Coach Huggins has his team as short as +600.(credit:
Wikipedia.)
With the exit of Kansas in the second round Kentucky have emerged as the new favorite.
The Kentucky Wildcats have survived the first two rounds of the NCAAB tournament and they are now the new favorites in the March Madness road to the Final Four thanks to the departure of the Kansas Jayhawks. Sportsbook.com have updated their odds in the futures market as the tournament now fades away for a few days and the soaps come back onto afternoon television.
Here are the odds for all teams still alive in the 2010 NCAA National Championship tournament, all odds Sportsbook.com:
Kentucky +175
Syracuse +400
Duke +500
West Virginia +600
Kansas State +600
Ohio State +800
Baylor +2500
Michigan State +3000
Tennessee +3500
Xavier +4000
Washington +4000
St Marys (CA) +5000
Northern Iowa +5000
Butler +5000
Purdue +6000
Cornell +7500
Duke's odds should probably be shorter than Syracuse's so there might be some minimal value in betting Duke to win. They have a fairly clear path to the Final Four with just Purdue presenting a roadblock that can be hurdled. It is hard to picture Baylor beating Duke in the Elite 8 and many will, for sure, take a tough St. Mary's squad to beat Baylor in the round of 16.
West Virginia and Kentucky could end up in each other's way shortly so staying away from those two teams looks like a smart move.
Deeper down the list you could sprinkle Kansas State however their odds would look a lot better at about +1000 as opposed to what they are.
The team that is providing the best odds at this point is Michigan State at +3000. They can certainly be expected to advance to the Final Four as Tom Izzo demands some faith. This team might correctly be priced as short as +1400 (14/1) with Baylor, Ohio State, and Kansas State all deserving longer odds than what they have been priced at.
Kentucky are deserving of the favorite status but their odds are too short to risk at +175 (7/4) at this point so you might as well just put a small and less-risky bet on Michigan State.
If you are going with Kentucky you might just want to play them game for game instead of in the future's market as +175 to win 4 straight is a tough bet to make.
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