March Madness Picks – Future Betting Odds
It’s everybody’s favorite ritual of early springtime: March Madness! The play-in games go this Tuesday and then we are launched into NCAA Tournament frenzy in earnest. [ad-4468020]
This year the top four seeds in each region are Florida, Arizona, Wichita State (with its magical unbeaten regular season) and Virginia. The following is a look at this year’s top contenders, with [dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′].
Florida Gators 11/2
The boys from Gainesville survived a scare in the SEC Tournament final, where they hung on to beat rival Kentucky by a single point. The Gators had an excellent season by any measure (32-2 and perfect in the SEC ain’t nothing to sneeze at) and they thrive on polished, team-oriented basketball.
The scoring and rebounding is very balanced up and down the lineup. Florida’s two losses came early in the year to Wisconsin and Connecticut; the Gators are as well-positioned as any to grab the NCAA’s ultimate prize.
Michigan State Spartans 6/1
This grizzled Tournament team (head coach Tom Izzo could christen a child ‘Final Four’ and it wouldn’t be out of place) is riding tons of momentum into the tourney after a convincing win over bitter rival Michigan in the Big Ten final.
Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! Buy Razor Ray’s NBA Picks!
Coming into the Big Dance as a #4 seed, the Spartans are playing their best ball at the right time. The duo of Gary Harris and Adreian Payne handle the lion’s share of the scoring and leadership; if the Spartans continue to play at the caliber they did versus Wisconsin and Michigan in the conference tourney, they could be a team that goes deep.
Arizona Wildcats 9/1
The Desert Cats looked invincible this season… until about February. They have still been strong, but have racked up four losses since then and lost to UCLA in the Pac-12 title game. Yet, this is still a marquee hoops program.
Arizona plays a hard-nosed rebounding and ball-movement style that could really leave an impact (pardon the pun) in the first couple of rounds. The Wildcats thrive on the scoring and rebounding of freshman Aaron Gordon. Don’t let the UCLA upset cloud your vision: ‘Zona is an elite team, as its 30-4 regular season record attests.
Kansas Jayhawks 10/1
You look at KU’s record of 24-9 and it doesn’t look overly impressive, but then you must bear in mind that everyone in the Big 12 Conference played a brutal schedule, with Kansas’s being the most excruciating.
The Jayhawks also feature a Who’s Who of NBA lottery and first-round picks, including Toronto native Andrew Wiggins, big man Joel Embiid from Cameroon, Wayne Selden and sophomore Perry Ellis.
Even still, there’s been a lot of negative press about Kansas as it regards to its compete level; some think that the Jayhawks feel they are already crowned on their collection of talent alone. To be accurate, there have been some sub-par performances of late (three losses in the past five games, to be exact) and Embiid will be out with a gnarly back injury.
Even without their big man, the Jayhawks have the talent to breeze through to the later rounds, though if they take their foot off the gas, they could also be an early exit.
Louisville Cardinals 13/2
These battle-tested Cardinals are more like a swarm of killer bees; they’re extremely aggressive, and they can hurt you all over. Veteran leader Russ Smith is no stranger to the bright lights of March Madness, and coach Rick Pitino has assembled a team around him that gives Louisville as good a chance as any to be National Champions.
The Cards thoroughly handled UConn in the AAC Tournament final (71-61 W) even though Connecticut was hell-bent on exacting revenge for earlier trouncings. It seems like you can so often just pencil in Louisville for at least a Sweet 16 visit without even thinking about it – 2014 is no exception.
Duke Blue Devils 12/1
The most polarizing team in college hoops is in the thick of the national title race, what else is new?
This time the Dookies are fuelled by likely future NBA superstars Jabari Parker and Rodney Hood. This three-seed is also ranked #4 nationally, with an offense that vies for Top-25 distinction.
The Blue Devils have proven that they are beatable this season, but they are still awfully good. In fact, with the exception of a brain-fart loss to Clemson on Jan. 11, all of Duke’s losses have come against other elite programs.
So the Duke faithful can take solace in the fact that, although this team might not be Christian Laettner/Bobby Hurley/Grant Hill quality, they are an upper-tier team with two stars in Parker and Hood that just might carry them to the promised land (again).
Wichita State Shockers 10/1
Living very true to their nickname, the Shockers put up a downright shockingly amazing season, going unbeaten and grabbing a top seed in the Big Dance. As impressive as it is to go unbeaten in any 30+ game season, I tend to err on the side of cynic when it comes to a team like Wichita State.
