ESPN’s Jay Bilas Picked a No. 4 Seed to Win March Madness

The analyst chose what appears to be an unlikely choice for the 2023 champion.

Shortly after the full March Madness men’s bracket was released on Sunday, various college basketball experts made their projected picks for this year’s tournament.

ESPN’s Jay Bilas came out strong and chose an unlikely champion for the 2023 NCAA tournament. Bilas, who is a Duke alum, chose the No. 5 Blue Devils to be the national runners-up. Then, he picked No. 4 UConn as the 2023 national champions.

Bilas wasn’t the only ESPN analyst to put UConn in his Final Four. All four ESPN college hoops analysts—Bilas, Seth Greenberg, Rece Davis and LaPhonso Ellis—all picked the Huskies for the Final Four, meaning they all predict them to win the West Region. Davis even had UConn in his championship game but losing to No. 1 Alabama.

According to SI Sportsbook, the Huskies have the third-best odds to win the national title (+900) behind Houston and Alabama. So maybe Bilas’s choice wasn’t too far off.

UConn finished the season fourth in the Big East with a 25–8 record. It faces No. 13 Iona in the first round on Friday, March 17 at 4:30 p.m. The full NCAA men’s tournament schedule can be found here.