Read These Tips Before You Fill Out Your Bracket 🔥

PLUS: Best bets for tonight's matchups and predictions for each region in the tournament.

Author

Brian Courcelle
March 14, 2023

March Madness is one of the highlights on the betting calendar, but office pools —or bracket challenges — typically reign supreme. While we all love the Cinderella stories that come out of the tournament, it's important to not let that clueless coworker or friend take home the bracket win. That's where we come in. We're here to assist you in making sure that doesn't happen.

Star this email to come back to it when you fill out your bracket.

March Madness South Region Predictions

The South region is loaded with top-tier schools and is arguably the toughest region in this year’s tournament. Eight of the 16 schools are in the top 22 of KenPom rankings, with five in the top 15.

The No. 1 overall seed in the tournament - Alabama - is red hot after cruising to a win at the SEC Tournament cementing its place as the top team in the tournament. This region also features a few possible Cinderella schools in Charleston, Furman, and UC Santa Barbara.

This No. 1 overall seed has failed to win the tournament since Louisville achieved the feat in 2013, but five of the last six national champions have been a 1 seed, including the last two years.

Read more of Ani Sridhar’s South Region betting tips for March Madness.

March Madness East Region Predictions

Every team in the East Region is trying to slay the giant.

That means the metaphorical giant — top-ranked Purdue — but also the literal giant in Zach Edey, the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-4 mountain of a man who won Big Ten Player of the Year and helped them to both the conference regular-season and tournament crowns.

Purdue, unsurprisingly, is the favorite to cut down the nets at Madison Square Garden on either March 25 or 26. But Purdue coach Matt Painter has not taken his team past the Elite Eight in his 17 seasons at the helm, famously falling to No. 15 seed St. Peter’s in the Sweet 16 a year ago.

There’s no shortage of Davids looking to take down Goliath again this year. Let’s take a look at Pat Pickens’ betting tips in the East Region.

March Madness Midwest Region Predictions

The March Madness Midwest region is going to be a gauntlet.

It starts at the top with Houston, the favorite to navigate through the region to win it all with a veteran-led group and a fantastic defense.

Outside of Houston, it is a stacked region full of excellent guard play and exciting teams. Consisting of three teams from Texas and three from Iowa, this region has plenty of storylines and matchups you won’t want to miss in the first round and throughout. But, can anyone take down the Cougars?

Let’s go through Lance Patton’s betting tips for the Midwest region.

March Madness West Region Predictions

The West Region looks tough, featuring a few national-championship contenders like Kansas, UCLA, and Gonzaga. We also can’t count out teams like UConn or Saint Mary’s.

With that in mind, let’s dive into Frank Ammirante’s best bets and predictions for the bracket’s West quadrant.

First Four NCAA Tournament Matchups

Texas A&M-CC vs SE Missouri State at 6:40 PM ET on TRUTV

March Madness is upon us, and we are kicking things off as usual with the First Four matchups. In the South section of the bracket, Southeast Missouri State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will face off.

  • Moneyline: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (-190) | Southeast Missouri State (+160)

  • Spread: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi -4 (-110) | Southeast Missouri State +4 (-110)

  • Over/Under: Over 153.5 (-110) | Under 153.5 (-110)

This game pits two of the worst teams in the entire bracket against one another. However, this should be a very close game all the way through as both of these teams are built quite similarly.

Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has done more winning this season, but Southeast Missouri State has the Cinderella story effect in their favor. The Redhawks’ trio of guards in Phillip Russell, Chris Harris, and Israel Barnes will need to keep up their offensive pace of the past few weeks if they want any chance of winning this one outright.

For Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Islanders will need to put together enough defensive stops to counter it if they do not want to be upset. Their offense is relatively outstanding, but they have shown an inability to defend the 3-pointer at times throughout the season.

PARLAY THESE TO WIN EVEN BIGGER (+265) đź¤‘ 

Read for our Southeast Missouri State vs Texas A&M-Corpus Christi prediction and best bets.👇

Mississippi State vs Pitt at 9:10 PM ET on TRUTV

In this First Four matchup, Mississippi State will take on Pittsburgh for the right to play Iowa State, the No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region.

  • Moneyline: Mississippi State (-130) | Pittsburgh (+110)

  • Spread: Mississippi State -2 (-110) | Pittsburgh +2 (-110)

  • Over/Under: Over 132.5 (-110) | Under 132.5 (-110)

I’m giving the Panthers the slight edge in this 11-seed showdown.

Pittsburgh’s offense has a wide variety of scorers who can attack the stern Bulldogs defense. Mississippi State’s strong inside presence will cause problems for Pitt, but this squad’s poor shooting — the Bulldogs shot 42.3% from the field this season (302nd in the country) — will surely handicap its chances of winning.

Read for our Mississippi State vs Pitt prediction and best bets.👇

🏀THIS. IS. MARCH. Guess who you think will win the tournament for a chance to win one of these four prizes!

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