Who Has the Best NCAAB National Championship Odds as Everyone Keeps Losing
By Travis Pulver
The season of uncertainty continued this past week as more of the nation’s ‘best’ teams lost games to teams that had no business beating them. It’s like no one wants to take hold of the mantle as the nation’s best basketball team.
There is a new No. 1 this week, even though the former one did not lose! With Gonzaga falling back to No. 2 and Baylor taking over the top spot, a new single-season record was set. The Bears are the seventh different team to hold the No. 1 spot this season.
With all of this change, how is a person supposed to know who to bet on? Three of the best teams in the nation lost two games each last week. As if that wasn’t bad enough, four of those six losses came to unranked teams!
It’s enough to drive a gambler batty. However, it also means that no one is going to have great odds right now. So, if you choose right, then you are probably going to have a nice payout coming your way at the end of the season.
But which team choose…
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NCAAB National Championship Odds: Still No Love For Baylor
You would think that ascending to the top spot in the ranking would have gotten the Baylor Bears a little more love from oddsmakers, but
their odds to win it all remain +1500 (odds via DraftKings). They beat a couple of good teams last week in Iowa State and Oklahoma.
But they struggled offensively against the Sooners and barely squeaked out a four-point win. Thanks to Gonzaga having an easy time last week, voters allowed Baylor to edge out the Bulldogs by just three-points to become the new No. 1.
Gonzaga has been in the top spot for the last four weeks, the longest run of the season.
As for the Bulldogs, they didn’t do anything wrong last week. Gonzaga handily beat the competition they faced— as expected. As a result, there is no reason for their odds to change one way or the other (and they didn’t; still +900).
The only change in the top tier teams was with Kansas. With nice wins over Texas and Oklahoma last week, their odds bumped up to +900 (from +1000). Surprisingly, despite two losses (including one to an unranked Clemson team), Duke’s odds remained static.
Louisville’s did as well (even though they scored a great win over Duke; both remain at +1000).
As for the other notable teams, there wasn’t a lot of movement with their odds. But there were some. Michigan State, Oregon, Maryland, Kentucky, and Villanova remained the same. Despite losing two last week, so did Auburn.
The Seminoles and Aztecs Maintain Their National Championship Odds
Florida State and San Diego State saw their odds remain the same after moving into the top-five in the rankings. However, Auburn’s odds took a severe dive after losing two going from +2000 to +4000. With losses in five of their last six games, Ohio State’s odds dropped from +1500 to +2500.
There are still several good teams with reasonably long odds, i.e., Dayton (+3000), Virginia (+2800), and Villanova (+2200).
So, despite several teams recording more than one loss in the last week, the odds did not see too much change. Is it because oddsmakers do not want to seem reactive? Do they want to see the losses become a trend before acting rather than isolated incidents?
Do they not have faith in anyone or see anyone improving enough to become the lead dog? The answer to that question is simple—no. Not because they are picky and unreasonable. They just want to make changes when they are truly warranted.
While a loss or two would devastate a football team’s odds, that is not necessarily the case in basketball. Because of that, picking a champion is a little bit harder.
