Elite 8 Odds to Win the National Championship

The tickets have been punched to the group of 8 remaining teams in the hunt for the national title. The biggest surprise for many bettors have been Clemson and N.C. State. Clemson was +10,000 odds at the start of the tourney and N.C. State was +17,500. The Wolfpack shouldn’t be a huge shocker to anyone that follows ACC basketball. After all, they won their conference tournament. See ACC standings here

See odds at start of tournament here

Basketball can be streaky just like any other sport. If a team gets hot at the right time, they can cruise to a championship. But rarely does this happen in college basketball. The hot streak doesn’t seem to last long enough for a 10+ loss team to win the whole thing. In fact, the last time a team with 10 or more losses won the championship was way back in 1988. Currently, Clemson has 11 losses and N.C State has 14 on the season. Three of the final eight teams are ACC teams.

Shockers

The surprise losses in the tournament thus far are Houston, Arizona & UNC. All three had very strong expectations to win it all but ultimately came up short in the Sweet 16 round. Houston was +600 and #2 overall favored to win it, Arizona was +1200 and 4th place on the odds board & UNC was +1400 and 5th place favorite to win it all.

Elite 8 Odds to Win National Championship

Odds by SportsBetting.ag

UConn +100
Purdue +300
Tennessee +700
Duke +800
Illinois +1600
Alabama +1600
NC State +3300
Clemson +4000

Sportsbook Liability

The biggest liability left on the board is Duke. They were the sportsbook’s second largest liability as reported by Dave Mason at BetOnline.ag

UConn and Tennessee are the #5 and #6 biggest liability, respectively. If any other team wins the tournament the sportsbook is in the black in regards to futures wagers.