2023 NCAA Tournament Betting - College Basketball Odds

2023 NCAA Tournament Online Betting

When you look at the 2023 National Championship odds, you see the four No. 1 seeds all listed as the favorites to win the title. That makes sense given the traditional dominance that No. 1 seeds have during March Madness, but one of those teams is a side that you should avoid betting on in the NCAA Tournament.

Although Purdue has the likely Naismith Award winner in Zach Edey, the Boilermakers are going to find every round difficult after the first round. The Boilermakers will likely play Memphis in the second round and either Duke or Tennessee looms in the Sweet 16. The Blue Devils’ star freshmen have been coming along over the season and led Duke to an ACC Tournament title, and the Boilermakers’ freshmen backcourt would have major problems with the Volunteers’ defense. That makes it likely that Purdue is the first No. 1 seed knocked off.

Along those lines, it’s best to avoid UCLA for now even though the Bruins are the best No. 2 seed on the board. They would have been a real title contender if Adem Bona and Jaylen Clark were able to stay healthy, but Clark tore his ACL and Bona is dealing with a shoulder injury that will likely keep him out for at least the first weekend.

If you are looking for longshots to like, a lot of people have already jumped on Duke for good reason, and there is a lot to like with Baylor too. The Bears sputtered down the stretch, but they have the second-best offense in the country per Ken Pomeroy and they have their top interior defender back in the lineup.

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2023 NCAA Tournament Schedule

NCAA Tournament First Four

Tuesday, March 14

No. 16 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks at No. 16 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (-4, O/U 154.5), 6:40 PM ET.

No. 11 Pittsburgh Panthers at No. 11 Mississippi State Bulldogs (-1.5, O/U 133), 9:10 PM ET.

Location: UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio

Wednesday, March 15

No. 16 Texas Southern Tigers at No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (+2, O/U 145.5), 6:40 PM ET.

No. 11 Arizona State Sun Devils at No. 11 Nevada Wolfpack (+2, O/U 134), 9:10 PM ET.

Location: UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio

NCAA Tournament First Round

Date: Thursday, March 16 & Friday, March 17

Locations: Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama; Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa; Amway Center in Orlando, Florida; Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California; MVP Arena in Albany, New York; Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio; Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado; Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.

2023 NCAA Tournament Betting Odds

NCAA Tournament Second Round

Date: Saturday, March 18 & Sunday, March 19

NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen

Date: Thursday, March 23 & Friday, March 24

Locations: T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada; Madison Square Garden in New York, New York; T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri; KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

NCAA Tournament Elite Eight

Date: Saturday, March 25 & Sunday, March 26

NCAA Tournament Final Four

Date: Saturday, April 1

Location: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas

NCAA Championship Game

Date: Monday, April 3

NCAA Tournament History

The NCAA Tournament began in 1939, growing in size and stature over the years. The first tournament consisted of eight teams, and the format remained unchanged until 1951, when the field was doubled to 16. The number of participating schools doubled again to 32 in 1975 and reached 64 in 1985.

Now, there are slots for 68 of the best D-I college basketball squads in America. There are 32 spaces reserved for automatic qualifiers – teams that win their end-of-the-season conference tournament. The selection committee picks the other 36 teams as at-large entrants based on their overall record, RPI, net rating, and other factors.

We may see another big change coming to March Madness in the very near future. The NCAA Transformation Committee recommended expanding the number of teams in the NCAA Tournament to accommodate the growing number of Division I teams in the country. There are now more than 350 Division I college basketball teams, and the committee wants to guarantee that at least a quarter of those programs can potentially make the NCAA Tournament. That could mean an expansion to a 96-team March Madness in as little as two years.

Most National Championships

In today’s era of "one and done" players leaving for the NBA and the transfer portal utilizing a perpetual revolving door, the idea of winning a 68-team tournament is much harder than it was in the 1960s and 1970s during the greatest dynasty in the history of men's college basketball.

UCLA's record of 11 titles won't be touched for quite some time. As great as John Calipari has been at Kentucky, his Wildcats have just one National Championship since 1998 and eight in totality. There has also been a shift in college basketball recruiting as teams are now rarely going all-in on freshmen that will be one and done. We are continually seeing veteran teams that grow together like Villanova, Virginia, Baylor, and Kansas win national titles while the uber-talented freshmen teams implode.

National Championship Games (2000)

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