Odds to Win West Bracket

The West region has defending champion Duke, this season’s Butler team in possible Cinderella San Diego State, and one of the hottest teams in the Big Dance in UCONN, who won the Big East conference tournament beating 4 ranked teams to do it.

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

No shock that Duke (+450) is the top seed, as they avenged their loss to North Carolina in their last regular season game by beating them in the ACC tournament championship. The Blue Devils have a good all-around team that can score, rebound, and play defense AND they know how to win the big games.

2nd seed San Diego State (+1200) has the best odds to win the Big Dance out of any non-big conference school and they won the MWC tournament. The Aztecs are solid, but they were only 2-2 against ranked teams this season.

UCONN (+3500) is the 3rd seed and they are hot with one of the hottest players in the nation in G Kemba Walker. The Huskies have a great backcourt and rank 11th in the nation in rebounds per game. A UCONN vs. Duke regional final would be sweet to see, but after their first round game against Bucknell the road there gets very tough possibly facing Cincinnati and San Diego State.

Texas (+2000) is the 4th seed and they did make it to the Big 12 conference tournament finals and they have a star duo in G/F Jordan Hamilton and F Tristan Thompson. The Longhorns were 6-3 against ranked teams this season. Texas and 5th seed Arizona (+6000) may meet each other in the 2nd round and while the Wildcats made it to the Pac 10 conference tournament finals they do not have a good defensive team and they only rank 195th in the nation in rebounds per game.

7th seed Temple (+20000) plays a hot Penn State team in the first round, but the Owls won 4 of their last 5 games and they have a solid defense and they may have a good shot to upset 2nd seed San Diego State in the 2nd round.

There are a couple of sleepers that meet in a first round game in 6th seed Cincinnati (+20000) and 11th seed Missouri (+10000). Cincy won 25 games in the killer Big East, but they were only 3-7 against ranked teams in the season including getting routed by 38 points in the Big East conference tournament. Mizzou had an up and down season and scored some big upsets and while they rank 9th in the nation in scoring they are not good on the boards and they lost 4 of their last 5 games.

8th seed Michigan (+20000) and 9th seed Tennessee (+20000) is another tough first round game and while each team is solid they will probably meet Duke in the 2nd round. The Wolverines may have the best shot to beat Duke, as they made it to the Big 10 conference tournament final and in that game they only lost to #1 Ohio State by 7 points.