NCAA Tournament Odds For Opening Games

Published|Updated

My favorite thing to do when the tournament match up's are released is go straight to the offshore sites and wait to see how many underdogs relative to seeding end up favorites to win. It's a cheap trick that I picked up a long time ago, a way to score some points in your tourney pool without being a slave to seed lines. It's picking upsets without actually picking upsets. 

I bolded all the seeded underdogs who are favorited to win in the first round. The biggest seed differential vs. expected outcome is that 11 seed Texas is a one point favorite over six seed Butler. Ten seed Ohio State is also favored over seven seed VCU.

I plan on betting on all of these first and second round games again this season, and if some of you guys and girls are out in Las Vegas this week for the tourney, come see us broadcast live from the Westgate Sports Book, it's the old Las Vegas Hilton. I'll be there with Todd Fuhrman and Andy Roddick Wednesday thru Sunday night.

It should be pretty fun and I look forward to meeting some of you.  

Without further ado, here are the odds.

Get rich, or die trying. 

Play-in Games

Manhattan -7.5 vs Hampton

BYU -2.5 vs. Ole Miss

North Florida -2 vs. Robert Morris

Dayton -3.5 vs. Boise State

NCAA Tourney Games

Arkansas -6.5 vs. Wofford

UNC -9 vs. Harvard

Baylor -7.5 vs. Georgia State

Xavier -1.5 vs. BYU or Ole Miss

Notre Dame -12 vs. Northeastern

Texas -1 vs. Butler

Villanova -22.5 vs. Lafayette

NC State -1.5 vs. LSU

Purdue -1 vs. Cincinnati

Iowa State -12.5 vs. UAB

SMU -3 vs. UCLA

Utah -6 vs Stephen Austin

Georgetown -7.5 vs. Eastern Washington

Arizona -22.5 vs. Texas Southern

Ohio State -2.5 vs. VCU

Virginia -16.5 vs. Belmont

Michigan State -4.5 vs. Georgia

San Diego State -2.5 vs. Saint John's

West Virginia -4 vs. Buffalo

Maryland -4.5 vs. Valparaiso

Oklahoma -12.5 vs. Albany

Kansas -11.5 vs. New Mexico State

Wichita State -5.5 vs. Indiana

Wisconsin -19.5 vs. Coastal Carolina

Oklahoma State vs. Oregon pick'em

Northern Iowa -7 vs. Wyoming

Louisville -8.5 vs. UC-Irvine

Gonzaga -17 vs. North Dakota State

Iowa -2 vs. Davidson

 

 

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Clay Travis is the founder of the fastest growing national multimedia platform, OutKick, that produces and distributes engaging content across sports and pop culture to millions of fans across the country. OutKick was created by Travis in 2011 and sold to the Fox Corporation in 2021. One of the most electrifying and outspoken personalities in the industry, Travis hosts OutKick The Show where he provides his unfiltered opinion on the most compelling headlines throughout sports, culture, and politics. He also makes regular appearances on FOX News Media as a contributor providing analysis on a variety of subjects ranging from sports news to the cultural landscape. Throughout the college football season, Travis is on Big Noon Kickoff for Fox Sports breaking down the game and the latest storylines. Additionally, Travis serves as a co-host of The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, a three-hour conservative radio talk program syndicated across Premiere Networks radio stations nationwide. Previously, he launched OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio that included interviews and listener interactions and was on Fox Sports Bet for four years. Additionally, Travis started an iHeartRadio Original Podcast called Wins & Losses that featured in-depth conversations with the biggest names in sports. Travis is a graduate of George Washington University as well as Vanderbilt Law School. Based in Nashville, he is the author of Dixieland Delight, On Rocky Top, and Republicans Buy Sneakers Too.