March Madness Media Expert Bracket Picks: Who is The Sports Betting Industry Backing?
The madness begins today, and our goal is to provide Sportsbook Review readers with the most information ahead of the NCAA Tournament.
Of course, you have our entire collection of college basketball picks, as we'll be covering every game throughout March Madness. Everyone loves an underdog early in the tourney, and that's why we've provided you with our best March Madness upset picks and March Madness first-round upsets, but we also all want to know who's expected to win the entire thing.
Well, that's where our March Madness expert picks come into play. We've rounded up predictions from our contributors, 10 of the most respected college basketball experts, and, for those who want to acknowledge our robot overlords, AI. That's a total of 17 selections, and there are two clear favorites who stand out from the bunch.
📖 Who do the sportsbooks expect to win March Madness?
Before we get into our March Madness predictions, let's look first at which teams the best March Madness betting sites are pricing as the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament.
The two biggest favorites are Duke and Florida. The best price on the former is +320, odds which carry an implied probability of 23.81% that the Blue Devils will win the tournament. Meanwhile, Florida's best odds are +380, associated with an implied probability of 20.83%.
Unsurprisingly, those are two of the most popular teams among the betting public, too.
For those looking to back one of the favorites, the best odds are at DraftKings. At some of our other best sports betting sites, Duke is as short as +290 (FanDuel) and Florida is as short as +325 (BetMGM).
🤓 Who do we think will win?
Our team of contributors provided their March Madness bracket predictions earlier this week, and three of the five picked Duke to win it all. Five of the six had a final featuring Duke and Florida, while one had the Blue Devils triumphing over Texas Tech in the championship game.
Along with those picks, our Rob Paul dropped his immediate March Madness bracket reactions and expert picks. He's picking Auburn to make it to the final, but he's also riding with Duke to cut down the nets.
That makes it four of our six contributors who are riding with the betting favorite, Duke.
🤖 Who does AI think will win?
We also asked ChatGPT to pick a winner for the NCAA Tournament, so we have a March Madness AI bracket prediction.
Could the robot help itself from also picking Duke? No, it could not. Much like Paul - who himself is slightly inhuman when it comes to his knowledge of college sports - ChatGPT expects Duke to defeat Auburn in the title game.
At this point, I'm rooting for Duke to lose its first game.
🔮 March Madness bracket picks & tips
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- March Madness media expert picks
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- 2025 March Madness bracket reactions
- Free printable March Madness bracket PDF
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- How to fill out a March Madness bracket
- March Madness bracket advice
- March Madness bracket tips for beginners
- March Madness bracket trends
- Printable Women's March Madness bracket
📊 March Madness odds
The March Madness odds below select the best odds from our best sports betting sites. Throughout the NCAA Tournament, visit Sportsbook Review to get the best college basketball prop bets today.
🧑🏫 March Madness expert picks
| Expert | Publication | NCAA Tournament champion |
|---|---|---|
| Dick Vitale | ESPN | Duke |
| Jay Bilas | ESPN | Florida |
| Andy Katz | Big Ten Network | Auburn |
| Jay Wright | CBS (former Villanova head coach) | Auburn |
| Jon Rothstein | CBS | Houston |
| Seth Davis | Hoops HQ | Duke |
| Pat Forde | Sports Illustrated | Florida |
| John Fanta | FOX | Florida |
| Nicole Auerbach | NBC | Duke |
| Dan Wolken | USA Today | Duke |
✏️ Expert picks takeaways
- Duke isn't getting quite as much love from these 10 experts as it did from our six, as only four (Dick Vitale, Seth Davis, Nicole Auerbach, and Dan Wolken) are riding with the Blue Devils
- Meanwhile, we finally see some other teams acknowledged, as Andy Katz and former Villanova head coach Jay Wright are picking Auburn to win it all
- Additionally, CBS college basketball insider Jon Rothstein is taking Houston
- Finally, we see that Jay Bilas, Pat Forde, and John Fanta round out these 10 expert picks by taking Florida
- The final tally is as follows: Nine picked Duke (four SBR contributors, four experts, AI), five picked Florida (two SBR contributors, three experts), two experts picked Auburn, and one brave soul went against everyone else included here and picked Houston
🖨️ Printable March Madness bracket 2025
You can download a March Madness bracket PDF right here to fill in with your projected NCAA Tournament field.
Auburn, Duke, Houston, and Florida earned the four No. 1 seeds in the South, East, Midwest, and West regions, respectively.
❓March Madness FAQs
Who is the March Madness 2025 favorite?
The Duke Blue Devils are the favorites to win the 2025 NCAA Tournament with +320 odds. Those odds imply a win probability of 23.81%.
Who won March Madness last year?
UConn defeated the Purdue 75-60 to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament. That marked back-to-back victories for the Huskies.
When does March Madness start?
Selection Sunday was Sunday, March 16, with the First Four being played on March 18 and 19. The first round of the NCAA Tournament will then be played March 20 and 21, followed by the second round on March 22 and 23.
The Sweet 16 and Elite Eight are the following week between March 27 and 30. The Final Four is on April 5 with the championship on April 7.
When will March Madness be decided?
The 2025 national championship game will take place on Monday, April 7.
Where will March Madness be played?
The Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament will be played at the Alamodome in San Antonio.
🏅 March Madness betting odds pages
👑 Best March Madness betting sites
Ready to place your March Madness bets? Check out the best March Madness betting promos from our best March Madness betting sites, as determined by our expert team at Sportsbook Review.
- Caesars Promo Code: SBRBONUSDYW | Read our Caesars Review
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- bet365 Bonus Code: SBRBONUS | Read our bet365 Review
- FanDuel Promo Code | Read our FanDuel Review
- DraftKings Promo Code | Read our DraftKings Review
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Each betting site featured on SBR has been meticulously researched and selected by our team of experts. If you sign up through our links, we may get a commission
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