And just like that, there were only four teams left. Of the 68 teams that started March Madness a couple of weeks ago, we have two 1-seeds (Gonzaga and Baylor), a 2-seed (Houston) and an 11-seed (UCLA). In fact, UCLA had to play an extra game as one of the First Four teams — and no First Four team other than VCU, in 2011, had ever advanced to a Final Four before the Bruins did it. The sports betting odds to win the national championship look fairly heavily stilted in Gonzaga’s favor, and if you look at the way they’ve been winning, there is some sense to this — not to mention the heavy action in favor of the Bulldogs.
Let’s take a closer look college basketball odds of the four teams that remain standing in the Big Dance.
NCAA News: Updated Men’s Basketball National Championship Odds
Team Odds
Gonzaga -250
Baylor +230
Houston +500
UCLA +1600
UCLA is the strangest of the four teams that remain. Their style is far from the poetic ambiance that the Bruins exuded under John Wooden, during their years as a dynasty. When they beat Michigan, 51-49, in the Elite Eight, a trend became even clearer than it had been in earlier wins — the Bruins play a smothering type of defense that frustrates opponents and leaves them with few shooting options. Michigan star Franz Wagner had two buzzer-beater looks in the last minute of the game, and he threw up an air ball on one and clanked the other off the backboard, making just 1 of 10 shots in the game. These Bruins are coached by Mick Cronin, who made Cincinnati into a similar team, playing grinding basketball that focuses on physical, swarming defense rather than a more elegant offense; in the win over Michigan, the teams combined to make a total of six three-pointers, Michigan missed nine layups in the second half due to harassment from the Bruin defenders. UCLA has become the first team to win four games in one NCAA tournament in which their opponents shot better from the floor than they did. So while UCLA continues to look like they have no business playing basketball at this level, they just keep winning. Their next task will be even more daunting: applying the same series of wrenches to the workings of the Gonzaga offense.
Speaking of Gonzaga, the Bulldogs demolished USC in the Elite Eight by 19 points, so it’s not as though moving from West Coast Conference competition to the best teams in the land has done much to the team’s competitive balance. During the regular season, Gonzaga won by an average of 23.2 points, and their average margin of victory so far in four NCAA tournament games has been 24.0. Their last close game happened in December. Villanova is the last team to show anything like this level of dominance, as they won the title three years ago and won each game by double digits in the tournament. Going into the Final Four, though, their aggregate margin of victory was 73 points. Gonzaga’s? 96. It’s been since 1996 that a team went to the Final Four with a larger aggregate margin of victory, and that was a Kentucky team that was given the nickname “The Untouchables.”
Houston is back in the Final Four for the first time in 37 seasons. They made the championship game in both 1983 and 1984, and lost both times. In the tournament, they have put up 69.8 points per game, with Marcus Sasser leading the way. His 20-point performance helped the Cougars take down Oregon State in the Elite Eight, although the Beavers’ use of the 1-3-1 defense almost confused Houston to the point where they let a huge lead slip away. The Cougars win because of the intrepid rebounding (they got 19 offensive boards against Oregon State — the 1-3-1 defense moves the center out to the free-throw line, making it almost impossible to box out) and solid defense. They join UCLA as another gritty team that has somehow made it all the way to the Final Four.
Baylor is the next team in Houston’s path. They last made a Final Four in 1950; they played for a national championship in 1948 but fell to Kentucky. The Bears in 2021 make their living with an intrepid offense that is almost as high-flying as Gonzaga’s. Macio Teague put up 22 points, and Davion Mitchell added a dozen in the Bears’ win over Arkansas in the Elite Eight. Baylor’s elite outside shooting is one reason they have won so many games this season, and they should be able to run right by Houston in their semifinal game, but if Houston’s season had ended when many observers thought it “should” have, they might not even have made the NCAA tournament at all.
College Basketball Betting Odds
Love betting NCAA basketball? | Xbet Sportsbook offers up to date college basketball lines
