NCAA Tournament Bracket Analysis - Three March Madness Futures Bets to Make

The NCAA Tournament is here! It's the most magical time of the year for college basketball fans. We have you covered - use our 2023 March Madness Guide to get everything you need to know. With the full bracket unveiled, we take a look at the best college basketball Futures bets to make ahead of March Madness before the games start on Thursday.

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March Madness Tournament Bracket Analysis

The NCAA Tournament begins this week! It's that magical time of year for college basketball fans, and we are here to help you fill out your brackets, and more importantly, win some money. The bracket is always glorious, but this year's draw has a few elements that stand out as unique which should make the tournament fun to bet on.

For starters, this college basketball season is a wide open one. There are 15-20 teams that genuinely could make an appearance in the national championship game and cut down the nets in early April. Many have assumed that with such parity in the sport, that would mean more upsets than ever before, but we aren't so sure. 

One thing that stands out immediately is the tough draws for some of the best potential Cindarellas. Everyone's favorite underdog - Oral Roberts landed as a 12-seed and gets to face a Duke team that is rolling right now and just won the ACC Tournament. It will be easier said than done for them to repeat their magic from a few seasons ago. Another of the Cinderella teams that got a tough draw is Florida Atlantic. The Owls won a whopping 31 games this season, and get rewarded with a 9-seed where they will face the American tournament champions, Memphis, who just rolled the #1 team in the country, Houston.

One other takeaway is that the West Region is absolutely loaded. With Kansas, UCLA, UConn and Gonzaga all in one section of the bracket, it truly will be a bloodbath to emerge from that region and into the Final Four. The other regions feel particularly less challenging for top teams like Houston and Alabama.

Three Futures Bets to Make for March Madness

1. UCLA to Make the Final Four (+350) at WynnBET Sportsbook

Our model is extremely high on UCLA. The Bruins ran through the PAC 12, and looked in line for a 1-seed before losing to Arizona in the conference tournament championship. With veteran stars like Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez, we are buying Bruins stock, especially relative to the other teams in the loaded West Region. DimersBOT gives UCLA a 40.5% probability to make the Final Four, higher than both Kansas (14.4%) and Gonzaga (12.8%) who are the betting favorites. At +350 odds, compared to Kansas at +275 and Gonzaga at +300, there is massive value on the Bruins if you jump on them early.

2. Tennessee to Make the Final Four (+550) at WynnBET Sportsbook

Another team our model absolutely loves is Tennessee. We give the Volunteers a 29.1% probability to make the Final Four, which is identical to our model's probability for #1-seeded Purdue, however the odds are more than double for the Vols compared to the Boilermakers, as Purdue sits at +225 and Tennessee is at +550. There is tons of value on Tennessee, who our model has remained high on all season long. With the best defense in the country, the Volunteers will be a good case study of the infamous "defense wins championship" belief this March.

3. Houston to Win the National Championship (+600) at WynnBET Sportsbook

Our favorite bet to win the national championship is the Houston Cougars, and what a storybook finish it would be as the title game will be played in Houston next month. Our model gives Houston a 25.8% chance to win the championship, the highest of any team and significantly ahead of #1-overall seeded Alabama at 16.3%.  Those two teams are tied as the betting favorites at +600 odds, making Houston the best bet available on the board. With a three-headed guard trio and star freshman Jarace Walker, nobody will be surprised to see Kelvin Sampson's Cougars finish the season as national champions.

Find out who we're betting on for every basketball game in the First Round via our College Basketball Bet Hub, where we deliver you NBA predictions and suggested bets, or check out the College Basketball Betting News section.