2020 March Madness Picks – NCAA Tournament Betting Predictions

Brian Sausa, Last Updated: September 17th, 2024 - NJ Sports Betting - Free $3,250 For Sports Bets In New Jersey

The calendar has officially flipped, which means anticipation is building toward the NCAA Tournament, and we are helping bettors prepare by making another round of 2020 March Madness predictions!

Even though it is largely associated with the 68-team tournament, March Madness actually begins in the early part of the month with smaller league tournaments for each of the 32 Division I conferences. For right now, however, we are staying focused on making NCAA Tournament betting picks for which team will win the Final Four in April.

In the weeks leading up to the NCAA Tournament, sportsbooks including all the best NJ betting sites offer college basketball futures odds for which team will win the national championship. Despite being a few weeks out from tip-off, it’s a great time to see how odds have changed since our last set of March Madness picks and to pinpoint a few programs to keep an eye on.

Best Sportsbooks For NCAA Basketball Futures Predictions

The great news for everyone looking to get in on the action this March is that regardless of which state you live in, there is an operator for you! Check out this list below for suggestions on where to go in order to make NCAA Tournament betting predictions based on where you’re located!

March Madness Betting Picks: Who Will Win NCAA Basketball Championship 2020?

There’s an argument to be made for every team in the below photo, and plenty of others as well. Unfortunately, bets NCAA basketball futures picks can’t be placed for all the best programs and since we can’t pick them all, we had to narrow down our list. We’ve attempted to combine team quality and value to come up with six suggestions for March Madness betting predictions as the NCAA Tournament approaches.

Make March Madness Picks At DraftKings NJ!

• Kansas Jayhawks (+700)

This team surged to the top of the board after being No. 1 Baylor on the road and even with the odds as low as they can go, there’s value at +700 since the number has reached +600 on some sites. Kansas has won 14 straight games at the time of this writing and will earn at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title, with the inside track to win it outright.

We’re looking at a locked-and-loaded No. 1 seed with more Quad 1 wins than any other group in the country and the top-rated team according to the NCAA’s new ranking system (NET). Even the losses are impressive: a neutral site game against Duke, at home against Baylor and at Villanova.

Kansas will have a target on its back and high expectations throughout the tournament but this is still a team worth staking your money on as long as big man Udoka Azubuike and PG Devon Dotson remain healthy.

• Baylor Bears (+900)

The Bears may have lost its 23-game winning streak by losing to Kansas in late February, but it still has a likely No. 1 seed and a great chance to cut down the nets as your NCAA basketball championship prediction.

There may be no team more motivated than Baylor, which may not even get a piece of the Big 12 title after losing to TCU so late in the year. Such a dominant regular season deserves to be rewarded, so that means the Bears must go earn their reward in the conference tournament and the NCAAs.

While you never want to be caught slipping heading into the postseason, perhaps some adversity does the Bears some good. After all, Big 12 rival Texas Tech struggled down the stretch and got it together for a run to the national title game in 2019.

We learned last year from both Virginia and Texas Tech that teams with a few decent offensive players and a suffocating defense could take things all the way, even if it was ugly. That’s Baylor this season, a team that doesn’t win in a very pretty way but nearly always gets the job done.

The odds are improved at some other sites, so consider line shopping and/or a William Hill NJ promo code for a better line on Baylor as one of your NCAA Tournament futures predictions.

• Louisville Cardinals (+1600)

The Atlantic Coast Conference is top-heavy and lacks the depth we’ve seen in years past, so we aren’t hearing as much about it. Louisville was among the betting favorites from the very beginning of the season but fell out of favor with bettors after getting stuck as a one-man show with Jordan Nwora and remaining inconsistent on offense.

With that said, The Cardinals are about to win at least a share of the regular-season ACC title, yet most people don’t see them as a threat on the level of Gonzaga, Kansas, Baylor, or even Dayton and San Diego State.

Even as a No. 2 or No. 3 seed, Louisville can be as dangerous as nearly any team in the country, especially considering both of those seeds will place them far away from the No. 1 seed in the region. It’s been a bit bumpy for the Cardinals, but this is still a top-10 team according to the NCAA Evaluation Tool and the bracket layout may allow them to get on a roll in the early rounds.

If you want to wager on the Cardinals, you may consider signing up with a FanDuel Sportsbook promo code for more profitable odds for your 2020 March Madness predictions.

• Kentucky Wildcats (+2000)

The Wildcats have won eight straight games to position themselves for the SEC regular-season title and are likely to earn no worse than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. At +2000 odds, this is definitely one team to consider for your March Madness predictions, for some of the same reasons as in-state rival Louisville.

Kentucky is a more dangerous team at No. 2 or No. 3 because of where that will place them in the bracket. In the event that San Diego State or Gonzaga is the top seed in its region, the Wildcats have a great chance to win emerge as the Final Four pick.

Like many John Calipari teams, this group has improved as the season progressed and is now playing its best basketball at the right time. One of the more underrated qualities of Kentucky? They play well away from home. With a crowd that always travels, neutral site games in March will also feel a bit like Kentucky home games.

The odds for Kentucky are significantly lower at plenty of sites, so sign up with a DraftKings NJ promo code to lock the Wildcats in at +2000!

• Michigan State Spartans (+2500)

Michigan State has been inconsistent for most of the season, then hit a wall a few weeks ago when it lost four of five and the odds rose dramatically for a Spartans championship run. Over the last couple weeks of the season, however, Michigan State has come alive and the line has yet to adjust after a huge win at Maryland. With the preseason No. 1 finally playing up to its potential, how many teams will want to play the Spartans in the big dance?

Any team with Cassius Winston at point guard and Tom Izzo as the coach shouldn’t be +2500, and the value is the real reason to invest in the Spartans for your March Madness predictions. Michigan State is currently projected as a No. 4 seed but the Big Ten Tournament is completely up for grabs and there’s time to move up if things go well. Given the track record, there could be much worse championship and Final Four picks than Izzo’s team.

• Oregon Ducks (+2500)

Oregon has taken turns looking mighty impressive and suffering massive letdowns over the course of the season. It is undefeated at home which won’t save it during March, but it also has veteran leadership, plays tight defense and most importantly, has tournament experience.

The Ducks won the Pac-12 Tournament just year just to sneak into the field, then went on a run to the Swett 16 before losing to eventual champion Virginia by just four points. It remains to be seen whether Oregon wins the Pac-12 regular-season title and where its seeding will be in the bracket, but it probably winds up in the 4-6 seed range after making noise as a No. 12 last year.

If you’re looking to make March Madness picks on teams that aren’t going to see the most action and can get you a huge payout, keep Oregon under consideration. For more college basketball futures picks involving many of these same programs, check out our 2020 Final Four predictions!

2020 NCAA Tournament Bracket: Fill One Out With Your March Madness Picks

Even though we are still a couple of weeks from Selection Sunday, why wait? You can snag a few copies of a printable NCAA Tournament bracket anytime to practice with and once the field is set, you can easily fill in the teams for each of the four regions. Once all the teams are announced, we will be updating our own so keep it locked to BonusSeeker for all your 2020 NCAA Tournament bracket needs!

Print Your 2020 March Madness Bracket Here!

ABOUT Brian Sausa

Brian Sausa is BonusSeeker’s Copy Editor and lead sports betting pundit. A journalism graduate with an extensive sports background, Brian has been employed by multiple professional leagues including MLB, MiLB (Minor League Baseball), and the NHL. MLB, NHL, IBTimes, Brooklyn Cyclones, FanSided