I wrote a post a while back singling out the teams I projected to have the best odds to win the NCAA Tournament next year, with Kentucky sitting atop that list after winning it this year.
Dumb.
2012 Men’s NCAA Championship Betting Linesfavor Indiana to win the trophy at 7/1, followed by Louisville at 8/1 reigning champions Kentucky at 10/1.
Indiana has five titles to it’s name, but hasn’t won the tournament since 1987. Continue reading
For a No.2 seed, Ohio State received a lot of love from oddsmakers entering the 2012 NCAA tournament. Only Kentucky was set as a bigger favorite to win the national championship.
Well, now we have our answer as to why the Buckeyes have been a favorite on the betting lines, as they reach the Final Four in New Orleans where they will meet the Kansas Jayhawks.
And similar to Ohio State, Kansas was believed to be a viable candidate for a No.1 seed. But instead, they were placed in the Midwest Region as the No.2 seed. Didn’t matter though, as the Jayhawks beat the No.1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels in the Elite 8. Continue reading
Alright college basketball fans, we are down to the Final Four in New Orleans with the regional champions meeting for a shot at the national championship.
And two of those schools just so happen to be from the great state of Kentucky. Ok, just the state of Kentucky.
But regardless of your feelings on the geography, there is no denying that the Kentucky Wildcats have looked like a team on a mission throughout the course of the 2011-12 college basketball season. And they are within two wins of their goal. Continue reading
The printer is about to be one overused piece of equipment.
On the Monday after Selection Sunday, we sit with our completely empty, mistake-free bracket. With only a few days before the action starts, it’s time to scramble to the printer and grab your copy of the bracket for a chance to win the office pool and show off your basketball intuition. The East is packed with teams that could surprise at any part of the region, along with big teams that haven’t given us much reason to be doubt to doubt them.
The #1 seed, Syracuse, has only shown signs of weakness through their lack of rebounding and failure to win by large margins consistently… when they have Fab Melo. That will not be the case throughout the NCAA Tournament because the university announced on Tuesday that Melo had been disqualified for the entire tournament. This news has really shaken up the East Region betting odds and Syracuse is falling fast. Since this news came down, Syracuse went from 9/4 odds all the way down to 4/1 odds and that is just to win the region, their odds to win the tournament have fallen further. Conversely, Ohio State who was a 8/5 favorite to win the region has increased to a 5/4 favorite according to the latest odds. Continue reading
Kentucky, Duke, Connecticut, Indiana, Baylor, Notre Dame, and Xavier. All big names in college basketball, and battling to come out of the South region.
Among that list, you have the #1 seed Kentucky and #2 seed Duke, along with the defending champion of last year’s tournament in Connecticut. The South region is jam packed with first round picks in the coming NBA draft, and includes the most winning coach of all-time. Duke and Kentucky, of course, are favored to tear through the South and meet in the Elite 8 with Kentucky getting 2/3 odds to win South bracket and Duke 11/2, according to bovada.com. These figures are coming as no surprise to anyone who has watched Kentucky and Duke dominate good teams all season with the only real stumbling coming in their conference tournaments. Continue reading
The West Region, headlined by Michigan State, will prove to be either the first or second most competitive bracket in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
Michigan State (21/10 odds to win the West bracket) will have no problems taking down Long Island (200/1 win the West Region) in the first round, but a likely second round showdown versus Memphis (14/1 win the West Region) will be a completely different story. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on whether or not the Tigers are a legitimate team, but here are the facts: this team won 11 of 12 to close out the year, it captured the C-USA Title and it finished with a solid 26-8 final mark. Questions about how solid the wins were and the level of competition that Memphis played against are valid; however, you can rest assured that Tom Izzo and Co. won’t look past this group. Continue reading
The Midwest Region gives No. 1 seed North Carolina some great matchups right up until the end, but then offers a funny little twist that makes life Roy Williams’ a lot more complicated than he wants it to be.
Depending on how you look at it, the Tar Heels probably won’t even break a sweat until the Sweet 16. Even at that point, their presumed opponent in Michigan (18/1 odds to win the Midwest Region) isn’t built to contend with the likes of Harrison Barnes, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and Kendall Marshall. Worst case scenario, even if Henson is still hobbled at this point, North Carolina (7/5 to win the Midwest) still has more than enough talent to take out a streaky, small Wolverines bunch who were quite clearly a notch below the two teams they shared a piece of the Big Ten regular season crown with. Continue reading
Michigan State’s recent defeat to upset-machine Indiana notwithstanding, the Spartans have shocked a lot of people with how productive and generally strong they’ve been in 2012. Despite losing a couple of key veteran pieces and being giving zero to no shot at being competitive this year, Michigan State has ridden likely Big Ten Player of the Year Draymond Green’s leadership and talent, and Tom Izzo consistent poise all the way to a share of the conference title.
You don’t get a National Championship for that, though. Continue reading
The comeback kids, the smothering defense, and the last minute game winner’s that have happened three times already this season. This is what describes the season of Florida State Basketball.
Although beating ACC leaders Duke and North Carolina earlier this season, Bet365 is giving 100/1 odds to win NCAA Tournament. To say that they just beat Duke and North Carolina is probably understating those games. They absolutely clobbered North Carolina and beat Duke at home with a buzzer beater that absolutely hushed the “Cameron Crazies”. Continue reading
If there was any question who the top team in the land was, the pistol whipping Kansas put on the Oklahoma State Cowboys the other night doesn’t make it any clearer.
The Jayhawks stated a case to be considered a strong contender for a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by winning another Big 12 title outright against the Pokes. The story of Kansas really boils down to Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor. There’s no question that they have boat loads of talent, but the lackluster games in between the brilliant ones raise concern. Big wins against Baylor twice and the overtime win against Missouri recently are just overshadowed by the losses to unranked Iowa State, unranked Davidson at home, and against both Duke and Kentucky. Duke and Kentucky are significant because they are the type of team that Kansas will have to be able to beat to have any shot at the trophy. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where they won’t have a stretch of 3 very tough games against very talented teams, so the inconsistency could haunt them. Continue reading