Duke's home court advantage is gone but they're still strong.(credit:
jdtornow)
Duke's odds are short but they are the only team worth betting in the South.
Players Only have opened up their betting lines for futures in each region. Here are the odds in the South Region's market, the region that the Duke Blue Devils are the number 1 seed in:
Duke +110
Villanova +225
Baylor +500
Purdue +1500
Texas A&M +1500
Louisville +1500
Notre Dame +1800
California +3000
Old Dominion +3000
St Marys (CA) +4000
Utah State +4000
Richmond +4000
Siena +5000
Sam Houston St +50000
Robert Morris +100000
Arkansas-Pine Bluff/Winthrop Winner +100000 (we're backing Arkansas Pine Bluff in the play-in game at +160)
Duke have such short odds in this market that if you take them, you have to sink or swim with them as you can't really look at making multiple bets with odds as short as +110 in your list. However, running with Duke is not a dumb idea at all as they are a very strong team who are undefeated in neutral site games. They won the ACC tournament and early in the season they won two games at Madison Square Garden against Arizona State and Connecticut. The Blue Devils have only lost in true road games this season and they can be fully expected to advance to the Final Four.
If you are looking for longshot value in this region then Notre Dame is your team at +1800. They have a favorable draw to the Regional Semifinals with just Old Dominion and Baylor in their way. Villanova of course are the two seed and they are on course to meet Notre Dame in the Sweet 16 but the Fightin' Irish are the team on the roll and 6'8" senior Luke Harangody could take Notre Dame deep.
If you want to two-bet this field with Duke and Notre Dame then you need to think about how to weight your bets to get what you want. The smartest thing to do would be to pound Duke hard and then just put a little bit on the Fightin' Irish as a back up plan. However it is really hard to picture Notre Dame in the Final Four and our recommendation is to just pound Duke as +110 will be a lot shorter after this weekend.
Register with Players Only to bet on NCAA basketball and take advantage of their deposit bonus to receive free bets.