March Madness 2025: First bets for the men's Final Four - ESPN

The Final Four is set in the men's NCAA tournament, and only No. 1 seeds are left standing. On Saturday, Florida plays Auburn in the first game and Duke plays Houston in the second game, leading up to Monday night's championship.

So which bets offer the best value? Joe Fortenbaugh, Tyler Fulghum, Mackenzie Kraemer and Greg Peterson take a look at the early odds and highlight the bets that stand out before the lines move later in the week.

Odds are accurate as of publication time. For the latest odds, go to ESPN BET.

The Auburn defense has stepped up in a big way to get this team to the Final Four, allowing 70 points or fewer in all six of their SEC and NCAA tournament games. The Florida defense is also one of the fiercest in the country, ranking in the top 20 in both opponent 2-point and 3-point shooting percentage. In a converted football stadium, the depth perception will impact even the best of outside shooters like Denver Jones of Auburn and Walter Clayton Jr. of Florida, and oftentimes a game of this magnitude will be played at a slower pace than normal with the stakes riding on it. — Peterson

Only 56 days have passed between this Saturday and the last time these two teams played on Feb. 8. I note this relatively short time span because that aforementioned meeting saw Auburn close as an 11-point home favorite… and 56 days later the Tigers are catching 2.5 points? That's a 13.5-point swing! Granted, Florida won that game, which was played on Auburn's home court, but that's too big of an adjustment in my mind. Everybody has doubted Auburn since the outset of this tournament and all the Tigers have done is gone 4-0 SU and 3-1 ATS while winning by an average of 12.7 points per game. As for Florida, how lucky are the