For the second straight season, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will open the men's NCAA tournament as the betting favorite. And for the second straight season, the top-ranked Zags remain the consensus favorite among both ESPN's panel of men's college basketball commentators, analysts and writers -- albeit by a smaller margin than in 2021 when Gonzaga entered the field at a perfect 26-0.
Last season, ESPN's panel identified just four teams they thought could cut down the nets on the tournament's third weekend -- two of those were Gonzaga and Baylor, which met for the national championship (Illinois and Florida State were the others).