As we spend the offseason speculating on basketball, let's keep in mind what kind of bets you can lay down as of today. Bovada.lv has published today's odds of winning the NCAA Championship. The Big East doesn't have a team in the odds top-ten (though two Big East defectors are there). The Big East teams with the best odds of winning it all next season:
2013-14 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship - contenders |
Odds to Win
|
Conf
|
Creighton |
50/1
|
BE
|
Georgetown |
50/1
|
BE
|
Marquette |
50/1
|
BE
|
Butler |
66/1
|
BE
|
St. John's |
66/1
|
BE
|
Villanova |
66/1
|
BE
|
Xavier |
200/1
|
BE
|
The former Big East teams on the list (and the new foes of the former Big East teams):
2013-14 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship - contenders |
Odds to Win
|
Conf
|
Louisville |
17/2
|
AAC
|
North Carolina |
16/1
|
ACC
|
Syracuse |
25/1
|
ACC
|
Connecticut |
33/1
|
AAC
|
Memphis |
33/1
|
AAC
|
Pittsburgh |
50/1
|
ACC
|
Notre Dame |
75/1
|
ACC
|
Cincinnati |
100/1
|
AAC
|
Temple |
150/1
|
AAC
|
Maryland |
200/1
|
ACC
|
Clemson |
250/1
|
ACC
|
Boston College |
500/1
|
ACC
|
That's five teams (and UNC) with better or similar preseason odds in what was (or could have been) the Big East, for those with reminiscences.
Which of these odds seems like a good bet? Which look like tossing your money into the maw of a volcano? Is the new ACC really a tougher hoops conference?