- What: 2025 NCAA Tournament
- When: March 18 to April 7
- How to watch: TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV
The countdown is almost over. Last weekend, the regular season came to a close for college hoops and we saw some incredible last-minute statements. This included Auburn losing to Alabama and North Carolina not being able to post an upset over the Duke Blue Devils. With that said, the Big Dance is almost here and Duke is the new favorite to win 2025 March Madness with the regular season wrapped up.
Will Jon Scheyer and Co. step up and deliver? It's not going to be easy, but there's a main reason why people are so high on Duke. That'd be the strong play of standout freshman Cooper Flagg. Flagg has no question lived up to the hype, as he's in the running to be the National Player of the Year. He is going to be ready to make a statement throughout the tourney too.
| March Madness odds |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke to win | +330 | +330 | +330 |
| Auburn to win | +380 | +380 | +380 |
| Alabama to win | +700 | +700 | +700 |
| Florida to win | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
“Look, I mean, for me, it’s Cooper,” Scheyer said on who he thinks should be the National Player of the Year. “That’s not knocking anybody — I mean, we played (Johni) Broome, he’s a great player — but Cooper, the way he impacts every aspect of the game, I don’t think we’ve seen in college for a long time."
According to the best sports betting sites, Duke currently holds +330 March Madness betting odds to win it all. It's not going to be easy for this team and plenty of haters are trying to bring them down. However, it sure looks like things are put in place for them to go on a deep run and pull things off. It will be interesting to see how things go down here, but from our chair, we're picking Duke to be the champs.
.@TheAndyKatz’s First-Team All-Freshman 👏
🏀 Cooper Flagg
🏀 Derik Queen
🏀 Dylan Harper
🏀 Jase Richardson
🏀 Tre Johnson pic.twitter.com/qnOwwhNY3o— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 11, 2025
Auburn is ready to push for the National Championship as well
It goes without saying, but Auburn is ready to push for the National Championship as well. The Tigers were previously the favorites to win the title for the majority of the 2024-25 campaign, but the Tigers and Bruce Pearl indeed suffered a bit of a setback to close out the regular season with a loss to Alabama at home. It was an overtime thriller, with Mark Sears hitting a thrilling game-winner.
Despite the loss to the Crimson Tide, Auburn is still amped up to make noise throughout March Madness and Johni Broome remains in the hunt to win Player of the Year as well. What Auburn is hoping is that veteran guard Chad Baker-Mazara can keep his cool the rest of the season. He was ejected against Alabama and the Auburn staff was understandably disappointed.
Auburn C Johni Broome has won the Sporting News National Player of the Year award
SN is one of six officially recognized selectors for college basketball’s National Player of the Year award and once gave me an internship, so you better believe it counts
— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) March 12, 2025
Looking to get in on the betting action too? We don't have to tell you that the NCAA Tourney is one of the biggest and best events of the year in terms of sports wagers. On top of that, top sportsbooks, like Bovada and BetOnline offer up great deals. The BetOnline promo codes and promotions are great to utilize this time of year. We'd recommend checking them out with March Madness here.
Per the best NCAA basketball betting sites, Auburn holds the second-best odds to win the NCAA Tournament at +380. Yes, they're right behind Duke. Can you imagine if these two teams end up facing off in the title game? It'd be a blockbuster showdown. We're sticking to our guns in picking Duke to win it all, but Broome and Co. are definitely going to be ones to watch over the next few weeks.
Alabama is no question a dark horse candidate for the NCAA Tournament
While a lot of the focus is going to Duke and Auburn, don't forget that Alabama is no question a dark horse candidate for the NCAA Tournament. People are still riding high over Sears lifting the team to the upset win over the Tigers last weekend.
What makes this group so special too is that head coach Nate Oats has them operating at a high level on both ends of the floor. This week at the SEC Tournament, the Tide are going to hope to make a statement and the cards could line up for them to meet Auburn in the conference title game.
Should Alabama go on a deep run in the SEC Tournament, Oats and Co. could take home a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tourney. That would put them in an even greater position to make a splash from start to finish for the Big Dance. People are quite high on the Tide and rightfully so. They're going to be ready to make noise in this one.
