The University Of Connecticut (UConn) ususally breaks everyone’s brackets and expectations. Last year’s championship ended with UConn beating Purdue 75-60. 

Many people thought UConn would get a three-peat win this year, including ESPN sports analyst Jay Bilas, who stated “It’s difficult for any team to repeat, let alone three peat. So, the answer on UConn is it’s extraordinarily difficult to do that.” 

“I will view the season as a failure if we don’t get a three-peat,” Coach Dan Hurley said in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

Many people talk about the UCLA Bruins teams that were coached by John Wooden who won seven consecutive championships in a row, from 1967 to 1973. Sadly UConn’s three-peat was cut short by the University of Florida in a close game losing 75-77. 

The team most people chose to win the tournament is Duke. The second most chosen to win is Florida, and the third most chosen is Auburn. 

25% of people chose Duke to win according to ESPN due to their great roster and talent on the court, including players Caleb Foster, Cooper Flagg and Isaiah Evans.

For the University of Florida, 21.3% of people chose them to win, including famous sports talk hosts Scott Van Pelt and Stephen A. Smith. People think they are going to win because they have a good offense, and have star players like Walter Clayton Jr, Will Richard and Olivier Rioux. 

Auburn has been chosen by 10.6% of people to win with SportsCenter host Ryan Smith choosing them to win it all. They too have a good roster with players Denver Jones, Joah Shay and Presley Patterson.