NCAAB Tournament To Get Underway Today With The First Four

If you are a basketball fan, then while the NBA heads towards the playoffs, college basketball’s elite are about to embark on the latest NCAAB Tournament.

Known all across the United States as “March Madness” the tournament features 68 of the best college basketball teams in the United States.

The teams play out their games in a series of four brackets in a series of one-and-done matches, the winners progress to the next round, the losers go home.

Bet365 Sport is covering all the different markets available on the tournament which starts tonight with the first two games in the First Four Round of the tournament.

If you love the excitement of sudden death Basketball, where games can be decided in the last fraction of a second, then this is the tournament for you!

British fans may not be so familiar with the NCAAB Tournament, so in this article, we’ll give you the lowdown on the tournament, some of the key teams and key players you can look out for if you tune in to watch.

What Is The NCAAB Tournament?

The NCAAB Tournament is the culmination of the college basketball season.

Held each year in March, hence the nickname “March Madness” the NCAAB selection panel will select the 68 best teams from the entire United States.

Selections are based on a team’s regular season record across all the different divisions, and how strong their division is compared to other divisions in the country.

The NCAAB will then rank all 68 teams ahead of the tournament, splitting the teams into four brackets, West, Midwest, East and South.

For each bracket, 15 teams will be seeded into the first round, but there will be one qualifier from a First Four playoff in each bracket, which takes place before the first round begins on Thursday.

The tournament then progresses on a strict knockout basis until there is just one team left standing after the final, who are then declared the National Champions.

What Are The NCAAB Tournament Rounds

Each NCAAB Tournament round has its own name:

• First Four – Preliminary Round – 4 Games (8 lowest ranking qualifiers)
• First Round – 32 games (60 seeded qualifiers, plus 4 winners of First Four games)
• Second Round – 16 games (32 qualifiers)
• Sweet 16 – 8 games (16 qualifiers)
• Elite Eight – 4 games (8 qualifiers)
• Final Four – 2 games (4 qualifiers)
• National Championship Game – 1 game (2 qualifiers)

Until the Final Four, the tournament is split into four brackets and the games for the First Round in each of these brackets are seeded, so teams can work out who they will play in the next round and beyond in the tournament.

What Is This Year’s NCAAB Tournament Draw?

The draw for the tournament is as follows:

First Four

• West – Arizona State v Nevada
• Midwest – Mississippi State v Pittsburgh
• East – Texas Southern v FDU
• South – Texas A&M-CC (16) v SE Missouri State (16)

West Bracket

• Kansas (1) v Howard (16)
• Arkansas (8) v Illinois (9)
• St Mary’s (5) v VCU (12)
• UConn (4) v Iona (13)
• TCU (6) v Arizona State or Nevada (11)
• Gonzaga (3) v Grand Canyon (14
• Northwestern(7) v Boise State (10)
• UCLA (2) v UNC Asheville (15)

Midwest Bracket

• Houston (1) v N.Kentucky (16)
• Iowa (8) v Auburn (9)
• Miami Fl (5) v Drake (12)
• Indiana (4) v Kent State (13)
• Iowa St. (6) v Mississippi State or Pittsburgh (11)
• Xavier (3) v Kennesaw St (14)
• Texas A&M (7) v Penn St. (10)
• Texas (2) v Colgate (15)

East Bracket

• Purdue (1) v Texas Southern or FDU (16)
• Memphis (8) v FAU (9)
• Duke (5) v Oral Roberts (12)
• Tennessee (4) v Louisiana (13)
• Kentucky (6) v Providence (11)
• Kansas St (3) v Montana St (14)
• Michigan St (7) v USC (10)
• Marquette (2) v Vermont (15)

South Bracket

• Alabama (1) v Texas A&M-CC or SE Missouri State (16)
• Maryland (8) v Virginia (9)
• San Diego State (5) v Col of Charleston (12)
• Virginia (4) v Furman (13)
• Creighton (6) v NC State (11)
• Baylor (3) v UCSB (14
• Missouri (7) v Utah State (10)
• Arizona (2) v Princeton (15)

Teams Complete their First Round, Second Round, Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games within their brackets before the four bracket winners progress onto the Final Four.

Final Four (1^st April)

• Midwest Bracket Winners v West Bracket Winners
• South Bracket Winners v East Bracket Winners

The winners of the two Final Four games will then contest the Championship Game on the 3^rd April 2023.

Current NCAAB Championship Betting Odds

Currently, bet365 Sport has Houston as the 5/1 favourites to win the NCAAB Championship Game ahead of Alabama, who are 15/2.

Kansas (10/1) and Purdue (11/1) are next followed by UCLA (12/1). Arizona, Texas, Gonzaga and Connecticut are all 16/1 shots with Baylor and Marquette both rated at 20/1.

Tennessee is 25/1 to win the tournament and it is 33/1 bar the teams outlined above.

However, those odds will likely change markedly as the tournament progresses and teams are knocked out at the different stages of the competition.

Who Has Won The Most NCAAB National Championships?

The colleges and universities with the most NCAAB titles are shown below:

• UCLA – 11
• Kentucky – 8
• North Carolina – 6
• Duke, Indiana – 5
• Kansas, UConn – 4
• Villanova – 3
• Cincinnati, Florida, Louisville, Michigan State, NC State, Oklahoma State, San Francisco – 2
• Arizona, Arkansas, Baylor, California, CCNY, Georgetown, Holy Cross, La Salle, Loyola (Ill), Marquette, Maryland, Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford, Syracuse, UNLV, Utah, UTEP, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming – 1

Kansas are the current holders having won the title in 2022.

Despite frequently being ranked the number 1 team in the nation over the past few years, Gonzaga have never won the National Championship.

Players to Watch In the NCAAB Tournament

A number of players in this tournament will be hoping to perform well enough to catch the eye of the scouts of the NBA teams that will be in attendance.

Outlined below is a list of some of the top players, and their teams, who should be amongst the stars of this year’s tournament.

Took the day to take this in. Three years ago only 2 schools in this conference thought I was good enough to play at this level. Life changes fast man https://t.co/UNzrEfnrMs

— zach (@zach_edey) March 7, 2023

• Zach Edey (Purdue)
• Brandon Miller (Alabama)
• Jaime Jaquez (UCLA)
• Drew Timme (Gonzaga)
• Trayce Jackson-Davis (Indiana)
• Oscar Tshiebwe (Kentucky)
• Kyle Filipowski (Duke)
• Jalen Wilson (Kansas)
• Azuolas Tubelis (Arizona)
• Kendric Davis (Memphis)
• Isaiah Wong (Miami)
• Markquis Nowell (Kansas State)
• Tyler Kolek (Marquette)
• Max Abmas (Oral Roberts)
• Ryan Kalkbrenner (Creighton)
• Wade Taylor IV (Texas A&M)
• Mike Miles (TCU)
• Marcus Sasser (Houston)
• Nick Smith Jr. (Arkansas)
• Kris Murray (Iowa)

Who To Back To Win The Tournament?

It is tough to pick a winner here as so much can happen in one game on any given day, but if forced to pick a winner, I’d go with either Purdue (11/1) or Arizona (16/1).