March Madness 2023: UConn, Arizona, Baylor & Miami Have Final 4 Potential

A Tale of Two Seasons

The college basketball regular season is really two completely different seasons combined into one. You have the non-conference slate where teams are unfamiliar with their opponents and coaching styles. Then you have the conference slate where teams know each other all too well having faced them for years. In most conferences, teams also play each other more than once. So, beyond just knowing a team's tendencies based on coaching styles, programs also have the opportunity to react and adjust their strategies for the second time they meet. That's why you'll see some teams run through their non-conference season but struggle once they get to conference play. However, once you get to the NCAA Tournament, you're almost always playing teams outside of your conference.

Here are three teams that thrived in the non-conference and should do so again in late March.

Arizona Wildcats

The Arizona Wildcats got off to a great start to the season. They won their first six games before stumbling in an early-season conference game against Utah in December. After that loss, they went on to win their next five non-conference games before starting Pac-12 play. The Wildcats finished with a perfect 11-0 record, going undefeated in the non-conference for the second-straight season. Not only is that pretty impressive, but it's even more impressive being head coach Tommy Lloyd has only been at the helm for two seasons.

Arizona presents an interesting style of play and matchup problems for most teams with the combination it has of size and speed. With Azoulas Tubelis at 6'11" and Oumar Ballo at 7'0", not many opposing teams have the personnel to defend both players at a high level. When meeting teams that aren't familiar with the Wildcats' style of play, and especially in a tournament setting where they might not have much time to prepare, March should feel like another non-conference slate that Arizona can definitely have success against. Lloyd's squad is currently +1400 (FanDuel) to win the NCAA championship and +290 to make the Final Four, both of which are fantastic values!

Connecticut Huskies

UConn surprised a lot of people with a dominant performance early in the season. The Huskies were unranked coming into the year but quickly broke into the top-25 and climbed all the way up to No. 2 by Week 7. They won each of their 11 non-conference games by double-digits, including three straight wins against ranked teams. It wasn't until three games into Big East play that they hit a snag and lost to a good Xavier team.

Teams that are familiar with Dan Hurley's style of play started to figure this team out and how to defend them, which became increasingly clear throughout conference play. However, once again, the tournament presents a fresh start against teams that aren't familiar with the Huskies personnel. And clearly, UConn has been tricky even for top opponents such as Oregon, Alabama and Iowa State to figure out. The value at FanDule for UConn to win the title is even greater than Arizona at +2300 and +490 to make the Final Four. Sprinkle a little something on at least one of these four bets and I would venture to guess you won't be disappointed.

Baylor Bears

Speaking of coaches who have led teams to Final Fours, Scott Drew guided Baylor to its first national championship in 2021. The Bears are 18-9 in the tournament since Drew took over in 2003. This team reminds me a lot of that 2021 team because of the depth it has at the guard position. Between Keyonte George, LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler, the Bears have one of the best backcourts in the country.

Those three also make up a trio of players that can put up huge numbers on any given night. That's so important in the one-and-done nature of the tournament. If one player doesn't have it on a given night, another player has shown the ability to step up. Add in Flo Thamba and Jalen Bridges as starters in the front court, and a healthy Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua off the bench, and this is one dangerous team. You can grab them at +450 to reach the Final Four at DraftKings.

Miami Hurricanes

Call me crazy for taking such a long shot, but we saw UCLA make it to the Final Four as an 11 seed in 2021 and North Carolina make it to the national championship last season as a No. 8 seed. The Hurricanes have been streaking lately, winning five straight games thanks to stellar guard play. (Surprise, surprise, I like another guard-heavy team to make a deep run!) This is one of the best offensive teams you're going to find in terms of being able to score efficiently, grab offensive boards and take care of the basketball. Its defense is a step behind its offense, but not by much. Miami is great at limiting opponents' trips to the free-throw line and is great at defending the three. Those two aspects are important in limiting its opponents' ability to tack on extra points. Plus, with Miami's ability to knock down threes itself, the Hurricanes often create a math problem for the opposing team. You can get the Hurricanes to reach the Final Four at +1500 at PointsBet.