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Vegas is often smart about which teams have a realistic chance to win the championship; and in those odds are some ideas about how common wisdom will consider teams going into next year. Yes, there are still recruits out there, but few game-changing players are deciding this late.
With that in mind, the odds for next year's NCAA Men's Basketball winner are in a table below, thanks to bovada.lv, in case you were interested. St. John's opens with 300/1 odds to win the championship next year. The Red Storm were 100/1 coming into this season (really? Why?).
Next season Vegas sees the Johnnies as having a better chance than Creighton, Providence (!) and DePaul, so there's that.
The Johnnies will have a fairly young team next season, with only Bashir Ahmed and Darien Williams in the junior or senior class. The player with the longest experience in Division I will be Tennessee transfer Tariq Owens, who redshirted last year.
Here are the Big East teams by odds; imagine this as an early attempt to rank the teams nationally and within the conference, with the last three teams in unknown positions...
| Team | Odds | OddsRank |
| Villanova | 8/1 | 3 |
| Xavier | 25/1 | 13 |
| Seton Hall | 50/1 | 21 |
| Butler | 100/1 | 34 |
| Georgetown | 150/1 | 46 |
| Marquette | 250/1 | 64 |
| St. John's | 300/1 | 73 |
| Creighton | Off Board | |
| DePaul | Off Board | |
| Providence | Off Board |
St. John's at seventh would mean the oddsmakers feel the Johnnies have a chance to be much better. Though Providence's position, with Ben Bentil likely returning, is a surprise. It could be that Providence is only predicted to be a nudge worse than St. John's - we don't know yet.
Villanova is given the third-best odds of winning the title. Below, the table compares this year's odds with the odds from last year at around this time.
Odds by Team, Men's Basketball '17 vs '16 |
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2017 Champ Odds, as of April 2016 |
2016 Champ Odds, as of April 2015 |
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| Team | Odds | Team |
Odds |
| Duke | 9/2 | Duke |
16/1 |
| Kentucky | 6/1 | Kentucky |
8/1 |
| Villanova | 8/1 | Villanova |
25/1 |
| Kansas | 10/1 | Kansas |
16/1 |
| Louisville | 10/1 | Louisville |
33/1 |
| Michigan State | 12/1 | Michigan State |
20/1 |
| North Carolina | 12/1 | North Carolina |
6/1 |
| Indiana | 20/1 | Indiana |
25/1 |
| Oregon | 20/1 | Oregon |
66/1 |
| Virginia | 20/1 | Virginia |
12/1 |
| Arizona | 22/1 | Arizona |
25/1 |
| Wisconsin | 25/1 | Wisconsin |
33/1 |
| Xavier | 25/1 | Xavier |
66/1 |
| West Virginia | 28/1 | West Virginia |
66/1 |
| Connecticut | 33/1 | Connecticut |
75/1 |
| Maryland | 33/1 | Maryland |
12/1 |
| Purdue | 33/1 | Purdue |
66/1 |
| Iowa State | 40/1 | Iowa State |
18/1 |
| Miami FL | 40/1 | Miami FL |
40/1 |
| Oklahoma | 50/1 | Oklahoma |
25/1 |
| Seton Hall | 50/1 | Seton Hall |
200/1 |
| Syracuse | 50/1 | Syracuse |
66/1 |
| Texas | 50/1 | Texas |
50/1 |
| Baylor | 60/1 | Baylor |
40/1 |
| Gonzaga | 66/1 | Gonzaga |
25/1 |
| Michigan | 66/1 | Michigan |
