College Basketball National Championship Odds: Kentucky Surges To +4500 In Futures Market

Despite the near-constant upheaval in college basketball, some things remain the same. Case in point is the Houston Cougars (+650) who turned in another ho-hum 2-0 week. Kelvin Sampsons’ squad is the only team in all of college basketball to be ranked inside of the Top-10 of both offensive and defensive adjusted efficiency, per Barttorvik.com. Kansas (+900) holds a one game lead over Texas in the Big 12, but the Jayhawks look primed to defend not only their conference championship but their national championship as well. The Texas Longhorns and the Jayhawks will conclude their regular season against one another this Saturday.  

College Basketball National Championship 2023 Betting

There is a grouping of teams within the +12000 range that need to be highlighted as major threats to win their respective conference tournament brackets as well as potential bracket busters in March Madness. Iowa, Memphis, NC State, Northwestern, Providence, USC, Texas Tech, & W. Virginia all have odds greater than 100:1 to win the national championship. Providence leads the pack of these teams and is two games back of first in the Big East with a showdown against #15 Xavier on the horizon. Ed Cooleys’ Friars are looking to lock up a crucial 2-seed in their conference tournament in the next week. Memphis is trending down with the loss of Keonte Kennedy, a crucial player for the Tigers. USC is silently ascending in the Pac-12, Andy Enfields’ team offers balance but can disappear as an offense at times. Iowa has the offense to fuel an Elite Eight run but their defense could do them in. The Big XII's two-pack of WVU and Texas Tech offer defense that no coach wants to see in the bracket. These two teams are on the fringe of getting into the tourney.

The Mid-Major Market Watch features the MAC this week. This conference is one of the tightest races left in college hoops; Kent State (+50000) is one game back of Toledo, while Akron is on the outside looking in with a two game hill to climb. Toledo has a relatively easy remaining conference schedule (C. Michigan & Ball State), compared to Akron and Kent State who conclude their regular season against one another in a decisive game for either the 1-seed or the 2-seed in the MAC tourney. Any of these three teams could and should win their conference tournament, all three are also capable of pulling off a nice 12-seed/5-seed upset in three weeks.

In this last section I want to highlight the exciting ACC race. PITT (+15000) just took over first place with Miami (FL) falling to FSU at the buzzer on Saturday. Virginia and Clemson are tied for 2nd and the Duke Blue Devils are looking to erase their two game deficit in the ACC standings. Duke (+5000) has a chance to help their ACC tourney seeding case with games against NC State and UNC to end the year. The Hurricanes are the only team at the top of the standings to have just one remaining game, Jim Larranagas’ squad plays Pittsburgh to wrap up ACC play. Clemson is a threat to grab the 2-seed for the ACC tourney. The Tigers play at Top-10 Virginia team and then at home against the Irish, who have mailed their season in. Haslam Metrics currently has Clemson OUT of the tourney and Pittsburgh in the play-in game.