It's officially the most wonderful time of year! Get to a printer and churn out as many brackets as your heart desires. Nothing hits quite as much as filling out a bracket. We took our first pass last night (of course we did), and we kept coming back to a few teams to make runs. We'll double down on that belief with a few futures plays on a trio of teams turning in a big tournament run.

Three bracket futures we're backing

New Mexico to make Sweet 16 (+240)

Everything kept coming up the Lobos for us when we started filling out our brackets. In fact, someone likely needs to talk this writer into some sense as he may or may not have accidentally ended up with this No. 11 New Mexico team in his Final Four.

That seems a bit outlandish, but what doesn't is that New Mexico is playing extremely strong basketball right now and just won what many consider to be one of the top conferences in college hoops this year: the Mountain West.

New Mexico gets a great opening draw against a Clemson team trending in the wrong direction. The Lobos have one of the nation's best offenses and do a good job at forcing turnovers, and that is something we want to back for a Cinderella run.

James Madison to make Sweet 16 (+750)

Speaking of Cinderella runs, how about No. 12 JMU, sitting at 31-3? The Dukes may have the perfect recipe to pull an early upset over No. 5 Wisconsin and then handle business against either Duke or Vermont. 

James Madison shoots the three extremely well, one area that the Badgers have really struggled to slow down. The Dukes are a fast-paced team that tends to get aggressive on defense. We like the value here in South Region. 

Purdue to win Midwest Region (+165)

Whether or not these are fair odds can be argued, but of the four No. 1 seeds, we'd argue Purdue has the best draw of them all. And sure, it doesn't hurt that they were embarrassed by a 16-seed last year as one of the top teams, a loss that should motivate a stronger showing this season.

The best seed they'd play prior to the Elite Eight is Kansas, a team dealing with injuries that has fallen apart down the stretch in March. Their 8/9 matchup is one of the softest in the four regions, which should conceivably put the Boilermakers in a strong position to be playing in the second weekend.

We just always love a redemption story, and that's Purdue this year with Zach Edey at the forefront of the charge.

In the news ...

2024 NCAAM tournament bracket set — The men's college bracket is finally set for the NCAA Tournament! We've got you covered with a full betting breakdown of each and every game, plus upset teams to consider and plenty more all week long. Enjoy this week, it truly is a treat. We've already tinkered with our bracket multiple times. 

Scottie Scheffler wins the Players Championship — The pre-tournament favorite, Scottie Scheffler delivered on expectations thanks to an 8-under final round and a missed putt from Wyndham Clark on the 18th. Scheffler is the current betting favorite for the Masters following his showing here, at +500, which is just a few weeks away. The next PGA tour event is the Valspar Championship this Thursday, and Xander Schauffele, who finished second yesterday, is the +850 favorite.

Justin Fields traded to Steelers — In a surprising move on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired Justin Fields for a sixth-round pick (that can become a fourth if Fields plays 51%+ of the snaps this year for the Steelers. While likely a disappointing return for Chicago, the Bears are now free and clear to move forward with Caleb Williams as their QB with no drama surrounding the position group. As for Pittsburgh, they say Fields will back up Russell Wilson, but we can't help but think the upside of Fields with reign supreme sooner before later as the Steelers look to see what they have in the young passer. The Bears are +350 to win their division and the Steelers are +950 to win theirs. 

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll. Follow him on Substack: griffybets.substack.com.