Let the Madness begin!

The calendar turns to March tomorrow, and with it comes what we consider arguably the best time of the year for sports. We're referring of course to March Madness and the conference and national tournaments that it brings. 

In a year where parity is reigning supreme, the men's college basketball landscape is wide open. We need to upscale our knowledge of where things lie and who to keep an eye on in the next few weeks, especially with the conference tournaments almost here.

The favorites to win it all

Odds come courtesy of FanDuel.

• Houston (+650)
• Kansas (+800)
• Alabama (+900)
• Purdue (+1000)
• UCLA (+1000)
• Arizona (+1700)
• Baylor (+1700)
• Texas (+2500)
• Tennessee (+2500)
• Gonzaga (+2600)
• Marquette (+2600)

AP Top 10

The full AP Top 25 can be found here, but for the interest of space, we'll stick with the top 10 here. 

1. Houston
2. Alabama
3. Kansas
4. UCLA
5. Purdue
6. Marquette
7. Baylor
8. Arizona
9. Texas
10. Gonzaga

KenPom Top 10

For those unfamiliar, Ken Pomeroy's college basketball rankings have become somewhat of a gold standard for examining teams and their advanced metrics, and historically, the national champion has always ranked favorably for both offense and defense in KenPom's ratings. 

1. Houston
2. UCLA
3. Alabama
4. Tennessee
5. Connecticut
6. Purdue
7. Kansas
8. Saint Mary's
9. Texas
10. Gonzaga

What we're seeing

Let's level with you. We're not going to pretend to have been tracking college hoops all season, context you should know as you read this. However, what we can offer here is an unbiased view of the situation coupled with bountiful research.

Our first stop to acquaint ourselves with these teams has to be with Kansas, the defending champs, who have seemingly not lost a step despite losing their two leading scorers from last year. Despite the turnover, the Jayhawks remain one of NCAAM's best. Jalen Wilson is the name to know here, the leading scorer for Kansas in the championship last season against UNC, averaging 19.6 points per game this season. One has to like Kansas' chances here. Their 14 Quad 1 wins are the most in the nation, offering us the quality we need to see ahead of the tournament. It's a balanced team that has a few holdovers from last season and knows what it takes to get there.  

We're in on Kansas at +800.

How about the Marquette Golden Eagles? Ranked sixth in the nation, there are a few massive factors that have us drawn to them making a run here. First, they sit atop a quality Big East Conference, and should they win the conference, they're looking at a likely two or three-seed.

They have an ideal pairing that so often catapults a March Madness run: strong coaching and an elite point guard. Guard play is so important come tournament time, and Marquette's Tyler Kolek may be the best PG in the nation. The sophomore is averaging 12.8 points and 7.8 assists per game and is fresh off winning the National Player of the Week.

Kolek is being lauded for being an extension of his coach, Shaka Smart. Yes, the one and only. Smart has been no stranger to March success, and with a talented team led by a heady and versatile guard, this team excites us.

We're sprinkling a bit on Marquette at +2600. 

We have to wrap this up with the betting favorite in Houston. The Cougars are rightfully the top-ranked team in the land and owners of the top odds to win it all come April. 

Houston has been a steady force in this tournament over the past two seasons. They made the Final Four in 2021 and followed that up with an Elite Eight appearance last March. Four of their top six scorers this season have been with the team for both runs, experience that cannot be understated. Senior guard Marcus Sasser is the name to know here, a focal point of both prior tournament teams and the leading scorer this season, averaging 17.0 points per game.

The Final Four this season will be held in Houston, and with how experienced this roster is, we have to back the Cougars here.

Each of the past five champions has ranked inside the top 22 of both KenPom's offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. Houston is the only team in the country this season to rank inside the top 10 in both. They're an elite team, and one we recommend grabbing a share of.

We are most definitely investing in Houston at +650.

In the news ...

LeBron James expected to miss multiple weeks — After winning three straight games and pulling within one game of the play-in, the Los Angeles Lakers now need to continue their playoff push without LeBron James. Reports suggest that the foot injury James suffered in the third quarter of Sunday's game is expected to sideline him for a few weeks. In what is a wide-open Western Conference from seeds 13 to 6, the news has taken the Western Conference playoff futures off the board this morning.

Maple Leafs make another move to keep pace in the East — It's an all-out arms race in the Eastern Conference, as nearly every playoff team is making trades to bolster their lineup for a stretch run. The latest move saw Toronto acquiring Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty from Chicago. The defenseman McCabe is the headlining get for Toronto, shoring up their blue line in a conference packed with offensive firepower. The Maple Leafs are currently +850 to win the Stanley Cup. This surely isn't the last shoe to drop in the NHL prior to Friday's trade deadline.

LIV Golf posts disastrous TV ratings for season's first event — Once expected to serve as an existential threat to the PGA Tour, LIV Golf's appeal has seemingly cooled dramatically. The first LIV Golf event drew just a 0.08 average household viewing rating. To put that in perspective, the Genesis Invitational last weekend had a 1.8 average rating, and "World's Funniest Animals" on CW had more viewers than LIV. One potential theory is that most casual golf fans are waiting for the Masters, which will house both PGA Tour members and LIV Golf players such as Dustin Johnson and Cameron Smith. The Masters are not until April 6, and Jon Rahm (+600), Rory McIlroy (+800) and Scottie Scheffler (+1200) currently top the board.

Carson Wentz released — The Carson Wentz carousel continues, as the Washington Commanders released the quarterback Monday afternoon. It was a disappointing season for Wentz in Washington, getting hurt and then losing his job to Taylor Heinicke. It's been quite the fall for Wentz since his MVP-esque 2017 season with Philadelphia that saw him tear his ACL prior to their Super Bowl run. At 30, it will be interesting to see what the future has for Wentz.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll