March Madness Odds: Gonzaga Still The Favorite For 2022 Tournament

Though teams are now well into the third month of the college basketball season, there’s still plenty of time to find some value when betting on March Madness odds.

According to the best college basketball betting sites, the Gonzaga Bulldogs (+500) are still the favorites to cut down the nets in March and finally win their first championship in program history. 

Behind the Bulldogs in March Madness odds are the defending champion Baylor Bears (+1000), the Duke Blue Devils (+1000), the Auburn Tigers (+1000) and the Arizona Wildcats (+1100) to round out the top five teams.

Make sure to track the latest college basketball odds and learn how to bet on college basketball if this is your first time. These pages will be helpful when making your wager on NCAA Tournament odds. If you’re more interested in where everyone gets drafted, Odds Shark’s NBA news is where you can find all of those answers.

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Who Will Win The 2022 March Madness Tournament?

Odds as of January 24 at BetOnline Sportsbook

Why Is Gonzaga The Favorite In 2022 March Madness Odds?

Although their hopes for an undefeated season went down the drain, the Gonzaga Bulldogs should hold their heads up high after a 2020-21 season in which they had a chance to achieve greatness. The bad news for the Bulldogs, other than losing the title game, is that key players Jalen Suggs and Corey Kispert, who were such important parts of what made Gonzaga go last season, departed for the NBA.

However, the good news is the Zags returned some high-end talent in forward Drew Timme and guard Andrew Nembhard while also nabbing the second five-star recruit in program history in Hunter Sallis to go along with the No. 1 player in the 2021 recruiting class, center Chet Holmgren. 

Timme and Holmgren have formed a formidable duo so far this season, averaging 18.8 and 13.6 points respectively to lead the team. Gonzaga is 15-2 and ranked No. 2 in the nation at the moment with their only hiccups coming vs No. 24 Alabama and No. 8 Duke.

Teams To Watch In March Madness Odds

Purdue Boilermakers (+1200)

The Boilermakers were a team full of freshmen last season and earned a No. 4 seed in the tournament. This season, they return a loaded roster with tournament experience and a couple of the best players in the nation in big man Trevion Williams and guard Jaden Ivey, a likely lottery pick.

Ivey has led the way in terms of scoring for the Boilermakers this season, averaging 16.7 points along with 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game. 

This team was at +1400 just before the season started and is down to +1200 after a 16-3 start. Purdue’s only losses have come to No. 13 Wisconsin, Indiana and in a shocking defeat at Rutgers. They are ranked sixth in the nation.

Alabama Crimson Tide (+4500)

’Bama has one of the most talented groups of guards in the nation with Keon Ellis, Jaden Shackelford and Jahvon Quinerly all playing the position and being the top three scorers on the team.

We loved this team as a long-shot bet to win it all at +3300 at one point and they got down to +2000 after a 9-2 start, including that huge win over Gonzaga. But losses to Davidson, Memphis, Mississippi State and Missouri over the last couple of weeks have hurt their national ranking (now outside the top 25) while restoring some value to this bet. The schedule doesn’t get much easier for ’Bama, which plays No. 5 Baylor and No. 2 Auburn over the next couple of weeks, but they did just beat No. 13 LSU.

We like this as a long-shot bet.

Favorite March Madness Value Pick: UCLA Bruins (+2200)

UCLA is ranked No. 7 in the nation at 13-2 with its only losses coming against Gonzaga and Oregon.

The Bruins have a great mix of talent and experience after losing in the Final Four as an 11 seed last season to the Zags. 

But the team looks to be even better this season, especially defensively, after adding five-star freshman Peyton Watson and big man Myles Johnson in a transfer from Rutgers. But it is potential future NBA lottery pick Johnny Juzang leading the way in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game for the Bruins.

We liked this team at +900 a month or so ago, but that early loss to Gonzaga had their odds double to +1800. Those odds have grown to +2200 despite the team not playing between December 11 and January 6 due to COVID-19 cancellations.

The Bruins were the No. 3 team in the nation last week and moved to No. 7 despite winning all three of their games in that span. +2200 is fantastic value for this team.

What Are March Madness Odds?

To understand March Madness odds, you first need to understand the annual championship tournament played for NCAA college basketball. Each year in March, 68 of the best teams in NCAA basketball qualify for a winner-take-all tournament that determines the national champion.

The field is reduced to 64 after four play-in games, leaving four regions of 16 teams, seeded 1 through 16 by a voting committee based on their regular-season and conference tournament results. The No. 1 seed plays the No. 16 seed, the 2 seed plays the 15 seed, the 3 seed plays the 14 seed, and so on. If you lose, you’re out of the tournament. If you win, you advance to the next round with the goal of winning six straight games to win the NCAA championship.

The NCAA basketball odds to win the championship, or March Madness odds, are determined by oddsmakers with online sportsbooks with the odds implying a certain probability of a team being able to win the entire tournament.

For example, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are the top seed among the 68 teams, which means they are the March Madness favorites according to oddsmakers. With Gonzaga’s +210 odds to win the NCAA Tournament, these odds imply that the Bulldogs have a 32.3 percent chance to win the tourney. For a favorite, those aren’t great odds.

The reason is that it’s very hard to win six games in a row in this type of survive-and-advance scenario. So many factors come into play for oddsmakers to consider when it comes to NCAA basketball odds to win the championship.

Understanding The Odds To Win The NCAA Tournament

If you’re a first-time bettor in NCAA basketball odds to win the championship, the way the March Madness odds are listed can be confusing for new bettors not used to American betting odds.

After you’ve signed up at an online sportsbook that offers odds to win the NCAA Tournament, you’ll see NCAA championship odds listed like this:

The odds indicate what it would pay out if one of these teams were to win six straight games in the NCAA Tournament and win the national championship. Unlike a straight-up bet, or a moneyline bet, where there is a clear favorite represented by the minus sign (-), the team with the lowest odds would be the March Madness favorite. In this case, it’s Gonzaga, and the rest are underdogs even though each team has a plus sign (+) prefacing its odds. For American odds, all potential payouts are predicated on $100 bets.

Using American odds, if you were to bet $100 on the Gonzaga Bulldogs in NCAA Tournament odds and they win, your sportsbook would return your original $100 investment and reward you with $200 in profit for your winning pick, which is $300 in total return to the bettor.

Place Your NCAAB Bets Now!

March Madness is notorious for long shots and underdogs going far in the NCAA Tournament or even winning it all. So, a team like North Carolina may entice a bettor to consider the Tar Heels with +7500 odds to win the tournament (1.3 percent implied probability). If North Carolina was to defy the odds and go on to win the NCAA Tournament with bettors placing a $100 bet on the Tar Heels, they would be rewarded with a $7,600 return – the original $100 is returned along with $7,500 in profit.

To see how much you’d win on the futures odds, check out our Odds Calculator. It’ll show you what your payout would be based on the odds and amount wagered.

What Is A Futures Bet For College Basketball?

When it comes to March Madness betting, considering college basketball lines and a school’s odds to win March Madness is a type of futures bet. This is a bet you can make weeks or even months in advance of a big event. Oddsmakers set the NCAA basketball odds early and look at a team’s past performance, injuries and coaching/roster moves.

The NCAA basketball odds to win the championship are not set in stone and will move as the tournament progresses. If you see odds you like, take them as soon as you can to avoid missing out on potential earnings/value.