50/1 |
| Texas A&M | 66/1 | Texas A&M |
50/1 |
| UCLA | 66/1 | UCLA |
50/1 |
| Wichita State | 66/1 | Wichita State |
50/1 |
| Florida | 75/1 | Florida |
50/1 |
| Iowa | 75/1 | Iowa |
100/1 |
| SMU | 75/1 | SMU |
50/1 |
| Arizona State | 100/1 | Arizona State |
200/1 |
| Butler | 100/1 | Butler |
40/1 |
| California | 100/1 | California |
100/1 |
| Cinncinnati | 100/1 | Cincinnati |
75/1 |
| LSU | 100/1 | LSU |
50/1 |
| Mississippi State | 100/1 | Mississippi State |
Off Board |
| Notre Dame | 100/1 | Notre Dame |
33/1 |
| Ohio State | 100/1 | Ohio State |
50/1 |
| Vanderbilt | 100/1 | Vanderbilt |
100/1 |
| BYU | 150/1 | BYU |
200/1 |
| Colorado | 150/1 | Colorado |
150/1 |
| Dayton | 150/1 | Dayton |
50/1 |
| Florida State | 150/1 | Florida State |
50/1 |
| Georgetown | 150/1 | Georgetown |
75/1 |
| USC | 150/1 | USC |
300/1 |
| VCU | 150/1 | VCU |
66/1 |
| San Diego State | 200/1 | San Diego State |
100/1 |
| South Carolina | 200/1 | South Carolina |
300/1 |
| St. Mary's CA | 200/1 | St. Mary's CA |
Off Board |
| Tennessee | 200/1 | Tennessee |
150/1 |
| UNLV | 200/1 | UNLV |
200/1 |
| Alabama | 250/1 | Alabama |
200/1 |
| Arkansas | 250/1 | Arkansas |
33/1 |
| Auburn | 250/1 | Auburn |
300/1 |
| Boise State | 250/1 | Boise State |
Off Board |
| Clemson | 250/1 | Clemson |
200/1 |
| Colorado State | 250/1 | Colorado State |
150/1 |
| Georgia | 250/1 | Georgia |
75/1 |
| Georgia Tech | 250/1 | Georgia Tech |
200/1 |
| Illinois | 250/1 | Illinois |
100/1 |
| Kansas State | 250/1 | Kansas State |
150/1 |
| Marquette | 250/1 | Marquette |
100/1 |
| Memphis | 250/1 | Memphis |
200/1 |
| Minnesota | 250/1 | Minnesota |
100/1 |
| Mississippi | 250/1 | Mississippi |
100/1 |
| Oklahoma State | 250/1 | Oklahoma State |
200/1 |
| Oregon State | 250/1 | Oregon State |
Off Board |
| Pittsburgh | 250/1 | Pittsburgh |
100/1 |
| Missouri | 300/1 | Missouri |
100/1 |
| Nebraska | 300/1 | Nebraska |
200/1 |
| St. John's | 300/1 | St. John's |
100/1 |
| Stanford | 300/1 | Stanford |
150/1 |
| Virginia Tech | 300/1 | Virginia Tech |
300/1 |
| Wake Forest | 300/1 | Wake Forest |
300/1 |
| Massachusetts | 500/1 | Massachusetts |
300/1 |
| Penn State | 500/1 | Penn State |
300/1 |
| St. Joseph's | 500/1 | St. Joseph's |
300/1 |
| Temple | 500/1 | Temple |
200/1 |
| Washington | 500/1 | Washington |
200/1 |
| Boston College | 1000/1 | Boston College |
300/1 |
| TCU | 1000/1 | TCU |
Off Board |
| Washington State | 1000/1 | Washington State |
Off Board |
| Creighton | Off Board | Creighton |
200/1 |
| DePaul | Off Board | DePaul |
300/1 |
| George Washington | Off Board | George Washington |
200/1 |
| Harvard | Off Board | Harvard |
200/1 |
| LaSalle | Off Board | LaSalle |
300/1 |
| Murray State | Off Board | Murray State |
300/1 |
| NC State | Off Board | NC State |
33/1 |
| New Mexico | Off Board | New Mexico |
200/1 |
| Northern Iowa | Off Board | Northern Iowa |
66/1 |
| Providence | Off Board | Providence |
100/1 |
| Richmond | Off Board | Richmond |
300/1 |
| St. Louis | Off Board | St. Louis |
200/1 |
| Texas Tech | Off Board | Texas Tech |
300/1 |
| Utah | Off Board | Utah |
50/1 |