48 hours ago Villanova was the underdog in the National Championship game against North Carolina. Just less than 36 hours ago, the Wildcats were celebrating and the Tar Heels were being turned into crying Michael Jordan memes.
On Wednesday, Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook released its lines for next year’s National Championship, less than 48 hours after Nova won the 2016 title. While this should be surprising, it took ESPN less than a day to release its “way-too-early top 25” for next season.
As for 2017, Duke is the favorite opening at 9-2 in the SuperBook. The title game will be played in April 3, 2017 at The University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona.
It’s not terribly surprising that the Blue Devils are favored, despite losing Brandon Ingram to the NBA Draft. Duke has already received commitments from the top two players in the country according to ESPN, Harry Giles and Jayson Tatum.
Right behind Duke is another top program that has a lot of turnover on the court, Kentucky at 6-1. Repeating in college basketball is extremely difficult, but Villanova is third at 8-1 despite the loss of seniors Ryan Arcidiacono and Daniel Ochefu.
The rest of the top odds: Louisville and Kansas are both 10-1, Michigan State 12-1, North Carolina is 15-1, and Indiana, Virginia, Xavier, Oregon, and Arizona are all 20-1. The other 2016 Final Four teams, Oklahoma and Syracuse, are both listed at 80-1.
What could however impact all the odds right now is the new NCAA rule allowing player to declare for the draft and go through the combine without risking college eligibility as long as they don’t hire an agent.
Ed Salmons, who sets the odds for the Westgate when asked about the odds being set now: “People are always willing to bet early.”
A list of the Westgate odds can be found here.
