March Madness Favorites
Kentucky – You have to start with the #1 team in the country as the favorite in March Madness betting. Kentucky simply does everything well as they are one of only two teams in the country that is ranked in the top ten in both offensive and defensive efficiency. This team is talented, deep and very well coached.
Ohio State – Right behind the Wildcats as a title contender is Ohio State. They play great defense and have the ability to match Kentucky in terms of talent with Jared Sullinger, Aaron Craft and others. The one thing they don’t have is as much depth so that could be an issue.
North Carolina
The Tar Heels are very good but are they great? Getting blown out by Florida State was huge red flag. Roy Williams is an excellent coach and the Tar Heels should reach the Final Four but they are not the lock they were before the season began.
Syracuse
The Orange simply have to keep Fab Melo on the floor as they are not the same team without him. Syracuse plays very good defense with Melo in the middle and they have a lot of scoring depth.
Missouri
The Tigers have gotten into the mix as one of the favorites to reach the Final Four. Missouri can score a lot of points but whether they can play enough defense to win the title is a question mark.
March Madness Challengers
Kansas – You could almost put Kansas into the role of a favorite but I don’t like Tyshawn Taylor at the point. He makes too many mistakes and in the NCAA Tournament one big mistake and you are done. The Jayhawks are well coached and they do have Thomas Robinson so they can contend.
Florida
We will know this week just how good Florida is as they play Kentucky but even if they lose that game, the Gators can still make a deep tourney run. They are similar in many respects to Missouri but just a notch below.
Baylor
The Bears are good but not great. They have a great front line with Perry Jones and Quincy Acy but they probably don’t have the backcourt to win a title.
Maybe you could put Duke and Florida State into the contender status as well but Duke has lost two home games this season and that never happens and Florida State has no big game experience and they can’t score. And perhaps Michigan State is a contender as well as you can never count a Tom Izzo team out.
