Updated Odds to Win the NCAA Basketball Championship – March 26th

And then there were four. It was just a couple of weeks ago that we had 68 teams set to compete for the NCAA men’s basketball championship, but since then, we’ve seen 64 of them fall by the wayside. Top seeds Virginia and Xavier didn’t make it past the first weekend, and we still have an 11-seed sticking around in the Final Four, as Sister Jean and her Loyola-Chicago Ramblers are heading to San Antonio to join Villanova, Michigan and Kansas in the Final Four. Check out the latest NCAA Basketball Championship odds for each team to cut down the nets at the end of the tournament on Monday night, with our perspective on each team’s chances.

Updated Odds to Win the NCAA Basketball Championship – March 26th

The #FinalFour is set! See you in San Antonio! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/K4ZsjNGFJ8

— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 25, 2018

• Villanova: EVEN
• Michigan: 5/2
• Kansas: 3/1
• Loyola-Chicago: 12/1

Game Schedule

Saturday, March 31

• Michigan vs Loyola-Chicago (6:09pm ET, TBS)
• Villanova vs Kansas (8:49pm ET, TBS)

Monday, April 2

• Semifinal Winner #1 vs Semifinal Winner #2 (9:20pm ET, TBS)

The skinny on Michigan starts with their defense — of the four remaining teams, theirs might be the most solid. They did limit Florida State to just 31% shooting from the floor in the Elite Eight matchup on Saturday. Nine of every ten Seminoles shots were contested, and if the Wolverines apply that sort of pressure against the Ramblers, Loyola-Chicago’s Cinderella story could come to a quick end on Saturday night. The Wolverines’ main flaw is their inconsistent performance on offense. They made almost 60 percent of their shots from downtown against Texas A&M but made fewer than a fifth of them against Florida State. In the Big Ten Championship, their offense looked unstoppable, but in the NCAA tournament, they have averaged over a point per possession in just one of their four contests, and that was the rout of the Aggies.

Does Loyola-Chicago really have a chance?

Well, they haven’t won their four tournament games by chance — although their three buzzer-beaters have certainly helped. They took Kansas State to the woodshed in the Elite Eight, though, and they have terrific numbers for the season. Their defense ranks in the top 20 in the nation, and they have made over 40 percent of their shots from downtown. Their starting guards, Clayton Custer and Ben Richardson, can get to the rim and demand extra attention from opposing defenders, and when they’re inside the arc, they shoot more than 60 percent. It’s important to remember, though, that no 11-seed has ever won an NCAA tournament. They will face a Michigan team (and, if they get by them, the Kansas-Villanova winner) — teams that are stocked with talent that will head to the NBA. Names like Moritz Wagner, Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson all have talent that the Ramblers didn’t see in Missouri Valley Conference play. The Ramblers don’t have any players at that level, and that gap should show. Kansas has a case for winning that begins with Malik Newman. In the seven games that Kansas has played since their first game in the Big 12 Tournament, he has led the team in scoring six times. He has made 55 percent of his shots from downtown. He put up 32 against Duke, including all 13 Jayhawk points in overtime. With three tough guards to keep an eye on, Villanova and the Michigan-Loyola winner will have their hands full. Udoka Azubuike is the key to Kansas’ hopes. According to ESPN.com’s player efficiency metric, he ranks seventh in the nation. However, he has picked up fouls left and right, fouling out in the last two games and getting called for four in the win over Seton Hall. He has not played over 25 minutes in any tournament game so far. If he is still on the floor in crunch time, he is a foul magnet, as he only makes 41 percent of his free throws. Dramatic moments late in the second half are what the Final Four is all about — will he rise to meet them?

And what about Villanova?

For some reason, Duke was the favorite to win the title going into the Sweet 16, but that’s a team that had to change their defense at mid-season and was riding their reputation with the sports betting public. Villanova defeated fellow 1-seed Xavier by a combined total of 40 points in two regular-season games. They put up 90 points against the frenetic defense of West Virginia. They have six different players shooting 39 percent or better from downtown. Even when their offense is sputtering, as was the case against Texas Tech on Sunday, they can play lockdown defense — and they contested 86 percent of the Red Raiders’ shots in rolling to a 12-point win. Villanova is in the Final Four with three other teams who can play small-ball — and that wasn’t the case when they won it all two seasons ago. Everyone has quick guards, everyone can drain big shots, and everyone can play lockdown defense. So while Villanova is your favorite, as we’ve seen this year, the blue bloods of college basketball have a huge task in winning each game, and beating Kansas and then the other semifinal winner will be a huge task for these Wildcats.