Future Odds – College Hoops
Ok, the eyes of the betting world are focused on Tampa Bay as Super Bowl XLIII is a week away from kick off; the Pittsburgh Steelers are listed as 7-point faves with the Total set at 47.
But while bettors gear up for one of the biggest betting events of the year; this is a great time to also start looking ahead to another big event, March Madness.
As it stands, the usual suspects are getting money on college hoops futures. Talking to online sportsbook SPORTSBETTING.com with, they are seeing significant action on North Carolina, the big favorite. UCLA is also getting attention form the betting public, as this Top 5 ranked team appears to have favorable odds with some value right now.
If you take a look at the Associated Press’ preseason Top 5 you would see the aforementioned North Carolina Tar Heels in top spot followed by the Connecticut Huskies, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins and Pittsburgh Panthers.
Taking a look at the rankings today, and the picture looks a bit different.
1) Wake Forest Demon Deacons +1000
Ranked 21st in the AP’s preseason poll, Wake Forest sure has come a long way.
The Demon Deacons went 16 games without a loss before bowing to the Virginia Tech Hokies as a 13.5-point fave in a 78-71 loss earlier in the week and on top of being 16-1 SU are 8-5 ATS.
With the rest of its schedule conference game-heavy, Wake Forest will be hoping to add more wins to its 3-1 conference record.
2) Duke Blue Devils +700
It’s no surprise that the boys from Durham are the second best team according to the Associated Press; after all, they are consistently amongst the best teams in the nation.
The Blue Devils are a game better than ACC rival Wake Forest with a 17-1 record SU; when it comes to ATS numbers, Duke is 9-7-1 and has yet to lose a game SU to any of its conference rivals, currently at 4-0.
On top of a good record straight up, Duke has also been a fairly reliable play on the Under going low in 12 out of 17 of its contests where there was a posted Total.
3) UConn Huskies +600
Like Duke, Connecticut is also among the top teams in college basketball. While UConn has been an extremely profitable Money line team, with a 17-1 record, the Huskies have been mortal against the spread at 7-7.
Furthermore, the team is 4-5 ATS at home and 5-7 ATS when favored, the team is 6-1 SU within the Big East conference though.
UConn Huskies games tend to go Under the Total as nine of their last 13 have been on the low side.
4) Pittsburgh Panthers +800
While Steel Town’s focus is solely on its NFL team, that shouldn’t take away from the Panthers’ accomplishments.
Ranked No. 1 a mere week ago, Pitt dropped out of top spot thanks to a 69-63 loss to the Louisville Cardinals; the game was listed as a pick’em.
Sitting at 17-1 SU and 8-5 SU, the Panthers have been a solid home team with a 14-0 record SU and a 6-3 record ATS.
Pittsburgh is 5-1 within the Big East conference.
5) North Carolina Tar Heels +225
As funny as it seems, the team ranked lowest in the Top 5 is the team with most of the betting action on them at SPORTSBETTING.com. Of all the NCAA Basketball future odds money wagered, 19% is on the Tar Heels.
UNC has been solid in Money line betting sitting at 17-2 but like UConn, the Tar Heels are less than reliable when it comes to ATS numbers.
The boys from Chapel Hill are only 9-9 ATS, 5-6 ATS at home and 7-9 ATS as a favorite; they are slightly profitable against the spread away from home at 4-3.
Against fellow teams from the ACC, North Carolina is only 3-2 thus far.
Out of the 18 games where there was a listed Total, North Carolina went Over 10 times.
After the Super Bowl, the focus of many bettors will switch to college hoops so why not get the early jump? After all the early bird gets the worm as they say.
Have a good weekend.
