Who will make a Final Four run in March Madness? Our experts make their picks

Who’s in your Final Four? Who’s winning it all? Those are the only questions worth asking for the next couple of days.

So, naturally, we asked our staff to answer them. Not surprisingly, UConn was the most popular national championship pick, but the Huskies aren’t unanimous among our college basketball experts.

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NCAA Tournament bracket picks: CJ Moore picks UConn over Purdue for the title

There’s a reason no one has repeated as national champion since 2007: It’s really hard. Admittedly, UConn is really hard to pick against, but I’ve said Purdue since the start of the season and I’m not changing my mind. Everyone is reading disaster into the Boilermakers’ loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten tournament; they said the same when Virginia lost in its conference semifinals in 2019. The Cavaliers went on to win it all.

UConn and Purdue are the most complete teams in the country. I know the Boilermakers just stumbled in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, but based on their vibe in the locker room, they had their eyes on a bigger prize anyway. I don’t trust Houston to last through the various health issues and Marquette with a healthy Tyler Kolek has always been a Final Four contender. As for the Saint Mary’s flyer? This is a burly, experienced top-20 KenPom team that is really hard to play against. Everyone in the West Region is flawed. Why not go with the Gaels-force pick? And it’s not easy to repeat. It’s also not easy to be potentially better than the national championship group that preceded you. UConn managed it. Why can’t it hoist the trophy again?

After seeing the Big East get hosed with three NCAA Tournament bids, the gods will collude to assure a Big East vs. Big East national title game against two teams that split their season series. Then the gods will decide the universe can’t handle Dan Hurley having two national titles under his belt, and will decide instead to crown a first Jesuit national championship since 1984.

Connecticut has just felt inevitable to me all season. Dan Hurley is a force of nature and so is his team. In as wild and unpredictable a year as I can remember in college basketball, the one constant has been the Huskies looking totally capable of repeating. I’m not sure that I actually believe Purdue will meet them in the final, but I sure want it to be true so the haters will shut up about Matt Painter, who is a great coach. In the South and West regions, I truly haven’t a clue who gets out. Flirted with the idea of Kentucky in the South, but that’s the least trustworthy team of any that have a roster good enough to get there.

I went with a super outside-the-box pick to win the whole thing: Connecticut — who, if we’re being serious, has been the best team in the country most of this season. (Purdue has the best player in the country; big difference.) Tristen Newton is maybe the most well-rounded guard in the country, Donovan Clingan has been playing like a potential lottery pick, and either Stephon Castle or Alex Karaban are liable to go off any given night. It would take an epic shooting night — like when Creighton hit 14-of-28 3s — to down the Huskies; I don’t see that happening with their defense.

As for the rest of my Final Four: I am manifesting the Caleb Love Bowl between North Carolina and Arizona in the Elite Eight, and I’m inclined to favor the game’s most-motivated individual. I’m most at a loss with the South; I’m worried about how banged-up Houston is … and the same with Marquette … and Kentucky’s (lack of) defense … and Duke struggling the last week. Maybe Wisconsin has rebounded, after all? And in the Midwest, I have Purdue knocking off Samford to meet Tennessee in the Elite Eight … only to fall to the best transfer in the America, Dalton Knecht, and his (I believe) superior supporting cast.

Connecticut is the best, most complete team I’ve watched all season. As much as I like both Illinois and Iowa State, I don’t see the Huskies getting tripped up before Glendale. I think the bracket sets up well for Kentucky — Marquette gets upset early, Duke takes out Houston — and I’m banking on the Cats and all that talent getting hot at the right time and having enough offense to mask the bad defense for a couple weeks. Tennessee is a balanced team with positional versatility, a stout enough defense to keep Purdue in check and a scorer in Dalton Knecht who can take over a game and help Tennessee overcome the Edey Effect. North Carolina has been my sleeper title pick for a few weeks now. Inside-out ability, experience from Armando Bacot, versatility from Harrison Ingram, a potential breakout freshman in Elliot Cadeau and a bona fide, game-changing, Kemba-candidate bucket-getter in RJ Davis. UNC has just enough experience and firepower to clip UConn; it’s hard to repeat. Rick Barnes finally gets Tennessee men’s basketball over the hump and to the Final Four and the brink of a championship. But Heels over Vols in the title game. Davis and Bacot cement legend status in Chapel Hill.

I tinkered with a chaos bracket — Grand Canyon! Auburn! Utah State! Let’s get weird! — because, um, did you guys see last year’s tournament? Or, like, last weekend? Chalk is boring. Still, UConn just has too many answers. I would love to see Purdue get to Phoenix, but it’s so hard to trust the tournament history there. So I went with a more sure thing in March out of the Midwest Region: Tennessee. (Hey, wait a minute …) I had to pick one bomber, so I went with No. 7 seed Florida. Yes, the Gators just lost big man Micah Handlogten, but I love this team for its guard play, and going smaller might not be the worst thing. If Tyler Kolek is healthy, give me Marquette, but an oblique injury can linger or flare back up any time. These picks will all be wrong anyway. Well, except for UConn.

UConn was the best team all year, even with injuries to Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle, and has already proved what it can do in March a year ago. While a difficult bracket and the randomness of March could conspire to trip them up at some point, the Huskies have to be the closest thing to a favorite at this point.

The Big East may only have sent three teams to the NCAA Tournament, but those three teams are among the very best in the country — when they play their “A” game. So, I have all three advancing to the Elite Eight, with two continuing onto a collision course and meeting in the national championship game. When all is said and done, though, the team that’s been the best team in college basketball all year will be the one cutting down the nets. UConn will win back-to-back titles for the first time since Florida did in 2006 and 2007.

UConn is poised to join the elite ranks as the eighth NCAA program to secure consecutive championships. They boast a roster blending veteran players along with excellent young talent, making them the most complete team in the nation. Their ability to excel on both offense and defense, coupled with a deep bench and a defensive mentality, sets them apart. They have weapons at every spot on the floor and with just one loss in 2024 and a clean bill of health, they are primed for success as they enter the postseason tournament.

I’m not changing from my preseason pick, because Purdue hasn’t given me any reason to change. True, those guards weren’t at their best against Wisconsin, but that’s the exception, not the rule, and I think they’ll get a good start in the NCAA Tournament and get rolling. Purdue 2024 is Virginia 2019. The Boilers will be challenged by Tennessee in the Elite Eight, and Auburn is a very tempting choice to upset UConn in the Sweet 16. Kentucky could be an early flameout, but we’ve seen enough stretches of decent defense from the Cats lately that I believe the most talented perimeter group in the nation will take them to Arizona. Speaking of Arizona, look for those Wildcats to beat North Carolina to earn a de facto Final Four home game.

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