Duke, Arizona, Michigan And Florida Lead Title Odds For March

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The No. 1 seeds had a clear separation over the remainder of the field when last year's NCAA Tournamentbracket was revealed and it played out that way with all those teams reaching the Final 4.


This year's top seeds - Duke, Arizona, Michigan and defending nationwide champ Florida - are the favorites at BetMGM Sportsbook to win the national title.


Bruce Marshall, handicapper for WagerTalk/Gold Sheet, said he could see a couple of other groups breaking through to make the Final Four in Indianapolis.


"I don't believe we'll see all of them (No. 1 seeds) in the Final 4," Marshall stated. "Maybe someone sneaks through on the three-line. I 'd view Virginia potentially. They have actually got a quite great potential road in their region. That's Michigan's area. I think Michigan is beatable now."


That said, said it's not that various from last season in which just a couple of teams have a realistic opportunity to win everything.


The NCAA choice committee likewise appeared to get most of the first-round matches right, at least if going by the chances. There are only 2 favorites that are the lower-seeded groups, a set of 8-9 matchups with Utah State preferred by 2 1/2 points over Villanova and Iowa by the very same number over Clemson.


"We ´ re expecting a relatively milky tournament this year, similar to what we saw last season," said Patrick Berbert, college basketball trader at Caesars Sportsbook. "The NIL era has actually truly widened the space in between the leading programs and the rest of the field. From a betting perspective, we ´ re predicting record engagement once again."


Connecticut is a huge favorite at BetMGM and Caesars to win the females's NCAA Tournament for the 2nd year in a row.


The Huskies as a two-seed defeated three No. 1sts to win the 2025 title, however there is no slipping up on this year ´ s field.


"UConn has actually been incredibly dominant, winning 29 straight games by double digits," Berbert stated. "It ´ s among the more impressive runs we ´ ve seen in recent memory, and that dominance is shown in their existing title rate of -280. ... In our view, UCLA provides the greatest capacity difficulty, but in general, it ´ s hard to see many groups standing in UConn ´ s method if they continue dipping into this level."


On the males's side, Michigan and Florida weren't penalized by the committee for losing in their conference competition and were provided No. 1 seeds.


Duke endured 2 scares in winning the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, beating Florida State by a point and Virginia by four in the title video game.


Arizona had the very best week of the front runners but needed to be at its finest to beat Iowa State and Houston by a combined 7 points to record the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship.


"When we get to the Big Dance, what takes place in the conference competitions usually does not matter," Marshall said. "Teams that lose in the conference competitions typically end up winning the entire thing. It might not be the finest thing to play 3, 4 days in a row in the week before the competition, so I do not read excessive into it."


Bettors frequently look beyond the favorites in hopes of receiving a bigger payout by striking on a group that fumes.


Johnny Avello, sports operations director for DraftKings Sportsbook, said he is enjoying UConn and Arkansas. DraftKings lists the Huskies at 30-1 chances and the Razorbacks at 60-1 even though Arkansas won the Southeastern Conference Tournament.


"In the future book, there are a few clear favorites at the top of the board, but there ´ s also a great deal of value in the middle of the pack," Avello said. "Bettors can still find appealing prices on groups that have actually revealed they can play at a high level this season."


It's almost become expected that a minimum of one No. 12 seed will defeat a No. 5 in the very first round.


Texas Tech is the shortest preferred at BetMGM, noted at 7 1/2 points over Akron. Wisconsin is preferred by 9 1/2 over Peak, Vanderbilt by 11 1/2 over McNeese State, and St. John's by 11 1/2 over Northern Iowa.


Marshall stated he could see Akron and McNeese pulling the upsets.


"I do not believe St. John's will lose to Northern Iowa," stated Marshall, who noted he believed the Red Storm were underseeded. "It'll just be a tough video game. And I think Wisconsin will beat Peak, although High Point's type of enjoyable to view."


AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and protection: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness