region’s crowded shark tank.
