David J. Phillip/AP
Jay Wright's Villanova Wildcats are a popular choice to make this year's Final Four.
- There is no overwhelming favorite in March Madness this year.
- Most experts like Virginia, Villanova, Gonzaga, and Duke to make the Final Four in their brackets.
- Virginia, Villanova, and Michigan State are popular title picks.
Perhaps the big takeaway from looking through March Madness brackets filled out by experts and their Final Four picks is that there is no overwhelming favorite to win the NCAA title this year.
Villanova, who won the title back in 2016, and is a 1-seed this year, was one of the most popular picks to make the Final Four, as well as a trendy title choice. Virginia, the top seed overall, was also a reasonably popular pick among experts. College basketball blue-bloods Duke and North Carolina also got a fair amount of love from experts, as did Tourney mainstays Tom Izzo and Mark Few.
We looked at the predictions made by 47 experts at four different publications. The overall consensus Final Four among those experts was Virginia, Villanova, Gonzaga, and Michigan State.
Michigan State, Virginia, and Villanova were each picked by 25 of the experts, followed by Gonzaga with 19 experts. Other popular picks included Arizona (19 experts) and Duke (18 experts).
Virginia just edged out Villanova and Michigan State as the most popular pick among experts to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament.
Twelve experts picked Virginia to win it all, and 11 each chose Villanova and Michigan State. Duke was another popular choice, with seven experts picking the Blue Devils to win it all.
Here is a closer look at how those picks broke down by site:
- ESPN: 27 experts picked a consensus Final Four of Virginia, Villanova, Gonzaga and Michigan State.
- Michigan State is the top choice among ESPN experts for the title.
- CBS Sports: 8 experts picked a consensus Final Four of Arizona, Villanova, UNC, and Duke.
- Duke is the top national title choice among CBS experts.
- Sports Illustrated: 8 experts picked a consensus Final Four of Virginia, Villanova, Gonzaga, Duke.
- Among Sports Illustrated experts there was a three-way tie between Duke, Villanova, and Virginia as the top national title choice.
- Virginia just narrowly edged out Villanova and Michigan State as the consensus pick to win it all.
- USA Today Sports: 4 experts picked a consensus Final Four of Arizona, Villanova, Toss-up, Duke.
- Villanova is the top title choice among USA Today's experts.