Odds to reach the 2021 Final Four

Though the coronavirus denied college basketball the chance to determine a champion of the 2019-20 season, we can already start taking a look at the teams favored to compete for the title next season. DraftKings Sportsbook released odds for teams to reach the 2021 Final Four.

Favorites

If the Baylor Bears don’t lose Jared Butler or MaCio Teague to the NBA, they make sense as the favorite. BU was struggling down the stretch, but still ended up 26-4 and on pace for a No. 1 or 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament depending on how the Big XII Tournament finished. They’ll have to deal with Kansas in conference again, but not in the same Big Dance bracket quadrant most likely. It’s enough to make them co-favorites to reach the national semifinals at +125.

The team that was the biggest victim of losing the 2020 tournament was probably the Gonzaga Bulldogs, and Filip Petrusev is likely back to Spokane for 2021. They also have a five-star commit in Jalen Suggs to their three-man class that’s ranked ninth in the country, and return three of their five starters. The Zags are likely the preseason No. 1 team, and share the +125 price with Baylor.

Virginia was one of the hottest teams in America to end the season, and now adds the No. 6 recruiting class in the country including New Jersey’s Mr. Basketball Jabri Abdur-Rahim. They lose only Mamadi Diakite and Braxton Key of their top seven contributors, and are a program more likely to add in the transfer portal than lose people. Tony Bennett will remain the defending champions in 2021 at +150 odds.

Sleepers

Want some value? What if Iowa coach Fran McCaffery can pull this trifecta off: keep Luka Garza for one more season, get C.J. Fredrick to stay healthy, and find a transfer point guard to get Garza the ball in the right spots — say, Iowa resident DJ Carton who is transferring from Ohio State? Yes he’ll need an NCAA waiver, but with his admitted mental health issues that seems very possible.

It’s either Garza or Obi Toppin of Dayton for the Wooden Award this year, and bringing him back for 2021 would make him one of the most dominant college players of the one-and-done era. The +300 here is a great price for a team that should be at the top of the B1G next season.

The following are the odds to play in the 2021 Final Four from DraftKings Sportsbook:

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