- March Madness is back!
- We have collected the Final Four picks from experts.
March Madness is here!
The men's tournament tipped off on Tuesday night with the First Four, but the real action starts on Thursday.
While fans around the country frantically research all 68 teams to fill out their March Madness brackets, experts are already starting to weigh in with their picks.
Below we rounded up the early Final Four predictions from 12 college hoops experts and two computer models.
Alabama, the top seed in the South, is the favorite to win it all, being picked as the champion in six brackets. Houston, the No. 1 seed in the Midwest, comes in second with three picks, including both of the computer models.
Twelve of the 14 brackets have Alabama reaching the Final Four, but that is where the "chalk" ends. The next most popular Final Four picks are fifth-seeded Duke (8 picks), second-seeded Texas (8), and third-seeded Gonzaga (6).
Here are the Final Four picks of the experts, with their predicted overall champions in bold. Teams are ordered by region: South, East, Midwest, and West, with seeds in parentheses.
- FiveThirtyEight computer model: Alabama (1), Purdue (1), Houston (1), Gonzaga (3)
- ESPN's College Basketball Power Index model: Alabama (1), Tennessee (4), Houston (1), UCLA (2)
- Jay Bilas, ESPN: Arizona (2), Duke (5), Texas (2), UConn (4)
- Joe Lunardi, ESPN: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Houston (1), Gonzaga (3)
- Dick Vitale, ESPN: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Texas (2), Gonzaga (3)
- Seth Greenberg, ESPN: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Texas (2), UConn (4)
- Rece Davis, ESPN: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Texas (2), UConn (4)
- Sam Ravech, ESPN: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Houston (1), UConn (4)
- Clark Kellogg, CBS: Alabama (1), Purdue (1), Xavier (3), Gonzaga (3)
- Seth Davis, CBS: Alabama (1), Marquette (2), Texas (2), Kansas (1)
- Jay Wright, CBS: Alabama (1), Marquette (2), Texas (2), Kansas (1)
- Jon Rothstein, CBS: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Texas (2), Gonzaga (3)
- Andy Katz, Bleacher Report: Arizona (2), Purdue (1), Indiana (4), UCLA (2)
- Pat Forde, SI: Alabama (1), Duke (5), Texas (2), Gonzaga (3)