Who are the favorites for march madness?

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Traditional college basketball powerhouses are all over the top of March Madness odds boards as the season gets rolling. Kentucky, Gonzaga, North Carolina and Houston all have CBB National Title odds around +900. Kansas and Duke check in with +1300 and +1600 National Championship odds, respectively.

Here are NCAA basketball National Title odds for this season as well as betting insight on top college basketball teams.

Check out March Madness odds below. National title futures prices are available for dozens of schools below. If you are looking for college basketball betting odds for today’s games go here.

College basketball National Title odds

Here is the outlook for some of the top teams in college basketball along with their National Title odds.

Gonzaga : The Zags have been at or near the top of NCAA basketball National Championship odds boards for several years now. Is 2023 the year that Mark Few finally cuts down the nets? Drew Timme and Julian Strawther lead the way for this year’s Bulldogs.

Kentucky Kentucky has not won an NCAA tournament game in three years and the folks in Lexington are starting to become restless. It’s Final Four or bust for John Calipari’s Wildcats this season with Oscar Tshiebwe leading the way. Tshiebwe is +750 to win the Wooden Award.

North Carolina : Hubert Davis’ crew was a year ahead of schedule by most accounts, making it all the way to last season’s National Championship game. UNC is loaded with upperclassman like Caleb Love, RJ Davis, Leaky Black and Armando Bacot.

Houston : The Cougars have the talent to win it all and raising the trophy would be extra sweet if they were to do it in their hometown this coming April. Kelvin Sampson has a physical group on his hands, including guard Marcus Sasser.

Kansas Kansas has long been one of those college basketball programs that simply re-loads following a successful run. Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun are gone but Jalen Wilson and Dajuan Harris return for the defending National Champions.

SchoolNCAA Title Odds April 5NCAA Title Odds November 4
Duke +900 +1600
North Carolina +1100 +900
Kansas +1200 +1300
Kentucky +1200 +900
Arkansas +1400 +1500
Gonzaga +1400 +900
UCLA +1600 +1600
Houston +1600 +900
Arizona +1800 +2500
Villanova +1800 +4000
Texas +2000 +2200
Baylor +2200 +1500
Michigan +2200 +3500
Alabama +2800 +5000
Texas Tech +3500 +4000
Tennessee +4500 +2500
Purdue +4500 +4500
Auburn +4500 +4500
Oregon +5000 +5000
Virginia +5000 +4000
Memphis +5000 +12000
USC +5500 +7000
Creighton +5500 +2500
Indiana +7000 +3500

NCAA Tournament Odds

The 2023 Final Four will take place in Houston, Texas at NRG Stadium – home of the NFL’s Houston Texans.

West

View a history of the West region

Las Vegas (March 23 and 25)

South

View a history of the South Region

Louisville (March 24 and 26)

East

View a history of the East Region

New York City (March 23 and 25)

Midwest

View a history of the Midwest Region

Kansas City (March 23 and 25)

Final Four

New Orleans (April 1 and 3)

First round seed matchups, history

TheLines offers a look back at the history of all of the first round seed matchups. Check them out here:

  • 8 vs. 9 2021 matchups and history
  • 7 vs. 10 2021 matchups and history
  • 6 vs. 11 2021 matchups and history
  • 5 vs. 12 2021 matchups and history
  • 4 vs. 13 2021 matchups and history
  • 3 vs. 14 2021 matchups and history
  • 2 vs. 15 2021 matchups and history
  • 1 vs. 16 2021 matchups and history

March Madness betting sites

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How the NCAA Tournament works

March Madness is a 68-team, single-elimination tournament that annually crowns college basketball’s NCAA Division 1 men’s national champion.

The event is aptly named, considering it features a frenetic 67 games over a 19-day period. The participating schools are announced on “Selection Sunday”, along with the exact seeding and brackets.

The annual college basketball rite of spring is sports betting’s most prolific multi-day event. Below you’ll find the current betting odds for the favorites to win the NCAA Tournament, along with key tournament details and betting strategy to help you during the month-long madness.

The first 32 teams to gain entry into the tournament do so automatically by winning their conferences. The remaining 36 slots are filled by “at-large” teams. A 10-member selection committee consisting of athletic directors and conference commissioners undergoes an arduous and multi-layered process to determine the 36 at-large teams and subsequently finalize seeding and brackets.

This year, the committee will employ the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) as its primary sorting method for determining at-large entrants. The NET replaces the RPI (Rating Percentage Index), which had been utilized since 1981.

The NET utilizes the following metrics:

  • Game results
  • Strength of schedule
  • Game location
  • Scoring margin
  • Offensive and defensive efficiency
  • Quality of wins and losses

The NCAA has a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of seeding and bracket protocol on this page within its website.

