It’s almost the end of February, which means the most important month of the college basketball season – March – is right around the corner. Selection Sunday, in fact, is less than three weeks away.
College basketball observers everywhere are pontificating on what the 2015 NCAA Tournament field will look like. But what if the seeding was left up to oddsmakers in Las Vegas?
If the four No. 1 seeds were chosen based purely on odds posted at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, we’d be looking at Kentucky (4-to-5 odds to win title), Wisconsin (6-to-1), Duke (10-1) and Virginia (12-1) occupying the top line, with Kentucky the No. 1 overall seed.
While Arizona and Gonzaga share Virginia’s 12-to-1 odds, the Cavaliers get the nod because they are ranked second in the Don Best/Linemakers Power Ratings.
This exercise is not meant to be true projection of what will shake out on Selection Sunday, but based on Las Vegas odds, these 16 teams would occupy the top four lines (odds as of a week ago are listed in parentheses).
ONE SEEDS KENTUCKY 4-5 WISCONSIN 6-1 (7-1) DUKE 10-1 (8-1) VIRGINIA 12-1
TWO SEEDS GONZAGA 12-1 ARIZONA 12-1 (10-1) UTAH 25-1 (50-1) VILLANOVA 30-1
THREE SEEDS KANSAS 30-1 LOUISVILLE 40-1 (35-1) NORTH CAROLINA 50-1 (60-1) IOWA ST 50-1
FOUR SEEDS OHIO ST 60-1 OKLAHOMA 75-1 NOTRE DAME 75-1 WICHITA ST 75-1
A complete list of NCAA Tournament futures is right here at The Linemakers on Sporting News.
