March Madness Expert Names 4 Dark-Horse Teams Capable of Reaching Final Four
The 2025 NCAA Tournament officially kicked off on Tuesday with Alabama State’s 70-68 win over Saint Francis and North Carolina’s 95-68 win over San Diego State in their respective First Four matchups.
The final two First Four games conclude Wednesday night with the Texas-Xavier and American-Mount St. Mary’s matchups before the first-round matchups officially get underway on Thursday.
College basketball fans are likely searching expert insight to help them as they fill out their brackets, and one of the top resources at their disposal is Andy Katz, NCAA.com’s March Madness expert.
Katz recently revealed his four dark-horse picks to make it to the Final Four, and he cautioned fans not to sleep on BYU, the No. 6 seed in the East Region, Ole Miss, the No. 6 seed in the South Region, UCLA, the No. 7 seed in the Midwest Region, or UConn, the No. 8 seed in the West Region.
Of the four, it can be argued that UConn (23-10), the two-time defending national champions, have the tougher first-round test against No. 9 Oklahoma (20-13).
However, UCLA (22-10), which faces No. 10 Utah State (26-7), BYU (24-9), which plays No. 11 VCU (28-6), and Ole Miss (22-11), which faces No. 11 North Carolina (23-13), don’t exactly have cake walks in Round 1 either.
Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla (3) chases a loose ball as Mississippi State Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard (12) and guard Riley Kugel (2) defend.
Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Katz’s choices drew some mixed reaction on social media. A few fans agreed with his pick of Ole Miss being a sleeper team to watch.
“Ole Miss will be a tough out for anyone,” one fan said.
“Def don’t sleep on Ole Miss,” added another.
Others, however, disagreed with some of Katz’s picks, and a few seemingly took offense to him including UConn in the dark-horse group.
“2x defending champions ‘dark horse.’ [expletive] you, Andy,” one user replied.
“Back to back champions are a dark horse thanks for the insight Andy,” another user remarked.
