2025 Men's March Madness odds: Back UCSD, Colorado State to cover in Round of 64

The college basketball madness officially begins this week. This should be an absolute blast.

Last week, I gave you four teams whose title futures were worth a wager. This week, I'm focusing on the first round.

Let's dive into a few squads that I think will make some noise over the next few days.

And yes, I even threw a parlay in there for good measure.

No. 16 SIU Edwardsville @ No. 1 Houston
No. 16 Norfolk State @ No. 1 Florida

Massive numbers to lay, and you won’t get rich consistently betting four-touchdown favorites, but it’s an easy way to dip your toe into the tournament. Besides Duke, these are the two best teams in the country, and they should annihilate their opponents in the first round. Their speed and tenacity — specifically on defense — overwhelms teams that haven’t seen it before. 

Houston won last year’s first-round game as a 1-seed by 40, and this year’s team is better. If you don’t like the parlay, consider the Gators to eclipse their team total, as the top-ranked offense in the country faces a defense that rates 217th.

PICK: Parlay Houston (-29) to win by more than 29 points and Florida (-28) to win by more than 28 points
 
No. 12 UC San Diego @ No. 5 Michigan

I wrote about the Tritons last week in this space. Then they won the Big West Tournament, and now they are a sexy pick to topple Michigan. None of the 5-seed teams are impressive, and Michigan is coming off a great run in the Big Ten Tournament. In recent history, teams that win that tourney perform poorly in March Madness. Two of the last three Big Ten tourney champs lost in the first round (Iowa, Purdue). This is a potential matchup nightmare for Michigan, which ranks 328th in the country in turnover percentage. UC San Diego ranks second