One similarity between this past college football season and the current college basketball season is the difficulty in handicapping teams — and determining which are truly the best in the nation. It seems clear that the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Baylor Bears are a step above the rest, but Gonzaga is working its way through an easy West Coast Conference schedule and Baylor keeps having to shut down for a week or two for COVID-19 cases. Many of the typical blue bloods in basketball — Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Syracuse, Arizona, and the like — are having unusually poor seasons, and the lack of meaningful non-conference action in a shortened season has meant that we have to rely on conference reputation, which did not really help produce a meaningful football championship.
We have the latest contender odds to win the men’s college basketball title (80/1 or better) along with our thoughts on some of the top teams as you consider your sports betting on NCAA futures.
NCAA News: Updated Men’s College Basketball Title Odds
Contender Odds (+8000 and better)
| Gonzaga, Baylor | +300 |
| Michigan | +700 |
| Villanova | +1100 |
| Houston, Ohio State, Texas | +1400 |
| Florida State | +1600 |
| Iowa, Illinois | +1800 |
| Alabama, Texas Tech, Virginia, Wisconsin | +2000 |
| Creighton, Tennessee | +2200 |
| West Virginia, USC | +2500 |
| Missouri, UCLA | +3000 |
| Kansas, Louisville | +3500 |
| Loyola-Chicago, Oklahoma | +4000 |
| Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Connecticut, LSU, Marquette, North Carolina, Oregon, Saint Louis, San Diego State, SMU, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Xavier | +5000 |
| Arizona State, Arkansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, Purdue, Utah State | +6600 |
| BYU, Clemson, Drake, Duke, Kentucky, Memphis | +8000 |
Gonzaga has earned its slot atop the national rankings and the odds list, having beaten Kansas, West Virginia, Virginia and Iowa. They were set to meet Baylor before COVID-19 issues forced that postponement. If they can figure out a day to reschedule that game, we will get a true test of #1 vs #2, but for now, the Bulldogs are a deserving #1. Once they come out of that West Coast Conference schedule, though, can they really win what would be four games in a row against elite competition, starting in the Sweet 16?
Baylor is the nation’s other unbeaten, but they have an interesting problem ahead of them because of the many Big 12 games they have had to postpone. They have two games yet to play against West Virginia, and they have games against Texas Tech and Oklahoma as well. Each of those games could scuttle that perfect season, and playing a tightly compressed schedule ahead of March Madness could take some gas out of their tank at just the wrong time in the season.
Michigan emerged from a two-week shutdown of the school’s entire athletic program due to COVID-19 spread with a seven-point win on Sunday against Wisconsin. Right now, thanks to their success in the Big Ten, they have a shot at a top seed in the men’s basketball tournament, as they are coming through a gauntlet in conference play.
Villanova has dropped two out of their last four Big East games, losing to St. John’s and then winning twice before getting walloped at Creighton, who used an onslaught of three-pointers to overwhelm the Wildcats in the win. The Wildcats have missed a lot of time due to COVID-19 cases, going almost a month without playing during December and January, so they are still looking to build consistency ahead of the Big East Tournament.
Ohio State is one of a few impressive Big Ten teams who have shown some inconsistency, but lately they have beaten Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa — all ranked in the top 15 when they met. Illinois is also in that mix, as they have wins over Wisconsin and Iowa. They still have shots at Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State, so they can burnish that resume.
Virginia might be the class of the ACC at this point, but that loss to Virginia Tech added some questions. They only have beaten one ranked team all season long. Another team in that same boat is Houston, with just the win over Texas Tech as their only victory against a ranked opponent. Virginia has some solid shooters to go along with their typically stout defense, and Houston can defend and rebound well, but without more games against quality opposition, it is hard to say how far they would go.
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