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Who’s advancing to this year’s Final Four in Atlanta? DraftKings Sportsbook has updated odds for which teams will still be playing in the last weekend of the college basketball season. The NCAA Tournament is mostly about matchups and how well a particular team’s side of the bracket sets up, so of course betting the Final Four now is a bit risky.
But sports betting is meant to be fun and looking ahead a few weeks to see who will be competing for a national championship is fun. Let’s dive in to the early odds on which teams will advance to the 2020 Final Four.
Favorites
The Kansas Jayhawks have the best odds to make the Final Four at -200. They are the only team in the country with minus odds as of now. Kansas is the hottest team in the sport, winning 16 in a row coming into the Big 12 Tournament. I don’t think we’ve reached a Kansas vs. the field discussion, but it’s getting close led by Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike.
According to oddsmakers, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have the second best opportunity to advance themselves to the season’s final weekend at +100 odds. Despite winning four in a row including Tuesday night’s West Coast Conference tournament title, Gonzaga’s odds actually dropped from -125 last week. The Bulldogs find themselves in the national title discussion just about every season as they roll through the WCC, but they made the Final Four just once in school history in the 2016-17 season. Gonzaga has a good shot for its second trip.
Sleepers
It’s hard to call the Duke Blue Devils a sleeper, but from a betting perspective they are. Duke comes in to ACC Tournament play with the eighth best odds to make the Final Four. The Blue Devils came one win away from making it each of the past two seasons. Vernon Carey and Tre Jones are about as good of a duo as you can ask for in college basketball. It hasn’t been a great season for Duke but when your not great season is a 2 or 3 seed, you’re doing something right. You could find worse value than Duke at +400.
The San Diego State Aztecs have the 12th best odds to advance to the Final Four in April at +450. San Diego State appears likely to enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 2 seed even after a loss to the Utah State Aggies at the buzzer for the Mountain West title game. San Diego State ranks No. 10 in the country in defensive efficiency and fifth in offensive efficiency. If the Aztecs can find themselves on the two-line, that alone should give them an easier road than some teams in front of them on the odds list.
Dark horses
The Virginia Cavaliers are the defending champions and while they struggled to start the season, they are red hot right now, winners of eight in a row. They are hovering around a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament and could improve their seeding win a run in the ACC Tournament. Virginia ranks No. 1 in the entire country in defensive efficiency to keep the Cavaliers in every game. Virginia has the 20th best odds to reach the Final Four at +900.
The Wisconsin Badgers have the 27th best odds in college basketball to advance to the final weekend, but odds makers made a massive adjustment in Wisconsin’s favor. Last week, the Badgers stood at +2000 odds for the Final Four. A week later, Wisconsin earned the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and now stand at +1150. The Badgers won eight in a row to finish the season for an incredible turnaround especially after one of their best players Kobe King left the team in late January.
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