The official Men’s March Madness bracket will be released on March 16th. So in preparation for it I’ll be finding out who the favorites are to win it all. The obvious favorite is the Duke Blue Devils because they are the highest ranked team. They are led by freshman Cooper Flagg who is more than likely going to be the first overall pick in this year’s draft. Duke has the highest point differential in all of college basketball. On average they win games by 22 points. They are also currently on a eight game win streak and don’t plan on slowing down.
My second choice to win it all would be the Houston Cougars. They are the second highest ranked team, behind Duke. Last year Houston made it to the Sweet 16 before losing a close game to Duke. What makes Houston so special is their defense. They allow the least points on average per game, of only 58.1. They have also won their last three games against ranked teams.
Another favorite is the Auburn Tigers. They are led by Johni Broome who has been their best player for years. Auburn is a really good offensive team, averaging the fifth most points per game. Defensively Auburn could struggle, especially against highly ranked teams. But usually their offense makes up for this so I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a run.
The final team I’ll look at is the Florida Gators. The Gators are one of the best rebounding teams in college. Because of their rebounding ability they are able to put up more shots then most teams because of their 14 offensive rebounds per game. With all of this they are the ninth highest scoring team in basketball.
On top of all of this BPI has the same results as me. According to ESPN BPI is, “a measure of team strength that is meant to be the predictor of performance going forward.” ESPN also says that the BPI leaders are Duke, Houston, Auburn, and Florida.
