North Carolina, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Syracuse NCAA Tournament Odds
In the South Region, the top four seeds are the top four favorites to win in the exact seeding order. This is not the case with the North and West regions where UCLA and Wake Forest are bigger favorites than their seeding would suggest.
While The North Carolina Tar Heels are favorites to win the South Region, Louisville and Pittsburgh are around a quarter of a point more favored to win their respective regions. North Carolina, however, is the favorite to win the 2009 NCAA Tournament Championship, paying $300 for every $100 bet at Sportsinteraction.com. Oklahoma odds of winning the region were set at +450. Gonzaga had odds of +650 and Syracuse had odds of +800.
More interesting in this region was that number seven seed, Clemson, had better odds of winning than the number five seed, Illinois. In fact, Arizona State also had better odds than Illinois as the number six seed.
"The top 8 seeds were expected to beat their opponents in the first round," Gambling911.com's Don Shapiro points out. "Beyond this point was a different story as the oddsmakers pretty much had little faith in Illinois getting far while Clemson probably stood the best chance of an upset in this region. In other words, the oddsmakers don't recommend Illinois for a deep bracket."
Aside from North Carolina, Oklahoma was among the top 10 most likely teams to win the Championship with odds of +2000 for a payout potential of $2000 on every $100 bet at Sportsinteraction.com.
Gonzaga was the 9th most likely team to win the final according to oddsmakers. They were listed at +2500.
$12 billion is expected to be wagered on the 2009 March Madness.
Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
