2020-21 College Basketball Betting
Is this the year Gonzaga finally breaks through to win a national championship? The Bulldogs appear to be the team to beat heading into this year’s March Madness. Gonzaga finished the regular season at 24-0 to be the nation’s lone unbeaten team, and the Bulldogs have beaten more than just their West Coast Conference counterparts. Mark Few’s team has knocked off Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa, and Virginia along the way and is a lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the 22nd straight season. Gonzaga will be a No. 1 seed for the third time in four years and is the current favorite to win it all.
2020-2021 NCAA Championship Game - Lucas Oil Stadium
Monday, April 5 - 9:20 PM ET
Baylor Bears +4
Gonzaga Bulldogs -4
Total 159
There are two real contenders that Gonzaga must overcome in order to win the national championship. Baylor and Michigan are currently ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the nation, and both teams are very likely to earn a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The Bears are the second favorite behind Gonzaga. Baylor didn’t lose a game until falling on the road to Kansas at the end of February, and they might have the best guards in the country. Macio Teague and Jared Butler have done an excellent job under Scott Drew. Baylor was supposed to take on Gonzaga earlier this season, but the game was called off due to COVID. That deprived us of a potential title game showdown.
Juwan Howard’s second season at Michigan has been great. The Wolverines are 18-1 heading into the final week of the regular season, and they have already clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season title. Michigan wasn’t tested in non-conference play, but the Wolverines beat Wisconsin twice and Ohio State and Iowa once each this year. Their only loss was to Minnesota back in mid-January.
Three of college basketball’s blue bloods have had very disappointing seasons and may not make the NCAA Tournament. Duke, North Carolina, and Kentucky are all really struggling, and the Tar Heels are the only team that has a decent chance of even qualifying for March Madness. That has led to consternation among those fanbases, even if this is the weirdest season in recent memory. Instead, the two teams atop the ACC and SEC are traditional football powers in Florida State and Alabama.
NCAA Tournament History
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 barring any changes to the current format there will be 68 teams vying to win the national championship in 2021. Being a No. 1 seed gives a team a huge advantage, and ten of the last 13 national champions entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
NCAA Basketball Teams
Log into BookMaker Sportsbook and get the best Basketball Betting Odds, Basketball Betting Articles and information about this and all other sports betting events!
