March Madness 2024: Coaches, scouts pick the national champ - ESPN

Each March since 2019, we've polled 25 college coaches and NBA scouts for their pick to win the men's national championship. While there's usually a clear favorite among industry sources, there's also plenty of disagreement.

Last season, there were eight different teams picked to win it all. In 2022, there were 11. There were only three picked for the bubble tournament, but six back in 2019. All four years, there was at least one vote for the eventual winner.

But we've never had a runaway favorite like this year.

Of the 25 coaches and scouts we polled, 20 picked UConn. Two went with Houston, two picked Purdue and one went for Tennessee.

«UConn is the best team I've ever scouted in my 12 years as a coach,» one coach said. «Could someone beat them? Sure. But they're a different level right now.»

Added another coach: «It's a pretty easy one. They're the most balanced; they're not missing any pieces. I don't look at them and think, man, they don't do this or that that good. And there's not many teams I've thought that about. I think they're head and shoulders above everyone.»

The math is obviously against the Huskies. The last reigning champ to make it out of the first weekend was Duke in 2016; the last one to make it past the Sweet 16 was Florida in 2007, when the Gators repeated.

But after the way the Huskies steamrolled through this season — especially when Donovan Clingan got healthy — nobody wants to pick against Dan Hurley's team.

«I didn't think twice about it,» one NBA scout said. «I know the statistics about reigning national championships, but with the type of year that this has been, with the relative inconsistency at the top, I'm not sure how you go against them. They're going to play practically four home games