Updated 2019 College Basketball Championship Odds – March 14th

Gonzaga had finally made it to #1 in the national rankings and entered the West Coast Conference tournament finals against St. Mary’s, whom the Bulldogs had beaten twice easily in conference play. All the Gaels did was hold Gonzaga to 47 points by slowing the pace of the game to a crawl and making it hard for Gonzaga to find shots. So when people talk about Gonzaga’s high-octane offense (which it has been, for the most part) all of a sudden we have a blueprint for other coaches with much better defenses than that of St. Mary’s to follow. We’re just around the corner from Selection Sunday, followed by the opening weekend of March Madness. We have the latest betting odds to win the 2019 college basketball championship as well as our thoughts about some likely choices.

Updated 2019 College Basketball Championship Odds – March 14th

College basketball power rankings: Virginia reigns, Gonzaga slips as Selection Sunday looms https://t.co/D9prrFGcvm pic.twitter.com/N4PFK6l926

— SportsRadio 740 (@SportsRadio_740) 14 de marzo de 2019

Contender Odds to Win the 2019 College Basketball Championship

• Duke                                                                                                               +210
• Gonzaga, Virginia                                                                                         +800
• Kentucky                                                                                                        +900
• North Carolina, Tennessee                                                                          +1100
• Michigan                                                                                                        +1200
• Michigan State                                                                                              +1400
• Nevada                                                                                                           +2500
• Kansas                                                                                                           +2800
• Texas Tech                                                                                                    +3500
• Iowa State, LSU, Wisconsin                                                                        +4000
• Houston, Marquette                                                                                      +5000
• Auburn, Purdue, Villanova                                                                          +5500
• Mississippi State, Virginia Tech                                                                 +7000
• Buffalo                                                                                                           +7500
• Florida State, Kansas State, Louisville, Syracuse                                    +8000
• North Carolina State                                                                                     +9500
• Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, Ohio State                                                       +10000

Virginia

It’s a tempting betting option once again. They still have that lockdown defense from a year ago, permitting just 54.1 points per game. They only lost two games in the regular season, both to a Duke team with Zion Williamson. Their offense has taken off lately, as they have put in almost 78 points per game over their last three contests. When they beat Syracuse on March 4, they drained 18 three-balls, including 8 for 10 by Kyle Guy. You may be asking why you should consider a Cavaliers team that choked against Maryland-Baltimore County in last year’s tournament, the first 1-seed ever to lose in the opening round. In that game, Maryland-Baltimore County was on fire from the outside, and Virginia’s offense was built to operate at a crawl. Now they have De’Andre Hunter, who along with Guy and Ty Jerome are all shooting 42 percent or better from downtown.

Duke

They will apparently have Zion Williamson back for the ACC Tournament, and if his knee is healed and he is ready to play at a high level, Duke once again becomes the scariest team in college basketball. Their transition game is elite, and when their outside shots aren’t falling, they can get to the rim. They have five losses on the season, but only one with Zion and the full lineup, and that was a two-point setback to Gonzaga. With that said, Duke is dreadful from downtown (30.6 percent, but 35.3 percent away from home). The key will be shutting down Duke’s interior game and making the Blue Devils win with the jump shot. RJ Barrett and Williamson both make fewer than two-thirds of their free throws, another possible problem late in games.

Gonzaga

These guys looks great on the basis of numbers. They scored at least 1.00 points per possession in all 31 of their regular season games. Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke make one of the best starting frontcourts in the nation. They score 127.6 adjusted points per 100 possessions (taking into consideration the strength of the opponent), according to kenpom. Gonzaga’s defense is ranked 15th in the nation…but a lot of those big performances have come against West Coast Conference teams. When they played the likes of Washington, Tennessee, North Carolina, Creighton and Duke in the nonconference season, they gave up at least 1.12 points per possession in each matchup. They lost to North Carolina by 13 despite scoring 90 points. Does Gonzaga have the defense to stop elite competition? I don’t think so.

Michigan State

They won a share of the Big Ten (along with Purdue), and Nick Ward will return for the postseason (although Joshua Langford will not). The Spartans beat Michigan twice in conference play and are one of three teams in the nation that rank in the top ten in terms of offensive and defensive efficiency. Cassius Winston is not only an elite point guard in terms of distribution but also shoots the three-ball at a 41.3 percent clip. However, the Spartans lost to Illinois and got swept by Indiana. Turnovers can pop up at just the wrong time for Tom Izzo’s crew, and the Spartans will have to crash the offensive boards every possession.