March Madness is formally on our doorstep, and quickly we'll have 68 groups in the 2024 guys's NCAA competition jockeying for the right to keep the UConn Huskies from duplicating as champs.
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UConn (+475 at DraftKings) is the agreement favorite, with Houston (+600) and Purdue (+750) right behind. Anything can occur in the NCAA Tournament, as we saw in last year's Final Four, which included No. 4 UConn as the greatest seed.
For The Win asked a couple of reputable gamblers about their worth bets to win the 2024 NCAA competition. Here's what they're considering.
Mike Randle, Chief Content Officer at FTN: Tennessee Volunteers (11-1)
“It's Tennessee's world and we are all simply residing in it.
“The story that head coach Rick Barnes can't win in March is exceptionally misdirected. Barnes has a 803-413 (66 percent) profession winning portion, with a Big East Tournament Championship, 2 SEC Tournament Championships and a Final Four look. He has actually discovered tremendous success in the Big East, Big 12 and SEC, the 3 most difficult basketball conferences in the country.
“The Volunteers have actually made 5 straight NCAA competitions, and reached the Sweet 16 last season, leading by 11 points over Florida Atlantic without guard Zakai Zeigler. The something Tennessee was constantly missing out on was that late-game scorer, which has actually been fixed with SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht. The Northern Colorado transfer is balancing 21.4 PPG, while shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point variety on over 6 efforts per video game.
“Tennessee has whatever we desire in a title future bet: terrific defense (3rd in KenPom), a leading 25 offense, strong at the free-throw line (75 percent), and hardly ever beats itself (initially in offending turnover portion within SEC). The Volunteers are residing in the shadow of UConn, Purdue and Houston, however whatever indicate this being the year for Barnes to silence the critics. I got this number at +1400 and I'm still on it at +1100 on DraftKings.”
Thomas Casale, College Basketball Handicapper for CBS SportsLine: Florida Gators (70-1), UNC Tar Heels (15-1)
“I took this all the method back in April in 2015 at 100-1. I do not believe the Gators will win the NCAA competition, however they are rounding into shape at the correct time. They are a terrific offending rebounding group, which is among the metrics I stress in the competition.
“I got [UNC] back when it was 30-1, however I believe this group is on a little bit of an objective after being humiliated in 2015. They got Harrison Ingram to come over from Stanford. My hope is that UNC can be on the opposite side of UConn in the bracket– the Huskies are the one group that can beat anybody at any time.”
Jason Logan, Covers.com Handicapper: Iowa State Cyclones (25-1)
“Defense is going to get groups to the Final Four,
