2023 March Madness Betting Preview

The NCAA Tournament is just about here, with the field of 68 being announced on Sunday after the final conference tournament championship games.

All 68 teams will have dreams of winning the national title, but there are a small group of teams that have separated themselves from the pack.

Here, we look at the major stories to look into before betting on this year’s NCAA Tournament and what the pre-tournament odds are.

Top Seeds

Kansas, Alabama, Purdue, and Houston the top-four teams going into March Madness. 

Possible Cinderella Teams

Every year, there are teams that make Cinderella runs into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. There are a couple of prime candidates to do that again during this year’s edition of the event.

One such candidate is Oral Roberts, who are no strangers to being a Cinderella team after making it to the Sweet 16 just a couple of tournaments ago before losing to the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Charleston is another candidate to turn some heads from a lower seed line in the NCAA Tournament after losing just three games in the regular season.

Iona is also worth considering when betting on teams to pull off upsets in this tournament, as they are coached by an all-time great in Rick Pitino. 

2023 NCAA Tournament Odds

Going into the NCAA Tournament, Houston is the favorite to win the championship when all is said and done. They are joined by Kansas, Purdue, UCLA, and Texas in the list of the top-five favorites to cut down the nets after the Final Four. But there are several teams just below those five squads that could also win the national title at more favorable prices.

Arizona, UConn, and Gonzaga are all just below that top-five threshold in the NCAA Tournament outright markets. All three are interesting, thanks to the size that they possess, which could give them an advantage over every team outside of the Purdue team that is led by the massive Zach Edey.

But picking teams with longer odds than that could be a tough sell, as the NCAA Tournament has been dominated by one-seeds in recent seasons, with one-seeds winning each of the last five tournaments.