Virginia picked to win NCAA tournament in 5 of 22 expert brackets

Hours after the brackets were released, college basketball pundits from the national media began predicting their champions and Final Four participants.

Five experts predict the Virginia Cavaliers to win it all. Villanova received the most picks with seven, with Michigan St, Duke, Arizona, and UNC picking up votes as well. As for the Final Four representative from the South Regional, 13 of the 22 experts chose No. 1 seed UVA, compared to 8 for No. 4 seed Arizona and only one for No. 2 seed Cincinnati. Virginia fans should not feel as slighted as some other schools, since only one expert chose No. 1 seed Xavier to make the Final Four and only one picked No. 1 Kansas as well.

While ESPN announced their top line picks over the air, other sites, like The Athletic, CBS, and USA Today released full brackets. Below is a chart of the expert picks:

Final Four Expert Picks

Expert	Site	Champion	Runner-Up	South Winner	West Winner	East Winner	Midwest Winner
Expert	Site	Champion	Runner-Up	South Winner	West Winner	East Winner	Midwest Winner
Jay Bilas	ESPN	Michigan St	Virginia	Virginia	Umich	Villanova	Michigan St
Dick Vitale	ESPN	Michigan St	Virginia	Virginia	Gonzaga	Villanova	Michigan St
Seth Greenberg	ESPN	Michigan St	Virginia	Virginia	Umich	Villanova	Michigan St
Jay Williams	ESPN	Arizona	Michigan St	Arizona	Gonzaga	Villanova	Michigan St
Andy Katz	NCAA	Villanova	Umich	Virginia	Umich	Villanova	Michigan St
Seth Davis	Athletic	Villanova	Virginia	Virginia	Umich	Villanova	Duke
Brian Hamilton	Athletic	Villanova	Virginia	Virginia	Gonzaga	Villanova	Michigan St
Sam Vecenie	Athletic	Virginia	Villanova	Virginia	Gonzaga	Villanova	Duke
Dana O'Neil	Athletic	Virginia	Villanova	Virginia	Gonzaga	Villanova	Michigan St
C.L. Brown	Athletic	Virginia	Villanova	Virginia	UNC	Villanova	Michigan St
Gary Parrish	CBS	Duke	Virginia	Virginia	Gonzaga	Villanova	Duke
Matt Norlander	CBS	Virginia	Michigan St	Virginia	Gonzaga	Purdue	Michigan St
Jerry Palm	CBS	Duke	Arizona	Arizona	UNC	Purdue	Duke
Chip Patterson	CBS	Villanova	Arizona	Arizona	UNC	Villanova	Duke
Josh Nagel	CBS	Duke	Umich	Arizona	Umich	Villanova	Duke
Dennis Dodd	CBS	UNC	Villanova	Arizona	UNC	Villanova	Michigan St
Kyle Boone	CBS	Michigan St	UNC	Cincy	UNC	Villanova	Michigan St
Reid Forgrave	CBS	Villanova	Virginia	Virginia	UNC	Villanova	Duke
Shelby Mast	USA Today	Duke	Arizona	Arizona	Xavier	Texas Tech	Duke
Lindsay Schnell	USA Today	Villanova	UNC	Arizona	UNC	Villanova	Duke
Adam Woodward	USA Today	Villanova	UNC	Arizona	UNC	Villanova	Duke
Scott Gleeson	USA Today	Virginia	Kansas	Virginia	Umich	Wich St	Kansas