March Madness 2023: Predicting Top Four Seeds and Men's Championship Favorites

A No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament is much more than a badge of honor.

It's the reward for a season of dominance, and one that extends the easiest path (on paper, at least) out of the respective region.

Four of them will be officially handed out on Selection Sunday, but we've seen enough to have a strong hunch about which four schools are going to get one. After breaking down those predictions, we'll spotlight two of our favorites to win the tournament.

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Make your picks: Play the NCAA March Madness Men's Bracket Challenge and Tournament Run.

The Number Ones

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 09: Amari Bailey #5 and Jaime Jaquez Jr. #24 of the UCLA Bruins celebrate on the court late in the second half of a quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament Colorado Buffaloes at T-Mobile Arena on March 09, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bruins defeated the Buffaloes 80-69. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Alabama Crimson Tide (26-5)

The Tide played nine ranked opponents this season and toppled five of them. However, their last win over a ranked opponent came in mid-January, as the two ranked opponents they played since the start of February (Tennessee and Texas A&M) beat them by a combined 15 points.

Alabama should still have a top seed locked in, but it could use a momentum boost ahead of the Big Dance.

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Houston Cougars (29-2)

Houston's resume mostly speaks for itself. The one gripe, though, is with the level of competition. The Cougars have faced two ranked opponents all season and none since the middle of December. Such is life in the AAC, which ESPN's Joe Lunardi predicts will only send two teams to the tournament.

Is that a reason to doubt Houston? Probably not. The Cougars have been so dominant (more on that later) they seem more than capable of rising to the occasion against anyone.

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Kansas Jayhawks (26-6)

The Big 12 is the best conference in men's college basketball, and Kansas mostly made it through the regular-season slate without breaking a sweat. The Jayhawks went 13-5 in conference play and just opened tournament play with a 17-point drubbing of a feisty West Virginia team.

This maybe isn't the best team Bill Self has ever coached, but the Jayhawks aren't competing against their coach's past. Compared with their current peers, they are clearly among the elites.

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UCLA Bruins (28-4)

Most teams couldn't afford to lose a player like Jaylen Clark, UCLA's tenacious defender who's expected to be out for the season with an Achilles injury, per ESPN's Jeff Borzello. It's possible the Bruins can't afford it, either, as they needed a while to pull away from Colorado on Thursday.

Still, you're talking about a team that hasn't lost since January and remains plenty dangerous even without Clark. That's especially true if UCLA brings the best out of talented freshman Amari Bailey, who popped for a career-high 26 points Thursday.

Favorite: Houston

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MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE - MARCH 05: Head coach Kelvin Sampson of the Houston Cougars instructs Marcus Sasser #0 and Jamal Shead #1 during the first half against the Memphis Tigers at FedExForum on March 05, 2023 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

Say what you want about Houston's competition; the Cougars have still played the best season of anyone.

No one is better balanced on the basketball court. KenPom puts the Cougars fifth in adjusted efficiency on offense and defense. No other team holds top-10 rankings in both, and only three others—Alabama, Texas and UConn—are even top-20 on both ends.

Four players average double-digit points for Houston. Three are upperclassmen: senior Marcus Sasser and juniors J'Wan Roberts and Tramon Mark. The other is freshman Jarace Walker, who cracked the top five in the March 1 mock draft from B/R's Jonathan Wasserman.

Favorite: Kansas

AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann

Kansas forward Jalen Wilson (10) celebrates with teammate Gradey Dick (4) during a timeout late in their NCAA college basketball game against Omaha in Lawrence, Kan., Monday, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)

The Jayhawks have already won two national titles since Self took over in 2003-04, and they'll enter this dance as the defending champs. Some of the key contributors from that team are gone, but Kansas isn't exactly hurting for talent.

Jalen Wilson has blossomed into becoming the Big 12 Player of the Year. Gradey Dick could be a top-10 pick in this summer's NBA draft. Dajuan Harris is a terrific tone-setter at both ends. K.J. Adams Jr. makes things happen on the interior.

Kansas can win games on either end of the court, though it's more of an immovable object than an unstoppable force. When Wilson and Dick have it rolling together on offense, this group is basically unbeatable.