Best March Madness Survivor Pool Picks Today: Ranking Every NCAA Tournament Team on Day 1
The unpredictability of March Madness makes NCAA Tournament survivor pools as exciting as they are frustrating as you try to find the perfect team.
Channeling your inner Jim Valvano as you attempt to survive and advance without wasting top teams too early is an imperfect science. We're highlighting the best March Madness survivor pool picks today with our focus on a pair of No. 3 seeds.
👉 Want to win your March Madness survivor pool? We broke down the survivor pool basics and offered our best survivor pool tips & strategy.
🎯 Best March Madness survivor pool picks today: NCAA Tournament Day 1
| Ranking | Team (seed) | Matchup (seed) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wisconsin (3) | vs. Montana (14) |
| 2 | Texas Tech (3) | vs. UNC Wilmington (14) |
| 3 | Purdue (4) | vs. High Point (13) |
| 4 | Gonzaga (8) | vs. Georgia (9) |
| 5 | St. John's (2) | vs. Omaha (15) |
| 6 | Texas A&M (4) | vs. Yale (13) |
| 7 | Kansas (7) | vs. Arkansas (10) |
| 8 | Tennessee (2) | vs. Wofford (15) |
| 9 | Houston (1) | vs. SIU Edwardsville (16) |
| 10 | Auburn (1) | vs. Alabama State (16) |
| 11 | Louisville (8) | vs. Creighton (9) |
| 12 | UCLA (7) | vs. Utah State (10) |
| 13 | VCU (11) | vs. BYU (6) |
| 14 | Drake (11) | vs. Missouri (6) |
| 15 | UC San Diego (12) | vs. Michigan (5) |
| 16 | McNeese (12) | vs. Clemson (5) |
👉 Looking for more March Madness action? Check out the rest of our March Madness first-round expert picks as part of our March Madness predictions.
✅ Best survivor pool pick today: Wisconsin
Obviously, we want to save the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds for later in the NCAA Tournament, but straying too far from the best teams can be a slippery slope. So, Wisconsin is the perfect team to open up with thanks to John Tonje and John Blackwell.
The Badgers have their best offense in years and take on a Montana team that's lucky to be here ... literally - the Grizzlies are No. 1 in the country in luck rating, per KenPom. Montana is the worst non-No. 16 seed in the tournament and is the only team ranked outside of the top 160 on KenPom not playing a No. 1 seed.
Using the Badgers this early shouldn't hurt you much either as they will likely face a tough matchup against Alabama in the Sweet 16.
📊 Wisconsin's odds to beat Montana: -1429 via bet365 | Implied probability: 93.46%
🛡️ Safest survivor pool pick today: Texas Tech
The only reason Texas Tech is a safer pick than Wisconsin is because, thinking big picture, you're less likely to use the Red Raiders in the second round of March Madness. If they beat UNC Wilmington today, they'll either play a vastly improved Missouri team or potential Cinderella, Drake, one of our March Madness giant killers.
With an offense that's sixth in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency thanks to American JT Toppin, Texas Tech shouldn't have any trouble against UNC Wilmington. The Seahawks are just 184th in adjusted defensive efficiency and don't have the guns to win a shootout with the Red Raiders.
📊 Texas Tech's odds to beat UNC Wilmington: -1111 via Caesars | Implied probability: 91.74%
⚠️ Riskiest survivor pool pick today: Gonzaga
What makes Gonzaga such an intriguing survivor pool pick is the fact that all the metrics say this is a legit March Madness odds contender despite the Bulldogs being a No. 8 seed. Plus, there's no way you'll want to use them in the second round when they're likely to play No. 1 seed Houston.
The Zags are ranked top 10 in the country by both KenPom and EvanMiya behind an offense that has a prolific passer in Ryan Nembhard and a dominant post presents in Graham Ike.
However, the team has underachieved for much of the season, so I'm slightly weary of trusting them ... especially because Georgia has Asa Newell, one of the top March Madness NBA draft prospects. Still, if you take Mark Few's team in a survivor and they win, you're set up well going forward.
📊 Gonzaga's odds to beat Georgia: -265 via FanDuel | Implied probability: 72.60%
🚫 Popular March Madness survivor pool picks to avoid today
| Ranking | Team (seed) | Matchup (seed) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auburn (1) | vs. Alabama State (16) |
| 2 | Houston (1) | vs. SIU Edwardsville (16) |
| 3 | Tennessee (2) | vs. Wofford (15) |
| 4 | Louisville (8) | vs. Creighton (9) |
| 5 | Michigan (5) | vs. UC San Diego (12) |
❌ Worst survivor pool pick today: Auburn
Obviously, taking a No. 1 seed on the first day of a survivor pool and having them win isn't worse than being wrong and being out immediately. But when it comes to strategy, wasting a team like Auburn is bad process and it will come back to bite you later.
I'm not suggesting the Tigers will lose to Alabama State, in fact I think they'll blow out their fellow Yellowhammer State resident. Even so, it doesn't make any sense to use Auburn now when Wooden Award odds contender Johni Broome should have this team pushing to the Final Four.
📊 Auburn's odds to beat Alabama State: -8000 via DraftKings | Implied probability: 98.77%
⛔ Other survivor pool picks to avoid today
- Taking No. 1 seed Houston is silly for the same reason taking Auburn is a bad move; it will impact you in the long term - look at the bracket from a big-picture view
- Just like with Auburn and Houston, going with No. 2 seed Tennessee this early isn't a good play, especially with the Volunteers having a favorable path to the Elite Eight
- This Louisville team was under seeded relative to how well it played in Pat Kelsey's first year as head coach, but Creighton is a tough out with Greg McDermott calling the shots and Ryan Kalkbrenner owning the paint
- Michigan is a big brand that just won the Big Ten tournament, so they could be a popular pick, but No. 12 seed UC San Diego is built to be a Cinderella story
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🔮 March Madness predictions for every game today
- Louisville vs. Creighton prediction
- Purdue vs. High Point prediction
- Wisconsin vs. Montana prediction
- Houston vs. SIU Edwardsville prediction
- Auburn vs. Alabama State prediction
- Clemson vs. McNeese prediction
- BYU vs. VCU prediction
- Gonzaga vs. Georgia prediction
- Tennessee vs. Wofford prediction
- Kansas vs. Arkansas prediction
- Texas A&M vs. Yale prediction
- Missouri vs. Drake prediction
- UCLA vs. Utah State prediction
- St. John's vs. Omaha prediction
- Michigan vs. UC San Diego prediction
- Texas Tech vs. UNC Wilmington prediction
💰 March Madness betting odds pages
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