They’ve played fantastic, that much is undeniable, but an early season narrow win against Tennessee was the Shockers’ only real legitimate major conference competition (I’m not counting a crappy Alabama team that almost beat them) and the Dance has all the big fish swimming in the same pond.
The Shockers are led by senior Cleanthony Early, and though we all love to believe in the Cinderella stories, I think his surname is a premonition of Wichita State’s fate. I could very well be wrong, in which case I will look foolish and there will be many non-Jayhawk fans from Kansas celebrating.
San Diego State Aztecs 50/1
The most intriguing part about SDSU is the absolutely suffocating defense they play. The Aztecs stifled a dominant offensive squad in New Mexico earlier in the season; that team concept is what makes this time of year so special and this league worlds different from the NBA.
San Diego State reached an impressive 29-4 mark in the Mountain West this year and, though they possess a plodding offensive game (they average only 10 assists per contest!) the Aztecs have the personnel and the coaching to shut opponents down on the defensive end. Often it’s that element of the college game that leads to a deep tournament run.
[ad-6571516]
Virginia Cavaliers 10/1
Much in the same vein as the Aztecs, the Cavs have a no-prisoners defensive approach. Virginia only scored 65.8 PPG in 2013-14, ranking a miserable 294th in the nation (!) and that was still good for a 28-6 record, a 16-2 conference mark and an ACC title.
Yep, they haven’t been this excited for hoops in Charlottesville since Ralph Sampson. Sophomore Malcolm Brogdon is the leader of this club both on the offensive end and on ‘D.’ The team must be buoyed by the conference final victory over Duke and also as a #1 seed, I don’t think any team is looking forward to playing the Cavaliers.
Wisconsin Badgers 20/1
The Badgers play that hard-nosed style of hoops that the Big Ten prouds itself on, and Wisconsin did it rather well this campaign. The boys from Madison have a #2 seed in the tourney and were unstoppable this season until a road game at Indiana on Jan. 14.
Wisconsin was also streaky: The team had a rough January and March, but was literally invincible the rest of the season. A 12-6 Big Ten record doesn’t sound stellar, but this is a poised team led by Frank Kaminsky and Ben Brust. This is a team that’s beaten Florida, Virginia and Michigan, so only a fool would count out those pesky Badgers.
2014 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship – Odds to Win
- Florida #1 11/2
- Michigan State #4 6/1
- Louisville #4 13/2
- Arizona #1 9/1
- Virginia #1 10/1
- Wichita State #1 10/1
- Kansas #2 10/1
- Duke #3 12/1
- Wisconsin #2 20/1
- Villanova #2 20/1
- Michigan #2 20/1
- Syracuse #3 20/1
- Creighton #3 20/1
- Iowa State #3 33/1
- Kentucky #8 33/1
- Oklahoma State #9 40/1
- UCLA #4 40/1
- North Carolina #6 40/1
- San Diego State #4 50/1
- Pittsburgh #9 66/1
- VCU #5 66/1
- Cincinnati #5 66/1
- Ohio State #6 66/1
- Tennessee #11 66/1
- Connecticut #7 66/1
- Iowa #11 75/1
- Oklahoma #5 100/1
- Gonzaga #8 100/1
- Memphis #8 100/1
- Saint Louis #5 100/1
- Baylor #6 100/1
- UMass #6 100/1
- New Mexico #7 100/1
- Oregon #7 100/1
- Texas #7 100/1
- Kansas State #9 200/1
- Saint Joe’s #10 250/1
- Nebraska #11 250/1
- Providence #11 200/1
- George Washington #9 250/1
- Colorado #8 250/1
- Stanford #10 250/1
- NC State #12 300/1
- Xavier #12 300/1
- Harvard #12 500/1
- BYU #10 500/1
- Arizona State #10 500/1
- Dayton #11 500/1
- SF Austin #12 500/1
- North Dakota State #12 500/1
- Tulsa #13 1000/1
- New Mexico State #13 1000/1
- Delaware #13 1000/1
- Manhattan #13 1000/1
- Western Michigan #14 1000/1
- UL Lafayette #14 1000/1
- NC Central #14 1000/1
- American #15 1000/1
- Wofford #15 1000/1
- Albany #16 1000/1
- Mount Saint Mary’s #16 1000/1
- Weber State #16 1000/1
- Coastal Carolina #16 1000/1
- Cal Poly #16 1000/1
- Texas Southern #16 1000/1
- Eastern Kentucky #15 1000/1
- UW-Milwaukee #15 1000/1
- Mercer #14 1000/1
