NCAA Tournament predictions: UConn will become the first repeat winner since 2007

The Madness is here, and three weeks from now, it will all be over. Buckle up.

The NCAA men’s basketball tournament begins Tuesday night but really starts in earnest Thursday afternoon. It will go on once again without a Big 5 team involved. The city almost got shut out of March Madness entirely, but Drexel made a surprising run to reach the women’s tournament.

There’s a lot of parity right now in men’s college basketball, making this a tough tournament to predict on a game-by-game basis.

Still, there’s a juggernaut at the top of the field, and the No. 1 Connecticut Huskies look like a team destined to become the first repeat champion since Florida in 2007.

How will UConn get there, and which other teams will make a run?

Here’s a region-by-region look at the NCAA Tournament, featuring upsets, winners, and dark horse predictions.

» READ MORE: A dozen things to know ahead of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament

UConn.

The Huskies are too versatile, too deep, and have so many ways to beat you. Dan Hurley has UConn playing with a lot of confidence. Plus, did you see how Huskies fans made Madison Square Garden their second home at the Big East tournament? They’re going to invade Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for the first two rounds, and then it’s off to Boston for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Talk about home-court advantage.

Duquesne.

The 11th-seeded Dukes are facing a BYU team that can really score. But Duquesne plays solid defense, and BYU relies a lot on three-point shooting, a high-variance style of play that could make the Cougars susceptible to an early exit. Plus, Dukes coach Keith Dambrot announced that this will be his last season before retirement. Think his team wants to be one-and-done?

BYU.

Yes, BYU could shoot itself out of the first round, but the Cougars also could shoot themselves into the Final Four. Welcome to March.

» READ MORE: It was Friday night at the Big East Tournament, and it was fair to wonder when Villanova would be back

Arizona.

The West seems like the regional most likely to not have a No. 1 seed representing it in the Final Four, and it’s second-seeded Arizona that is arguably the best team in the regional. The Wildcats have KenPom’s eighth-ranked offense and 12th-ranked defense. They should cruise by Long Beach State and then have a dangerous potential second-round opponent in a Dayton team that can really shoot. Still, in an Elite Eight matchup vs. No. 1 North Carolina, Arizona likely would be favored. That alone makes the Wildcats the pick to win.

Grand Canyon.

It’s everyone’s favorite, a 12-over-5 upset pick, but there’s good reason. Bryce Drew’s Antelopes are really good. Tyon Grant-Foster is the name to watch. Grant-Foster started at Kansas, transferred to DePaul, and ended up at Grand Canyon, where he’s posting 19.8 points and six rebounds per game. St. Mary’s plays really good defense, so scoring will be tough to come by, and the Gaels are a favorite (5.5 points), but Grand Canyon is a candidate to make it to the second weekend.

Michigan State.

We mentioned North Carolina being the weakest No. 1 seed. Well, how about facing Tom Izzo in the second round? The Spartans are 19-14, hardly impressive, but their metrics have been solid all season and they’ve lost a lot of close games. Plus, there’s some local flavor in Archbishop Carroll’s A.J. Hoggard, a Coatesville native.

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Houston.

Yawn. Picking a No. 1 is boring, but the Cougars are really good and really tough to score against. They should cruise to the second weekend, setting up a potential Sweet 16 game vs. No. 4 Duke.

James Madison and the winner of Boise State-Colorado.

James Madison was in the Top 25 earlier this season after it beat Michigan State, and the Dukes lost just three games all season. They’ll face a Wisconsin team that has been inconsistent. And whichever team emerges from the play-in game for the 10th seed in the South is going to have a really good chance to get by No. 7 Florida.

Kentucky.

The third-seeded Wildcats are playing their best basketball at the best time. They won five straight and seven of eight to close the regular season before losing in the SEC tournament. Plenty of local flavor here, too, with Camden’s DJ Wagner and Aaron Bradshaw, and Imhotep’s Justin Edwards is starting to find his scoring touch. There’s also associate head coach Bruiser Flint, a Philadelphia native who played at St. Joseph’s and coached at Drexel.

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Creighton.

The Bluejays got a good draw and should easily reach the second weekend. They’ll hope Tennessee gets knocked off in the first weekend, but even if the Vols advance, Creighton is super-talented and has a lot of ways to beat you. A Creighton-Purdue Elite Eight game would be fascinating with Ryan Kalkbrenner matching up with Purdue’s Zach Edey inside.

McNeese State.

Will Wade’s Cowboys are 30-3 and have dominated mostly low-level competition all season. How do they stack up against No. 5 Gonzaga? It likely will come down to how they deal with Graham Ike inside. McNeese has the guard play to contend with Gonzaga’s backcourt, but the inside game is the question mark.

Kansas.

Creighton reaching the Final Four as a No. 3 seed is pretty dark horsey as it is. But No. 4 Kansas is another team that could get there. The Jayhawks haven’t been all that impressive, but they have Hunter Dickinson to try to go pound-for-pound with Edey inside in a potential Sweet 16 game.

UConn over Arizona. Houston over Creighton.

National champion: UConn.