Odds to Win Southwest Bracket

The Southwest region is a tough one with a Kansas team that is coming off a Big 12 conference tournament win and 3 teams from the killer Big East conference including Notre Dame, which may have the best chance to upset the Jayhawks and advance to the Final 4.

Here is a look at the teams in the Southwest Region and their odds to win the NCAA Tournament at Sportsbook.com.

Kansas (+500) is hot winning their conference tournament and overall they have won 8 straight and were 5-1 against ranked teams this season. They have the Morris’ twins, who may be the best F tandem in the nation and their guards can knock down the 3. However, while Kansas does have a good defense they have given up more than 7 points than their season average in their last 3 games.

Notre Dame (+2500) is the 2nd seed and they won 5 straight games, 2 against ranked teams, before falling to Louisville in the Big East tournament. The Fighting Irish have conference player of the year in G Ben Hansbrough, who has been on fire lately. The Irish have one of the best 3-pt shooting teams in the nation and they will have to hit the long ball in order to make it to the Final 4.

Purdue (+2000) did snag the 3rd seed, but they lost their last 2 games of the season. The Boilermakers will need a great tournament from F/C JaJuan Johnson (20.5 ppg 8.2 rpg) and G E'Twaun Moore (18.2 ppg), as Purdue is not a very deep team.

4th seed Louisville (+3000) made it to the Big East conference tournament final and they have a great backcourt. The Cardinals were 5-6 against ranked teams this season. They will likely play 5th seed Vanderbilt (+10000) for the right to play Kansas in the regional semifinals. Vandy may not be a good betting pick, as they lost they lost 3 of their last 5 games and lost their last 3 games against ranked teams.

Georgetown (+6000) is the 6th seed and they really sputtered at the end of the season losing 5 of their last 6 games including their last 4. On top of that they only rank 238th in the nation in rebounds per game.

8th seed UNLV (+20000) and 9th seed Illinois (+20000) face each other in the first round and the winner will get Kansas. Don’t see an upset in that game, as UNLV was only 1-5 against ranked teams this season and Illinois lost 9 of their last 15 games.

Texas A&M (+20000) is the 7th seed and they did make the semis of the Big 12 conference tournament, but the Aggies were killed by Texas 3 times this season and Kansas beat them by 13 points. They face 10th seed Florida State (+30000) in the first round and I would not be surprised if the Seminoles pulled off the upset.

Want a big sleeper? How about 12th seed Richmond (+50000)? The Spiders have a history of upsets in the Big Dance and they have won 7 straight including a surprising win in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament.