March Madness 2017: Predicting Favorites, Sleepers and Latest Bubble Teams

The Villanova Wildcats have taken care of all the preliminaries, and now it's about trying to win a second consecutive national championship.

Villanova won the Big East regular-season title as well as the conference tournament. Head coach Jay Wright and his players will try to reel off six more postseason wins. If they can accomplish that, the Wildcats will be cutting down the nets in Phoenix in early April.

Yet despite their gaudy 31-3 record and the likely No. 1 seed overall in the NCAA tournament, fans who back the Wildcats with their hard-earned dollars will receive a solid payoff if they are successful. Villanova goes off at 10-1 odds to win the title, according to OddsShark.

Nobody is saying that emerging through March Madness and winning the championship will be easy, and likely No. 1 seeds North Carolina (27-7) and Kansas (28-4) will be right there with Villanova.

The other likely No. 1 seed is Gonzaga (32-1), and while the Zags are an established program who have to be respected, it is hard to include them in the same category with Villanova, North Carolina and Kansas until they make it to the Final Four. Gonzaga has come close, but it has never made it that far.

Duke (27-8) put itself into the favorite category Saturday night when the Blue Devils defeated Notre Dame (25-9) in the ACC tournament championship game. Duke became the first ACC team to win tournament games on four consecutive days and emerge as the champions.

The Blue Devils are playing their best basketball at the right time of year, and they will be difficult to beat. The same can be said of the Arizona Wildcats (30-4), who emerged with the Pac-12 conference tournament title Saturday night following their 83-80 victory over Oregon. Allonzo Trier led the way with 23 points, and he hit four key free throws in the final seconds to clinch the victory.

While Gonzaga is not a favorite, the Zags are too competitive to be considered a sleeper. They are led by Nigel Williams-Goss and Przemek Karnowski, who are averaging 16.9 and 12.6 points per game respectively. Karnowski is shooting an eye-catching 60.1 percent from the field.

Date	Round	Location	Television
Tuesday, March 14 and Wednesday, March 15	First Four	Dayton, Ohio	TruTV
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Buffalo, New York	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Milwaukee	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Salt Lake City	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Thursday, March 16 and Saturday, March 18	First/Second	Orlando, Florida	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Wednesday, March 17 and Friday, March 19	First/Second	Greenville, South Carolina	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Wednesday, March 17 and Friday, March 19	First/Second	Indianapolis	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Wednesday, March 17 and Friday, March 19	First/Second	Tulsa, Oklahoma	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Wednesday, March 17 and Friday, March 19	First/Second	Sacramento, California	CBS, TNT, TBS or TruTV
Thursday, March 23 and Saturday, March 25	Midwest Regional	Kansas City, Missouri	Thu: CBS or TBS; Sat: TBS
Thursday, March 23 and Saturday, March 25	West Regional	San Jose, California	Thu: CBS or TBS; Sat: TBS
Friday, March 24 and Sunday, March 26	South Regional	Memphis, Tennessee	Fri: CBS or TBS; Sun: CBS
Friday, March 24 and Sunday, March 26	East Regional	New York	Fri: CBS or TBS; Sun: CBS
Saturday, April 1 and Monday, April 3	Final Four	Phoenix	CBS

Sleepers

Purdue (25-7) was the regular-season Big Ten champion, and the Boilermakers appear to be a fourth seed in the tournament. They could go on a long run even though their seed is lower than some of the elite teams.

The Boilermakers are led by Big Ten player of the year Caleb Swanigan, who averaged 18.5 points and 12.6 rebounds per game and had 25 double-doubles this season. Isaac Haas is Purdue's second-leading scorer with 12.8 points per night, and he is connecting on 58.9 percent of his shots from the field.

Butler (23-8) is another likely fourth seed that has a chance to make a statement in the tournament. The Bulldogs lost their Big East regular-season finale to Seton Hall and their conference tournament game to Xavier, but they are a tough-minded defensive team that knows how to lock it down when the game is on the line.

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Butler is led by junior forward Kelan Martin, who is averaging 16.1 points and bringing down 5.7 rebounds per game.

It's also difficult not to mention Florida State as a sleeper in the tournament. The Seminoles (25-8) were second to North Carolina in the ACC regular season and were consistently strong from the start of their season.

Sophomore guard Dwayne Bacon leads the Seminoles, with a 16.9 points-per-game mark, and he is joined by Jonathan Isaac, who is averaging 11.9 points per night. Florida State moves the ball around the court with a purpose and plays cohesively, and the Seminoles could be quite dangerous.

While Northwestern (23-11) is not a sleeper because the Wildcats don't have a real chance of winning the tournament, they are worthy of mention as a supersleeper that could win a game or two in their first foray in the event.

The Wildcats have an exciting duo in Bryant McIntosh and Scottie Lindsey, who are averaging 14.4 and 14.2 points per game respectively. Head coach Chris Collins has built an exciting, defensively sound team that can't wait to hear its name called Sunday night.

Michael Dwyer/Associated Press

On the Bubble

Some of the bubble teams that are likely to get invited to the tournament include Providence (20-12), Michigan State (19-14) and Wake Forest (19-13). 

Providence won its last six regular-season games to make a strong case to get into the tournament. Junior forward Rodney Bullock is a big-time player who averages 15.7 points per game and plays with the toughness needed to lead his team to a win or two in the tournament.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

The Spartans have one of the most talented freshmen in the country in 6'7" guard Miles Bridges, who is averaging a team-high 16.7 points per game.  

Michigan State has not shown the consistency this season that basketball fans can normally expect from a Tom Izzo-coached team, but that doesn't mean the Spartans won't be difficult to beat in the tournament.

Wake Forest (19-13) defeated Louisville and Virginia Tech to close the ACC regular season, but losing to the Hokies in the ACC tournament may have caused some angst for head coach Danny Manning and his staff.

Forward John Collins is averaging 18.9 points per game and hitting 62.0 percent of his shots from the floor.