March Madness 2024 bracket: NCAA Tournament picks, predictions from college basketball model

Every March Madness seed from No. 1 through No. 8 has won a national championship, except for one. A No. 5 seed has never won the NCAA Tournament, with a runner-up finish being its best accomplishment. The No. 5 seeds in the 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket are Wisconsin, San Diego State, Saint Mary's and Gonzaga. Is this the year a No. 5 seed breaks the curse, or should you back a No. 1 seed like UConn, North Carolina or Houston in your 2024 March Madness bracket?

UConn is the defending champion and could be among the most popular picks to win the NCAA Tournament 2024. If you want to claim bragging rights in your 2024 NCAA bracket pools against your family, friends and coworkers, backing one of the potential March Madness Cinderella teams could be the difference between winning and losing. Before filling out your NCAA Tournament bracket 2024, be sure to see the 2024 March Madness bracket picks from the proven computer model at SportsLine.

SportsLine's projection model has simulated every game in the tournament 10,000 times. It has absolutely crushed its March Madness picks recently, beating over 92% of all CBS Sports brackets in three of the past five tournaments. In an upset-laden 2023 NCAA Tournament, the model was all over UConn's shocking Final Four run as a 4-seed. It went an amazing 23-9 in the first round, including an astounding 12-4 in the Midwest and West regions.

It knows how to spot an upset as well. The same model has produced brackets that have nailed 20 first-round upsets by double-digit seeds since its inception in 2016.

There's no reason to rely on luck when there's proven technology to help you dominate your 2024 March Madness picks. Now, with the 2024 NCAA bracket revealed, the model is simulating the matchups and its results are in. You can only see it over at SportsLine.

Top 2024 March Madness bracket picks

One of the Midwest Region picks from the model: No. 9 TCU beats No. 8 Utah State. The Aggies won the Mountain West regular season title with a 14-4 conference mark and went 27-6 overall. However, they played a soft non-conference schedule and faced just two Top-25 teams all season.

TCU faced 11 Top-25 teams and beat four of them, so the Horned Frogs saw more high-end competition overall. With an offense that averaged nearly 80 points per game despite seeing all those tough teams, TCU looks like the stronger side and the model has them advancing despite being the lower seed.

Another surprise: No. 5 Gonzaga gets past No. 4 Kansas in the Midwest. The Bulldogs have been among the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament in recent years, but Mark Few's squad is flying under the radar in 2024.

The Zags still feature one of the most explosive offenses in the nation, scoring 84.9 points per game, which ranks seventh in college basketball. Forward Graham Ike leads the team in both scoring (16.5) and rebounds (7.2). Kansas, meanwhile, has lost four of its last five games and SportsLine's model sees an early exit for the Jayhawks. You can see the model's 2024 NCAA bracket picks here.

How to make 2024 NCAA bracket predictions

Who wins every tournament-defining matchup, and which teams will make surprising runs through the 2024 NCAA Tournament bracket? With the model's track record of calling bracket-busting upsets, you'll want to see which stunners it's calling this year before locking in any 2024 NCAA bracket picks.