Are there any holes in Duke’s game? If there are the Blue Devils have a way of patching them up quickly. Sitting at the top of the odds board to win the 2019 National Championship since Coach K landed the top recruiting class in the country, the Dookies haven’t disappointed. Sure they lost a pair of games, but otherwise the kiddie corps has delivered. And they had a defining moment last week in a win over Louisville. Falling behind by 23 points in the second half, the Devs turned on the jets, showing just how good they can be. They rallied from that deficit on the road to post an enormous victory, one their coach wasn’t even expecting.
Competing in the ACC is like playing a tournament game every week. The only difference is that the teams get to continue playing. Things change when it comes time to dance and the single elimination environment is like no other. That’s why they call it Madness, baby! At +175 Duke is the odds-on favorite to claim another title, but there are a number of quality teams capable of cutting down the nets in April.
Here are the updated college basketball national championship odds at BookMaker.eu.
Odds to win 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at BookMaker.eu
Duke +175
Gonzaga +600
Virginia +700
Kentucky +1000
Michigan +1000
Tennessee +1000
Michigan State +1500
North Carolina +1600
Nevada +2500
Purdue +3000
Kansas +3500
Iowa State +4000
Texas Tech +4000
Villanova +4000
Houston +5500
Kansas State +5500
LSU +5500
Marquette +5500
Maryland +7000
Florida State +7500
Louisville +7500
Wisconsin +8000
Virginia Tech +8500
Auburn +10000
Buffalo +10000
Syracuse +10000
Washington +10000
Iowa +12500
Cincinnati +15000
Mississippi State +15000
St. John's +20000
Texas +20000
Baylor +22500
Arizona State +25000
Ole Miss +25000
Hofstra +30000
Lipscomb +30000
N.C. State +30000
Oklahoma +30000
TCU +30000
Wofford +35000
Watching Duke’s crop of freshmen phenoms grow up has been a delight, unless you have to play against them. But they are beatable like Gonzaga and Syracuse showed. And Louisville had them on the ropes last week before letting one get away. There is no denying the talent is the best in college basketball, but Duke lacks depth and if something were to happen in a tournament game like an injury or foul trouble, they could be in trouble. And with such short odds there isn’t a lot of value in taking Duke.
Gonzaga could be the most balanced team in the country. They have size and quickness, and they can score the basketball like no other team in the land. The Zags lead the nation in scoring and field goal percentage and they play defense, too. They will get criticized for playing in a league that isn’t as strong as the ACC, and losing to Tennessee and North Carolina in the non-conference slate. But the Zags are the only team to take down a complete Duke squad and they’ve lost just twice all season.
Certain leagues and certain teams will get the benefit of the doubt come tournament time, proving there is a bias in the selections despite what the committee tells us. No way should a conference have nine teams competing in March, but that’s what we have. And the bias trickles down the odds board as well.
The beauty of the Tournament is that you just don’t know what’s going to happen. My bracket has been busted in the first weekend for the past few years. And we saw the gap close even more last season when Virginia made history by becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose in the first round. There were circumstances surrounding that defeat, but still, things are tightening up and there are several good teams out there that can beat a Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky or any of the blue bloods on any given day.
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