Who You Should Select as your Bracket Champion

Picking your champion is the single most important decision you can make in your college basketball bracket. It accounts for a significant portion of your total points and determines the winner of nearly every bracket pool. 

At SlayAM, we’ve developed our own net rating system to help identify the best team in the country. In back-testing, our model has correctly predicted 5 of the last 10 national champions.

This year, our model identifies Duke as the clear No. 1 team and our pick to win it all. They finished nearly 100 points ahead of second-place Michigan in our net rating system, separating themselves from the rest of the field. According to our model, this is the highest-rated team we’ve recorded in the course of the last 10 years. This year they finished top 5 in both offense and defense in our net rating system. They also finished as the number 1 overall defense and posted a stunning 1,686.81 overall net rating in our system. 

Duke also checks every box schematically. Under head coach John Scheyer, they run a switch-heavy defense that maximizes their size and versatility across the lineup. Offensively, they play a more methodical style and rank among the best in the country in off-ball movement and cutting, consistently generating efficient shots at the rim and from three.

They’re led by Player of the Year candidate Cameron Boozer, giving them a go-to option in high-pressure moments.

The only real concern for Duke is the recent injury to their starting point guard Caleb Foster. However, even with that setback, they won their conference tournament and defeated Virginia, a Team ranked 18th in our model, reinforcing just how complete this team is.

With elite analytics, strong coaching, and proven performance, Duke stands out as the most complete team in the field and the clear choice to win the national championship.