$17,000,000-worth Skip Bayless declares ACC powerhouse as March Madness winners ahead of first-round matchups

American sports columnist, commentator, and television personality, Skip Bayless has made his pick for the national championship title ahead of March Madness. As is tradition, Bayless was straightforward with his choice of words and he crowned ACC Conference champions the Duke Blue Devils as the winner of March Madness.

“Duke is going to win the National Championship,” Skip Bayless wrote on his X account.

“My logic is simply this: Cooper Flagg is going to be a better NBA player than Carmelo Anthony was. So Cooper Flagg is about to be by far the best player in this tournament,” he wrote, before attaching a link to his YouTube channel where he had a full “Skips March Madness PICKS”

Skip Bayless, whose net worth is estimated to be approximately $17 million in 2025 (via Celebrity Net Worth) has over 3.2 million followers on his X account and over 217,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel. As you can imagine, his take raised some debate online.

However, Duke has been tagged as the favorite by many analysts to win the NCAA Tournament, though Cooper Flagg and Maliq Brown’s injuries cast some doubt on the Blue Devils’ ability to go all the way.

Duke discovers their March Madness first-round opponents

NCAA Basketball: ACC Conference Tournament Championship - Duke vs Louisville - Source: Imagn

The No. 1 Seed Blue Devils had to wait until Wednesday to find out their first-round opponent. Duke will begin the NCAA Tournament against Mount St. Mary's in the East Region on Friday afternoon at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh in what will be the first-ever meeting between both programs.

The Mountaineers won 83-72 against American at the First Four in Dayton to set up this game against Duke, and the winner of this matchup will face the winner of between No. 8-seed Mississippi State and No. 9-seed Baylor on Sunday for a Sweet 16 place.

Friday’s matchup will be live on CBS, while it can also be streamed on Paramount+, the NCAA March Madness Live app, and Fubo.