2024 NCAA tournament instant bracket -- Charlie Creme predicts how women's March Madness - ESPN

By its nature, Bracketology is a long, painstaking process grounded in the details, some quite minute. Each one thought about once, twice, perhaps 10 times before I can be satisfied the formula has been followed. But that's putting the bracket together. Picking the winners is essentially taking the bracket apart. That kind of work needs to be done quickly. The analysis of an entire season of college basketball has already been done, so deciding the winner of all 67 games is all about first instincts. Go with your gut.

From the days of making my own brackets on my parents' living room floor with a pencil, a ruler and construction paper, to today plugging in my winners on ESPN, it has always been about making a quick decision and sticking to it. So that is what I have done here. These are my picks for the entire tournament, from the First Four to the championship game — and I made them as soon as the bracket was announced. No long looks. No extra analysis. I dove right in and didn't look back to construct my true Instant Bracket.

ALBANY 1 REGION

No. 16 Sacred Heart 68, No. 16 Presbyterian 61

ALBANY 2 REGION

No. 16 UT Martin 52, No. 16 Holy Cross 50

PORTLAND 3 REGION

No. 12 Vanderbilt 54, No. 12 Columbia 46

No. 11 Arizona 58, No. 11 Auburn 54

Dawn Staley explains what it means to be the No. 1 overall seed and how South Carolina will navigate without Kamilla Cardoso in its first game.

FIRST ROUND PICKS

No. 1 South Carolina 102, No. 16 Sacred Heart 51

No. 8 North Carolina 64, No. 9 Michigan State 68

No. 5 Oklahoma 82, No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast 80

No. 4 Indiana 67, No. 13 Fairfield 58

No. 6 Nebraska 72, No. 11 Texas A&M 68

No. 3 Oregon State 77, No. 14 Eastern Washington 52

No. 7 Ole Miss 68, No. 10 Marquette 44

No. 2