Championship Week is upon us.
I have a pair of tournament futures to give you rooting interests through Sunday.
So, here's NCAAB futures picks and my Champ Week expert analysis.
Big Ten Tournament Future
UCLA to Win Big Ten Tournament (+650)
Mick Cronin was cracking the whip pretty hard earlier in the season. He was seemingly calling out his team and the Big Ten schedule makers at every postgame press conference during the month of January.
Well, all that huffing and puffing apparently did the trick because the Bruins have been playing fantastic team basketball for the past two months. Since January 15, UCLA is the top-rated team in the Big Ten and the eighth-best team in America, per Bart Torvik.
A big reason for the Bruins' improvement has been their guard play. Skyy Clark and Dylan Andrews operate as UCLA’s primary ball handlers, and they’ve cut down on turnovers while applying on-ball pressure as defenders.
The result is that UCLA is now top-25 in both assist-to-made basket and assist-to-turnover ratios. And most impressively, it's top-10 in turnover margin (+4.5). This helps the Bruins stay ahead in terms of shot volume, which is critical given their pedestrian offensive rebounding numbers.
Cronin is also an above-average “tournament” coach. He’s able to navigate the quick turnaround, multi-opponent game-planning and roster management that can unlock deep tournament runs.
He guided the Bruins to the Pac-12 title game in two of the last three tournaments. And when he’s guided teams to the Big Dance, he’s done damage. He led UCLA to the Final Four and a pair of Sweet 16 in his last three trips.
Ivy League Tournament Future
Yale to Win Ivy League Tournament (-160)
March Madness is about underdogs, Cinderellas, and unsung heroes. But when it comes to the Ivy League, the Yale Bulldogs are the bullies on the block – crushing dreams and putting the whole country on notice.
James Jones is an Ivy League institution unto himself. He’s guided Yale through the Ancient Eight for 26 years and this year’s team may be his best yet.
His “Four Out, One In” motion offense is appointment television when it’s humming. The Bulldogs’ system creates open looks all over the floor, and when you pair their motion offense with a few elite shooters, it’s borderline unstoppable.
John Poulakidas leads the Ivy with 19.3 points per game and is lethal from long range (40.5%). He dropped 28 on Auburn last year in a shocking upset and could become the first player to win the Ivy and lead the league in scoring in over two decades.
Poulakidas is joined in the backcourt by Bez Mbeng, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Ivy and an electric playmaker. Per Evan Miya, he’s in the 97th percentile of playmakers thanks to his 13.4-point, 5.6-assist averages.
This tournament features just four teams and Yale went a combined 6-0 against Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth.
The Bulldogs start in the semis against Princeton, but frankly, they're just a superior version of the Tigers. They beat Princeton by seven in central New Jersey and walloped it at home.
Dartmouth has been hot as a pistol (first in the Ivy since Feb. 1), but it's never been much of a threat to Yale. Head coach David McLaughlin is in unchartered waters, having never finished better than sixth in the league.
He’s beaten Jones once in eight years, and the Big Green have been the beneficiaries of insane 3-point variance. Opponents are shooting 22.1% from 3 against Dartmouth since February 1, the best mark in the nation.
This won’t be as much a tournament as it will be a coronation for Yale. You can use this future as a parlay sweetener, tacking it onto other conference tournament plays this week.
