Wednesday night features some big upsets in college basketball, starting with SMU’s takedown of #6 Houston in Dallas. Houston had built a 15-point lead in the second half, but SMU came all the way back behind 22 points from Kendric Davis and 20 points from Marcus Weathers, taking an 85-82 lead with 24.1 seconds left. Houston’s Kyler Edwards got bailed out by the officials on a midcourt heave, as some incidental contact ended up with Edwards getting three free throws. He missed the first, though, sinking the second before sending the third whizzing to the rim. A Houston lane violation gave the ball back to SMU, who was able to run off the remaining time. SMU continued a trend of slow starts in crucial games under head coach Tim Jankovich, as Houston started the game with an 11-0 run, but the players were able to battle back. Other upsets included #9 Texas Tech losing at Oklahoma by 15 and #16 Ohio State falling by two at Rutgers.
Let’s take a look at the latest college basketball betting odds for contending teams to win a national championship.
NCAA News: Updated Men’s College Basketball Championship Odds
| Team | Odds |
|---|---|
| Gonzaga | 500 |
| Auburn | 800 |
| Purdue | 900 |
| Duke, Arizona, Kentucky | 1000 |
| Baylor | 1200 |
| Kansas | 1400 |
| UCLA, Villanova | 1800 |
| Illinois | 2000 |
| Texas Tech | 2500 |
| Houston | 3000 |
| Michigan State, Alabama, Texas | 4000 |
| Ohio State, Tennessee, Wisconsin | 5000 |
| Providence, Marquette | 6600 |
| Arkansas, Xavier | 8000 |
| Michigan, Memphis, North Carolina, Indiana, Iowa, Oregon, Miami (FL) | 10000 |
| Iowa State, BYU | 12500 |
| Seton Hall, Loyola-Chicago, Florida, Florida State | 15000 |
| St. Bonaventure, Oklahoma | 20000 |
The college basketball elite has shrunk a bit. Sure, Auburn and Gonzaga remain at the top of the odds list, even though Kentucky looks better than either one of them right now. Duke and Purdue are playing solid ball, and Kansas and Arizona bounced back with authority after tough losses. That’s seven teams – after that, things open up considerably. Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas Tech have started to figure things out a bit but need to show more consistency before we take them seriously as contenders. Villanova and UCLA also have high ceilings but have a difficult time putting together complete games against other contenders. Houston has put up some great numbers but only has one Quad 1 victory, and that loss at SMU shows that, just perhaps, Kelvin Sampson’s bunch is overrated once again.
Looking for a sleeper? Consider Wyoming. The Cowboys have a record of 19-3 (8-1 Mountain West Conference), but this past week was particularly impressive. They beat Colorado State, the MWC favorite, in overtime; the Rams had been 16-2 to start the week. Hunter Maldonado had a monster night, putting up 35 points and dishing out seven assists. Then they beat Boise State, the MWC leader, giving the Broncos their first conference loss of the season. They wrapped things up with a two-pint win at Fresno State, giving the Bulldogs just their second home loss of the year. Those aren’t elite teams, but the distance between programs at the mid-major and Power 5 level is significantly smaller than it is in football.
What happened to Baylor? They just took a 24-point thrashing at Kansas, a game tha the Jayhawks led by as many as 34 points. Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun were typically dominant, and Jalen Wilson put up 15 points, hitting double digits for the fifth time in his last seven games. This was the seventh-largest loss by a defending national champion since 2000, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Injuries are catching up to the Bears, and they need healthy contributors to do well in March.
College Basketball Betting Odds
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