March Madness 2017 Predictions: Expert Final Four Picks For College Basketball Tournament

There is no one heavy favorite at the start of March Madness 2017, but a few teams stand out as having the best chance to win the NCAA Tournament. College basketball experts are picking many of the same teams to reach this year’s Final Four.

In the East region, two teams are considered to be head and shoulders above the rest. Most predictions have either Villanova or Duke advancing to the Final Four, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see either team win the national championship.

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Duke is arguably the country’s best No.2 seed, having won the ACC Championship this past weekend. Villanova is the No.1 overall seed in the tournament and the defending national champions. No team has won consecutive titles since Florida did it in 2006 and 2007, but the Wildcats might have the best chance of any team of the past decade to do so.

The West region is considered by many to be a two-team race, as well. Gonzaga is the No.1 seed, and kenpom.com gives them the best chance of anyone to win the national title. But the Bulldogs have never reached the Final Four, and some are predicting them to be the victims of another early-round upset. Arizona is their biggest competition, having won the Pac-12 Championship.

The right side of the bracket is where the experts seem to have the most disagreement. Many have top-seeded Kansas advancing to the Final Four from the Midwest, but others have either Louisville or Oregon winning the region. The Jayhawks have won 13 straight Big 12 regular-season titles, but they’ve failed to reach the Final Four in 10 of their last 12 seasons.

North Carolina is a popular national championship pick out of the South region, though the No.3 seed might be their biggest obstacle. Plenty of experts believe that UCLA will go all the way to the national championship game, and the Bruins seem to be getting more support than No.2 seed Kentucky.

Expert Final Four Predictions

Charles Barkley, CBS Sports (Villanova, Arizona, Louisville, North Carolina)

Seth Davis, CBS Sports (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, UCLA)

Clark Kellogg, CBS Sports (Villanova, Gonzaga, Louisville, UCLA)

Gary Parrish, CBS Sports (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, UCLA)

Jon Rothstein, CBS Sports (Duke, Arizona, Louisville, UCLA)

Jay Bilas, ESPN (Duke, Arizona, Louisville, North Carolina)

Seth Greenberg, ESPN (Duke, Arizona, Kansas, UCLA)

Jay Williams, ESPN (Duke, Arizona, Kansas, North Carolina)

Rece Davis, ESPN (Duke, Gonzaga, Oregon, North Carolina)

Jay Boice & Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight (Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky)

Ken Pomeroy, KenPom (Villanova, Gonzaga, Kansas, North Carolina)