So how’s your bracket look through the first week of NCAA Tournament betting? With Kentucky, Tennessee, Iowa, Baylor, Auburn, and Wisconsin all going the way of the dinosaur much to the delight of online sportsbooks, it’s pretty safe to assume your bracket – like many others – is chockfull of red ink. Heck, even top seeds Arizona, Gonzaga, and Kansas were all put on the brink of elimination in the second round. Four double-digit seeds advanced into the second weekend! Having said that, two of my three pre-tourney suggestions to back on the futures odds remain alive. Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats survived the Horned Frogs to punch a ticket to the Sweet 16, while the UCLA Bruins retuned for the second straight season even though Tyger Campbell and Co. were extremely lucky to get by a game bunch of Akron Zips in the opening round before dominating St. Mary’s. The only loser proved to be Wisconsin. The loss of starting point guard Chucky Hepburn in the first half of the second round matchup with Iowa State was largely to blame; the offense was nothing short of a train wreck following his departure. Both Zona and UCLA have been installed short favorites to advance into the Elite Eight against Houston and North Carolina respectively. Here’s another batch of favorite, underdog and longshot selections to potentially cash in on the readjusted betting odds be it the team goes on to cut the nets down or allows us to lock profit in via hedging.
The NCAA Tournament picks back up with the Sweet Sixteen on Thursday, March 24, 2022. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for every game of the tourney until the nets get cut down in early April.
Bet NCAA Tournament Odds at BookMaker.eu
Gonzaga +220
Kansas +475
Arizona +500
Houston +900
Purdue +1200
UCLA +1400
Texas Tech +1400
Villanova +1500
Duke +1500
North Carolina +2000
Michigan +5000
Providence +5000
Arkansas +6000
Miami +8000
Iowa State +10000
St. Peters +20000
Favorite to Bet: Kansas Jayhawks +475
Let it be known that this has absolutely nothing to do with the Jayhawks as a team and everything to do with their path to the Final Four. I bleed crimson and blue but know deep down inside this year’s squad simply doesn’t have the “it” factor to win it all. However, their initial path to New Orleans was the easiest of all the No. 1 seeds heading into the first round in my estimation, and it only got easier once Big Ten frauds Iowa and Wisconsin bowed out early along with Auburn and USC. KU is currently the third highest favorite on the board for their Sweet 16 throw down against Providence. As such, their odds to win it all were nearly slashed in half from +850 to +475 following the team’s uninspiring 79-72 win and non-cover against the Bluejays. If not for that late-game forced turnover that allowed for Ochai Agbaji to throw it down, the Jayhawks might’ve been clipped - by a Creighton team without two of its best players. While it’s been nice to see Remy Martin introduce himself to the 2021-22 season in recent weeks, Agbaji is yet to take his game to new heights in the dance. Should that occur over the next two weeks and everyone continues being productive, Kansas will have just as good a shot to win it all as anybody else; especially if the giant killers continue to clear their path. Should they get by Ed Cooley’s Friars, it’s unfathomable to think Bill Self doesn’t cook something up to dispose of a couple double-digit seeds; one being a conference rival it swept in the regular season.
Underdog to Bet: Purdue Boilermakers +1200
I had my reservations about the Boilers heading into the Big Dance; but of the nine B1G teams that punched a ticket into the Field of 64, they’re one of only two that still remain. Matt Painter’s kids got the benefit of playing its first two games close to home in Milwaukee, and it made the most of it winning and covering both tilts against Yale and Texas. With a pro-Boiler crowd in attendance, Purdue outshot both the Bulldogs and Longhorns at the charity stripe by the aggregate tally of 79-23; it converted 60 of those freebies! It’ll be interesting to see if Jaden Ivy and company can mimic that output in Philadelphia where it’s set to square off against this year’s version of Oral Roberts otherwise known as the St. Peter’s Peacocks. Currently the only double-digit favorite on the board in the regional semifinals, PU’s path to the Caesar’s Superdome is likely to only be hindered by the Tar Heels or Bruins. Shaheen Holloway no doubt has a gritty bunch at his disposal, but the Boilermakers are a talented squad all in rhythm with one another; that’s not something you could say about the No. 2 Kentucky Wildcats whom they already slayed. The Boilermakers won’t overlook them as they look to turn the page on that sickening overtime loss to Virginia in the 2019 regional finals.
Longshot to Bet: Arkansas Razorbacks +6000
With Kansas showing a proclivity for choking in the most unforeseen of spots – cough, Northern Iowa and Bucknell, cough – I wouldn’t blame you for taking a shot with the Miami Hurricanes at an 80-1 return with Iowa State next up on the docket. Then it would be either the Jayhawks or Friars with a trip to the bayou on the line. The trio of Charlie Moore, Isaiah Wong, and Kameron McGusty has been making waves all season, and it doesn’t look like they intend to stop anytime soon. That being said, No 4 Arkansas is still offering up way too much line value for the amount of talent entrenched within Eric Musselman’s roster. I understand why linemakers haven’t moved the needle on the Hogs with the way DJ Notae and his mates sleepwalked their way into the Sweet 16 for the second straight season. Matched up against No. 13 Vermont and No. 12 New Mexico State without a point spread cover to show for their work, the Razorbacks are flying under the radar in the lone region that saw all the chalk advance to the second weekend. That being said, every team has a weakness that can be exploited. I fully expect the Hogs to be hell-bent on doing the exploiting after falling to Baylor in last year’s regional finals.
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