The 2022 March Madness bracket is set! Once the First Four plays out, all 64 teams will lace up their dancing shoes! Did you invest in the futures odds wisely over the course of the regular season? Hopefully a number of the teams you actually wagered on at online sportsbooks to win it all won’t prematurely meet up in the first couple rounds. That’s a risk you have to take in the months leading up to NCAA Tournament betting, but it’s one that must be taken in order to get the most bang for your buck. Condolences to any of you holding UConn and Arkansas futures with the teams set for a collision course in the round dos! Same goes for anyone that bought into Tennessee and Villanova early on with the SEC and Big East heavyweights also likely to lock horns early on. All prior future recommendations were made without fully knowing each team’s respective path to the Final Four. Now that it’s known and I’ve penciled in my first bracket, I’ve got favorite, underdog and longshot selections that still offer up value on the current NCAA tournament futures odds. I recommend breaking off a piece before the tourney tips off later this week.
The NCAA tournament will begin Thursday, March 17, 2022. BookMaker.eu will have NCAA basketball odds available for every game of the tourney until the nets get cut down in early April.
NCAA Tournament Betting Odds at BookMaker.eu
Gonzaga +300
Arizona +650
Kentucky +800
Kansas +850
Baylor/Auburn +1200
Villanova/Tennessee +1400
Duke +1600
UCLA +1800
Purdue +2000
Texas Tech/Iowa +2200
Houston +2800
UConn/Arkansas +8000
Memphis/Texas/Wisconsin +10000
St. Mary’s/North Carolina +12000
Michigan/LSU/Alabama/Virginia Tech +15000
Michigan State/USC/Ohio State/San Diego State/Boise State +20000
San Francisco/Providence/Murray State/Davidson/TCU +25000
Seton Hall/Indiana/Miami/Marquette +30000
Creighton/Colorado State +35000
Vermont/Iowa State +40000
UAB/Rutgers/Notre Dame/Richmond +50000
South Dakota St/Wyoming/NM State/Chattanooga +60000
Colgate +70000
Montana St/Longwood/Yale/Akron +80000
Jax State/CS Fullerton/A&M CC/Wright St/Norfolk St/St. Peters/TX Southern/Georgia St/Bryant/Delaware +100000
Favorite to Bet: Arizona Wildcats +650
With the added benefit of getting its first two games in sunny San Diego and Kerr Kriisa expected to be a go after missing a bulk of the Pac-12 tournament due to a sprained ankle, Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats remain the side to back in the favorite tier. Heck, Bennedict Mathurin and his mates didn’t even need his services to dispose of both Colorado and UCLA to follow up their regular season title by cutting down the nets in Sin City on Saturday night. Zona let it be known just how explosive a team it is in the finals battling back from an early 12-point second half deficit to take complete control of the game. That comeback win opened my eyes as to just how locked in and explosive this team truly is. Mathurin is an assassin. Christian Koloko is a force down low, and Dalen Terry and Azuolas Tubelis are fantastic role players that could take a game over if necessary. This roster has tremendous depth to boot. The Wildcats took it to a pretty darn good UCLA defense with relative ease. Its path to New Orleans looks favorable regardless of Houston, Illinois, Tennessee, or Villanova being on the horizon. This team doesn’t have a major weakness that should prevent it from at the very least being one of the last four teams standing. The bracket dictates them being a lock for the Final Four in my opinion, and possibly even more success down the line. Their odds will be drastically shorter come next Monday, so buy now!
Underdog to Bet: UCLA Bruins +1800
It took the runaway truck that proved to be the Wildcats to derail what Mick Cronin’s troops had been doing recently. After taking care of business in a covering fashion against both Washington State and USC, the Bruins looked well on their way towards ending a six-year drought in the finals of the Pac-12 tournament up 12 points six-plus minutes into the second half. Then the sleeping giant awoke and Mathurin went HAM! Though the end result saw them drop an 84-76 decision as 2-point neutral court pups per the closing college basketball betting lines, I still came away very impressed with the team in defeat. Remember, this is a squad that came a miracle banked in 3-pointer away from taking on Baylor in the finals last season. All the pertinent pieces are back. They’ll be out for redemption! But for it to occur, Johnny Juzang needs to revert back into his NCAA tournament form of a season ago. He put forth his best game in quite some time in the loss to the Wildcats with 16 points that included two makes from long range. If the showing was a precursor of what’s to come, I love UCLA’s chances of getting back to the Final Four. It would help tremendously if bigs Myles Johnson and Cody Riley could stay out of foul trouble. The path won’t be easy with St. Mary’s, Wyoming/Indiana, Marquette, North Carolina, and/or Baylor on the docket just to earn a likely date with Kentucky in the Sweet 16, but I have faith. So too do the Pomeroy Ratings who have UCLA as the only No. 4 seed ranked amongst the top-10 teams in the country!
Longshot to Bet: Wisconsin Badgers +10000
It’s been quite some time since the Badgers made much of any noise in the NCAA tournament. Since falling to Florida in the 2017 region semifinals in the first full season under Greg Gard’s watch, Wiscy has only qualified for the Big Dance twice and failed to reach the Sweet 16 both times. With CBB bettors souring on Brad Davison and company after being bounced by a meh Michigan State team in the B1G tourney, let’s not forget that Wisconsin was the Big Ten’s regular season co-champion after going 15-5 overall and winning 11 of 13 road games. This is a team that already has neutral court wins over tourney entrants Houston (No. 5) and St. Mary’s (No. 5), as well as true road wins at Purdue (No. 3), Michigan State (No. 7), Indiana (No. 12), and Rutgers (No. 11). At one point this season, Johnny Davis was amongst the Wooden Award favorites. If he can get hot and rediscover his earlier season form, the Badgers could end up being the surprise team out of the Big Ten. Should it punch a ticket back to the Sweet 16, it would mean it played the role of SEC killers by ousting LSU and No. 2 seed Auburn; according to my bracket. The path to Chicago is certainly attainable. With San Diego State and South Dakota State looking to play the role of giant killers, the bracket could be blown up by the time it gets there. That makes Wisconsin my March Madness futures odds dart throw heading into the dance!
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