ESPN’s Jay Bilas picks UConn men to win it all, changes mind

Once the bracket for the 2023 NCAA Tournament dropped Sunday night, experts began making their picks on which team would advance to the Final Four.

One of the trendiest picks? The UConn men’s basketball team coming out of the West Region.

Seth Davis, college basketball reporter for CBS Sports and New Haven Register alum, forecasted

UConn to become a favorite in a tweet earlier this month: “UConn is gonna be a VERY trendy Final Four pick eight days hence.”

He was right. LaPhonso Ellis, Seth Greenberg and Rece Davis all picked UConn to go to the Final Four during the network’s bracket breakdown Sunday night.

But ESPN analyst and former Duke basketball player Jay Bilas took it one step further during the show. He selected the Huskies to win it all by beating Duke in the national title game. Davis also had UConn in the title game, but he picked Alabama to beat the Huskies for the championship.

“I think The Conn cuts the nets down,” Bilas said.

Or, maybe not. On Monday, Bilas picked every game in the NCAA Tournament in an ESPN.com piece. He explained that the Bracketology show give analysts “five minutes to make picks.”

So upon further review and with more than five minutes to reflect on the field, Bilas has UConn losing to Arizona in the national title game.

He does have UConn beating Texas in the Final Four.

“In the Year of the Big Man, UConn’s big men should be the difference,” Bilas writes. “UConn looked like a title team in November after being overlooked in the preseason polls. UConn still looks the same and received a favorable draw. By the Elite Eight, that favorable draw is over. The Texas big men are vastly improved, especially Dylan Disu, but UConn has (Adama) Sanogo inside and (Jordan) Hawkins outside. UConn wins and sets up a date with Arizona in Houston.”

Bilas also holds the women’s program in high regard as he selected the UConn women’s team to advance to the Final Four as well. He stated his Final Four picks on ESPN’s Bracket Special, when he picked UConn, Stanford, South Carolina and LSU to travel to Dallas.

His reasoning behind the LSU selection? “I’m going with LSU because I’m afraid of Kim Mulkey,” Bilas joked (apparently).

Smart of Bilas to select UConn as a Final Four team in front of Rebecca Lobo, a Husky legend and NCAA champion herself. She naturally approved of his picks, but enjoyed his rationale slightly more.

“The picks I would give probably an A- because I don’t know if I have LSU