March Madness Odds to Win the 2023 Basketball Championship

March Madness Odds to Win the 2023 Basketball Championship

The 2023 Final Four definitely looks different this year. There are no 1-, 2- or 3-seeds left in the tournament. We have one 4-seed, two 5-seeds and a 9-seed, with Connecticut now as the heavy sports betting favorite to win out. Given how unpredictable the tournament has been to this point, choosing Connecticut doesn’t seem to offer a whole lot of value. So what makes the most sense? We have the latest March Madness odds for each of the four teams to win the title, as well as thoughts about each team’s chances.

 

NCAA News: Updated Odds to Win March Madness

 

Maybe

Connecticut

shouldn’t be as much of a surprise as we think they are in the Final Four. They did beat Alabama by 15 back in November at the Phil Knight Invitational. They also knocked Iowa State by 18 in that tournament. The Huskies won 12 of their first 14 games by at least 14 points. Big East play was more challenging, as the Huskies finished fourth in the conference. However, we see that a tournament that is allegedly missing blue bloods still has one in its midst, as Connecticut is in play for its fifth men’s basketball title since 1999. Only nine other teams have won their first four NCAA tournament games by at least 15 points; the average margin of victory so far for the Huskies has been 22.5 points, including a 28-point win over Gonzaga in the Elite Eight, the biggest victory in that round in 31 years.

San Diego State

is a rarity in today’s college basketball game in that it is a defense-first team. Since 2019, Villanova and Virginia have been the only college basketball teams to finish in the top ten in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings and also win a national championship. Memphis led the nation in this metric two years ago and couldn’t even get into the big dance. Since February 1, San Diego state leads the nation in adjusted defensive efficiency. In the third round, the Aztecs’ defense held Alabam’s Brandon Miller to 3-for-19 shooting, and he is projected to go in the top five picks of the next NBA draft. The Aztecs don’t have any real offensive stars, but will it matter?

Miami

has benefited from the synergy between Nijel Pack, who transferred in from Kansas State when he realized he couldn’t take the starting point job away from Markquis Nowell, and Isaiah Wong. After Pack transferred, he and Wong started to build chemistry in the team’s first workout. Such players as Wooga Poplar, Jordan Miller and Norchad Omier have turned the Hurricanes into a team with a stifling defense and a run-and-gun offense, a rare pairing. The Hurricanes were down 14 to Texas in their Elite Eight matchup, but the Hurricanes were able to make adjustments, make big shots, and finish the comeback.

Florida Atlantic

did benefit from the fact that no 1-seeds even made the Elite Eight. It looked like they weren’t going to get out of the first round, as they trailed Memphis by seven with 10:01 left in regulation. In the second round, they were deadlocked with 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson in the second half. They had to come back to beat Tennessee (the team with the nation’s top defense), and they had to come back to beat Kansas State. Their leading scorer (Johnell Davis) only puts up 17.2 points per game, so this isn’t really an offensive juggernaut. But they keep winning. Can they take it all?

 
 
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