Early favorites for this year’s NCAA Tournament

The 2022 March Madness NCAA Tournament is right around the corner, with the incredibly enjoyable and rather hectic college basketball competition set to commence with Selection Sunday on March 13, before the First Four matches begin between March 15-16.

With that in mind, now might seem like an opportune time to take a look at who the early favorites are to win this year’s competition, especially as there are a number of exceptional sportsbook promo codes listed on gamble-usa.com already available to take advantage of.

What is March Madness?

To begin, it might be worth pointing out what March Madness is and what viewers should anticipate and expect if they are yet to witness what the iconic college basketball competition is all about.

March Madness is the annual NCAA Division I men’s college basketball championship tournament. The tournament began in 1939 and is now a 68-team event that takes place over three weekends in March and April. The Final Four, the semifinals and finals of the tournament, are played at a single site, usually a stadium or arena in a major city.

The tournament is one of the most popular sporting events in the United States. It generates over $1 billion in revenue each year, making it one of the most profitable sporting events in the world. In addition to the money generated by ticket sales and television rights, businesses, and schools across the country benefit from March Madness-related advertising and merchandise sales.

March Madness has also been a boon to college basketball players. The tournament has provided many players with the opportunity to showcase their skills on a national stage and has helped them earn lucrative contracts in the NBA. Some of the most famous alumni of the NCAA Tournament include Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and LeBron James.

What is the schedule for March Madness 2022?

This is what the current schedule of the upcoming competition looks like:

• Selection Sunday: 6 p.m. ET March 13.
• First Four: March 15-16.
• First round: March 17-18.
• Second round: March 19-20.
• Sweet 16: March 24-25.
• Elite Eight: March 26-27.
• Final Four: April 2.
• NCAA championship game: April 4.

Who are the early favorites to win?

So, for those who are perhaps trying to identify and pick out a winner of the upcoming 2022 March Madness competition, this section is perhaps the most important of the article.

Indeed, we all want to be able to pick the winner of the competition, although we know that the bracket system that is used can make proceedings rather unpredictable at times, with shocks and upsets rather commonplace in this tournament.

Nonetheless, the early favorite to win the NCAA Division I tournament this season would have to be Gonzaga Bulldogs.

Gonzaga Bulldogs favorites

The Gonzaga Bulldogs almost managed to win the competition last season, however they fell short in the NCAA Championship Game to Baylor. However, that loss perhaps fuelled the fire and hunger for the team to win the championship even further as they have largely picked up from where they left off.

This season, the college basketball program lost just three regular-season games ahead of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The final game of their WCC regular-season game ended in a surprising 57-67 defeat to the No. 19 Saint Mary’s Gaels team, but that could have been a timely reminder ahead of the WCC and March Madness.

Who else is in the running?

The Kentucky Wildcats are perhaps the other team to really take note of at the moment as we head into March Madness, as they had also enjoyed a rather decent campaign on the court.

The team did suffer more defeats than the Bulldogs throughout the campaign, having lost six games ahead of their match on March 5 with the Florida Gators, but there are many that would not be surprised to see them in the Final Four at the very least.