March Madness betting history

The first NCAA basketball tournament took place in 1939 in Evanston, Illinois. Since then, 37 teams have won it all and five teams have won the tournament at least five times (Indiana, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, UCLA). Since seeding began in 1979, number 1 seeds have won the tournament 25 times and have accounted for almost 49% of all championship appearances. Just three times has a team seeded lower than four won the title, and no team seeded below eighth has won, nor made a championship appearance.

Since betting lines were released for NCAA tournament games in 1985, underdogs in March Madness odds have covered 44% of the time, winning outright 29% of the time. Games have gone under the total in 56% of games. Since 2010, games have gone under the total in 70% of games and favorites have covered in seven out of ten games. Three teams have won more than one championship since 2010 (Duke, UConn, Villanova), but none have won back-to-back titles (despite Butler & UNC appearing in back-to-back title games).

Since 2000, the top overall seed has made the championship game just four times but won the game three of those times (75%). In total, top overall seeds in the tournament have comprised of just 8% of the total Final Four teams (missed 13 out of 20 years). Besides 1-seeds, 2-seeds have the most championship appearances since 2000 (7 times), followed by 3-seeds (6 times), and 5- and 8-seeds (2).

Just eight percent (52/640) of all Sweet 16 teams have been seeded 11 or lower, and only 2.8% of teams in the Elite Eight were seeded 11 or lower. Four 11 seeds advanced to the Final Four (Loyola Chicago, 2018; VCU, 2011; George Mason, 2006; LSU, 1986). UMBC is the only 16-seed to upset a 1-seed in the tournament’s history (2018), and just eight 15-seeds have prevailed (5%). In 2015, two 15-seeds upset 2-seeds (25% of all such upsets) and two 14-seeds upset 3-seeds.

Using historical data when filling out brackets and betting March Madness, err caution; stats should be used in the long-run but when choosing individual games, be sure to study matchup statistics. The most important thing to remember, though, is this is March Madness, and anything can (and will) happen.

Tournament betting strategies

The historical ATS data for each team in tournament play is just one of countless data points that can constitute March Madness odds betting research. Other factors that can hold considerable relevance include:

  • A team’s late-season performances, including in their conference tournament
  • Key injuries
  • A team’s defensive proficiency, as this typically has more carryover into tournament play than a high-powered offense
  • “Fading the public” when the line appears to be significantly affected by a team’s popularity, as opposed to actual recent performance

Examining various tournament-specific historical trends, such as how high-seeded mid-majors have done in each round in terms of straight-up wins and losses.

Another overarching data set that could prove highly valuable is the performance of each seed in each round versus the spread. Courtesy of BoydsBets.com, below is an overview of historical first-round performance by seeds 1-16 against the number:

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Where can you legally wager on March Madness this year?

Bettors physically located within the following states will be able to place a legal sports wager on March Madness games:

    • Arizona Sports Betting
    • Arkansas
    • Colorado Sportsbooks
    • Delaware
    • Illinois Sportsbooks
    • Indiana Sportsbooks
    • Iowa Sportsbooks
    • Michigan Sportsbooks
    • Mississippi
    • New Hampshire
    • New Jersey Sportsbooks
    • New Mexico
    • New York Sports Betting
    • Nevada
    • Oregon
    • Pennsylvania Sportsbooks
    • Rhode Island
    • Tennessee Sportsbooks
    • West Virginia Sportsbooks
    • Virginia Sportsbooks

Then, there will be a flurry of sports betting legalization efforts unfolding at statehouses around the country during 2022 legislative sessions. Thus, hundreds of thousands of potential new bettors are expected to be part of the fun when the 2023 version of March Madness rolls around.

Based on recent progress and momentum, many states appear to have at least a fighting chance of implementing legalized sports betting in time for next year’s tournament.

Who are the favorites in March Madness 2022?

NCAA Tournament winner odds.
Gonzaga Bulldogs: +200..
Kansas Jayhawks: +450..
Arizona Wildcats: +500..
Purdue Boilermakers: +750..
Houston Cougars: +900..
Villanova Wildcats: +1200..
Duke Blue Devils: +1200..
Texas Tech Red Raiders: +1300..

Who are the favorites to make the Final Four?

Final Four odds.
(1) Kansas (-4) vs. ( 2) Villanova..
(2) Duke -4.5 vs. ( 8) North Carolina..

Who is the favorite to win March Madness 2023?

Having lifted the 2022 trophy, Kansas are right amongst the favorites for March Madness 2023.

Who has won March Madness the most?

Final Four mainstays UCLA leads the rank in regards to championships as the Bruins have won a record 11 championships. The Kentucky Wildcats have the second most championships - the most recent of their right titles came in 2012 and their latest Final Four appearance was in 2015.