The 2025 NCAA Tournament begins its first day of wall-to-wall action with first-round games from all four regions with 16 games on Thursday . Upsets, buzzer beaters and thrilling highlights will fill our day starting soon, and if your bracket is set to be busted early there’s always chances to get back in the action with some best bets.
On a day loaded with action from the first tip-off between No. 8 Louisville and No. 9 Creighton at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS to the nightcap between No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 14 UNC Wilmington at 10:10 p.m. ET on TruTV, they’re plenty to choose from when it comes to expert picks. We’ve crunched the numbers, broken down the matchups and found our five favorite bets of the day. They include a couple of underdogs capable of advancing in the bracket, a fan-forward rooting angle for points in an early game and riding a conference tournament champion to keep the momentum going into the Big Dance.
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Odds via SportsLine consensus | All times Eastern
2025 NCAA Tournament bracket predictions: March Madness expert picks, winners, upsets, favorites to win
Kyle Boone
(3) Wisconsin vs. (14) Montana
1:30 p.m. on TNT | March Madness Live
One line of thinking might be to expect a slow start and lower scoring in the early tip out of Denver, but that would ignore the type of teams involved and how they match up against each other. Wisconsin should be able pick its number against a Montana team that was already middling defensively in Big Sky play and faces a big jump up in competition against this new…
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