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2019-20 NCAA Basketball Betting
The 2019-2020 college basketball season begins on November 5, 2019. The Virginia Cavaliers won the NCAA basketball title last year, but they will start the season as somewhat of a longshot to win the title this season, with odds of +2500. They are well behind some of the top teams in the betting odds, as Michigan State, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky are listed at single-digit odds. Many of the top teams will have elite freshmen that are one-and-done, but that is the new normal in college hoops.
College basketball’s first major tournament took place in 1938. Then, the National Invitational Tournament brought six of the best teams from around the country to Madison Square Garden to compete for an unofficial national championship. Temple won that very first competition, and the following year the NCAA decided to get it on the action.
For the next two decades, the NCAA and NIT tournaments were on the same level in terms of prestige and quality of teams. However, from 1960 to the present day, the tournament that teams care about is the one hosted by the NCAA.
The tournament field continues to expand, and this year there will be 68 teams vying to win the national championship. Being a No. 1 seed gives a team a huge advantage, and ten of the last 13 national championship winners have entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
Top Contenders
The Michigan State Spartans begin the 2019-2020 college basketball season as the favorite to win the title. They are listed just in front of Duke, Kansas and Kentucky. The Spartans return three starters from last year’s team that made the Final Four including All-American point guard Cassius Winston. They also have one of the top coaches in the country in Tom Izzo. It also doesn’t hurt their cause that the other top teams in the Big Ten, Michigan, Wisconsin and Purdue all look to have taken a step back.
Some of the one-and-one teams look a little bit weaker than normal this season. The freshmen class for Duke, Kansas and Kentucky is not quite as strong as in recent seasons. The Blue Devils top newcomers this season are Vernon Carey and Matthew Hurt. The Jayhawks didn’t win the Big 12 for the first time since 2003-04 a year ago, but they bring a lot of players back. They also have some new players coming in but none are five-star recruits.
One team that did do well in recruiting is North Carolina. The Tar Heels got point guard Cole Anthony and another top recruit in Armando Bacot, so North Carolina could have some value in college basketball future odds.
One darkhorse to keep an eye on is Memphis, as they have two five-star recruits in James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa. There is no question that Memphis brings in one of the top recruiting classes in the country for coach Penny Hardaway. Also, don’t sleep on Oregon who has two five-star recruits in CJ Walker and N’Faly Dante. The Ducks made the Sweet 16 last season and nearly beat Virginia.
NCAA Basketball Teams
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