Alabama forward Nick Pringle celebrates after an NCAA college basketball game against Texas A&M in the finals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, Sunday, March 12, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Alabama won 82-63. (AP Photo/John Amis)
By Mark Anderson
LAS VEGAS — March Madness isn't just about filling out — and later trashing — brackets. There are more ways to bet the field in the NCAA Tournament, an event that will consume basketball fans over the next three weeks. Here's a look at the favorites, underdogs and longshots.
WHO’S FAVORED TO REACH THE FINAL FOUR?
Top-ranked Houston is the plus-120 favorite to emerge as the Midwest Region representative and play in Houston, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That means a $100 bet pays $120. The next top team in the region is Texas at plus-450.
The most competitive region appears to be the West. No. 3 Kansas is a slight favorite at plus-320, just ahead of No. 2 UCLA at plus-350. No. 9 Gonzaga isn't far behind at plus-400.
No. 5 Purdue is at plus-300 to come out of the East, with No. 6 Marquette next at plus-420.
WHO’S FAVORED TO WIN THE TITLE?
Oddsmakers agree with the NCAA selection committee that the No. 1 seeds are the favorites — Houston at plus-500, Alabama at plus-800, Kansas at plus-1,000 and Purdue at plus-1,200.
After that, oddsmakers favor UCLA at plus-1,400, Gonzaga at plus 1,500, Arizona at plus-1,600, No. 7 Texas at plus-1,900, and No. 10 Baylor and Marquette each at plus-2,100.
WHO IS THE BIGGEST UNDERDOG?
If you're looking for the next Saint Peter's or Loyola-Chicago, check out these options.
Sixteen teams are listed at plus-50,000: Colgate, Furman, Grand Canyon, Howard, Kennesaw State, Kent State, Louisiana, Montana State, Nevada, Northern Kentucky, Southeast Missouri State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Southern, UC Santa Barbara, UNC Asheville and Vermont.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST SPREAD DIFFERENCE?
Kansas is a 21 1/2-point favorite over Howard in their first-round matchup. Beyond that, Houston is favored by 19 1/2 points over Northern Kentucky, UCLA by 17 1/2 over UNC Asheville and Gonzaga by 15 1/2 over Grand Canyon.
WHAT’S THE BIGGEST OVER/UNDER?
The old saying is that life is too short to bet the under, but it's often the wise play. Some of these totals may give bettors second thoughts before taking the over, but that doesn't mean it's the wrong move. The highest totals are Gonzaga-Grand Canyon at 156 1/2, Missouri-Utah State at 154 1/2, Texas A&M Corpus Christi-Southeast Missouri State at 153 1/2, Auburn-Iowa and Xavier-Kennesaw State each at 151 1/2 and Florida Atlantic-Memphis at 150 1/2.
NOT REAL UNDERDOGS
Just because the committee seeds one team over another doesn't necessarily mean it's the better team in the minds of the oddsmakers. Here are the games where the lower seed is the favorite on the early line: Tenth-seeded Utah State by 2 1/2 points over seventh-seeded Missouri, 10th-seeded Boise State a half-point over seventh-seeded Northwestern and ninth-seeded West Virginia by 2 1/2 over eighth-seeded Maryland,
BRACKETS
More information will be available later this week on this year's brackets, but history can be a guide. Looking back at 2022, there were no perfect brackets on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge bracket game after the first round, and only 13 of 17.36 million got 31 of the 32 games right. There were 12,529 brackets that correctly picked the Final Four and 7.02% of brackets made the right call on Kansas winning the national championship.
Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Beyond the Spotlight,' a biography series about the intriguing people who capture our attention, fill our social feeds, and shape pop culture.
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This week, the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks ousted their general manager and senior director of hockey operations after an investigation confirmed former player Kyle Beach's claims that the team's former video coach Brad Aldrich sexual assaulted him back in 2010, with upper management ignoring his claims until after the team won the Stanley Cup that season. Last night, Joel Quenneville, now the coach of the Florida Panthers but Chicago's coach that season, stepped down from his post.
This comes just a few weeks after the NFL was rocked by leaked emails showing now-former Las Vegas Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden using racist, sexist and homophobic language. He resigned soon after the emails came to light. We can't forget, though, that those emails come from a much broader investigation of the toxic work environment in the offices of the Washington Football Team. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said this week the league wouldn't publicly release anything from its investigation of the team, but lawyers for many of the women interviewed in the case say they want a public report.
And last January, just one month after hiring him, the New York Mets had to fire then-General manager Jared Porter, who admitted to sending explicit, unsolicited texts and images to a female reporter in 2016 when he worked for the Chicago Cubs. ESPN had been in possession of the texts since 2017, but the woman in question asked the network not to run the story out of fear her career would be harmed. She only reached back out to ESPN after she left the field of journalism altogether. Porter has been banned from the sport through next season.
If you believe in the phrase "where there's smoke, there's fire," professional sports is a five-alarm blaze.
Julie DiCaro, senior writer and editor at Deadspin, joins None of the Above to discuss.
Jill and Carlo discuss the scenes of joy at American airports as borders reopen, another tool in the Covid toolbox, the latest in the Astroworld crowd crush tragedy and more.
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Evan Vandenberg, the founder and CEO of Dibbs, a sports card trading platform, joined Cheddar to break down how his company allows sports fans to buy and sell fractions of sports cards. The physical trading cards are typically held in a vault while fans are provided with a digital representation of that card that they can go on to sell or even buy more fractions of the item. Vanderberg also talked about the company's $13 million Series A funding round and investments from major sports figures like the NBA's Chris Paul and NFL's DeAndre Hopkins.
A Freitag pod with Carlo and Baker, talking about the upcoming federal vax-or-test deadline, the most shocking upset of this week's elections, an incredible story of selflessness and Love, Hate, Ate.
