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 groups reaching the Final 4.


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


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


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


That stated, Marshall stated it's not that different from last season in which just a few teams have a reasonable chance to win it all.


The NCAA selection committee also appeared to get many of the first-round matches right, a minimum of if passing the chances. There are only 2 favorites that are the lower-seeded teams, a pair of 8-9 matchups with Utah State favored by 2 1/2 points over Villanova and Iowa by the very same number over Clemson.


"We ´ re expecting a fairly 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 gap between the top programs and the rest of the field. From a betting perspective, we ´ re forecasting 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. 1s to win the 2025 title, however there is no sneaking up on this year ´ s field.


"UConn has been extremely dominant, winning 29 straight games by double digits," Berbert stated. "It ´ s one of the more amazing runs we ´ ve seen in recent memory, which supremacy is reflected in their current title rate of -280. ... In our view, UCLA provides the greatest potential difficulty, however overall, it ´ s hard to see lots of groups standing in UConn ´ s way if they continue dipping into this level."


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


Duke endured two scares in winning the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, beating Florida State by a point and by 4 in the title game.


Arizona had the very best week of the front runners however had 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 generally doesn't matter," Marshall said. "Teams that lose in the conference competitions often wind up winning the entire thing. It may not be the very best thing to play 3, 4 days in a row in the week before the competition, so I don't read too much into it."


Bettors frequently look beyond the favorites in hopes of getting a bigger payout by striking on a group that gets hot.


Johnny Avello, sports operations director for DraftKings Sportsbook, stated he is seeing UConn and Arkansas. DraftKings lists the Huskies at 30-1 odds and the Razorbacks at 60-1 despite the fact that Arkansas won the Southeastern Conference Tournament.


"In the future book, there are a few clear favorites at the top of the board, however there ´ s also a lot of worth in the middle of the pack," Avello said. "Bettors can still find attractive rates on groups that have revealed they can play at a high level this season."


It's nearly 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, listed 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 said he could see Akron and McNeese pulling the upsets.


"I do not think St. John's will lose to Northern Iowa," said 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 kind of enjoyable to watch."


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