NCAA Tournament odds update: Time is now to back Baylor

A wild first round of the NCAA Tournament is in the books! Now that the dust has a settled a bit, it’s a good time to dive back into the futures market and see which teams might be a better bet to cut down the nets in the title game than they were just two days ago.

Ohio State loss was huge for Baylor

The biggest upset of March Madness thus far was 15-seed Oral Roberts knocking off two-seed Ohio State in the South region. A lot of tickets were torn up with the Buckeyes (+2000) being ousted.

If you hesitated to back the Baylor Bears before the tournament started, now might be the time to pull the trigger. Their odds to win it all dropped only nominally, from +500 to +475. Hartford, a 16-seed, naturally offered little competition to the well-oiled machine that is Baylor on Friday.

The Bears have three guards that wreak havoc in Jared Butler, Davion Mitchell, and MaCio Teague, and it was the latter who led the way with 22 points against Hartford.

Alabama’s odds unchanged despite path easing

The Alabama Crimson Tide held steady at +2000 to win the National Championship following their victory over 15-seed Iona on Saturday.

Nate Oats’ squad got plenty of help in the East region, with 11-seed UCLA and 14-seed Abilene Christian both advancing. Alabama will play the winner of that game, assuming they coast by 10-seed Maryland in the second round.

The Crimson Tide appear worth a wager at this price.

Michigan’s odds surprisingly went up

It’s not often that a team’s odds jump up following a win in the tournament, but that’s what happened with one-seed Michigan over the last two days.

The Wolverines outclassed 16-seed Texas Southern, and as mentioned above, got a little help in the East region with a trio of upsets. Despite this, their odds shot up from +800 to +1100.

Perhaps it was the elimination of Big 10 rival Ohio State that eliminated some liabilities with bookmakers, but that is pure conjecture. The main takeaway is that if you didn’t bet Michigan before, there’s no better time to do so.