The East Region, which features clusters of teams in San Diego and Dallas, has a lot of really strong teams, so it will be a task for Villanova to repeat as the National Champion.
Pound for pound, this is probably the best region overall, given that a healthy Villanova team is probably the #1 overall seed and this conference features three teams in the bottom of the bracket that would pose a serious threat to the Wildcats.
Villanova is the overall tournament favorite, which makes perfect sense.
It is rather surprising to see Texas Tech with lower odds than Wichita State and West Virginia after looking more like normal in the Big 12 Tournament.
If you missed the bigger prices on the Red Raiders during the year, this one isn’t bad.
Butler draws a tough 7/10 game, runs into the #2 seed Purdue, and has a +16500 line, while the other seeds in that range are much larger. Butler has made some runs, but that was basically two coaches ago, so perception may mean more than talent to linesmakers.
Here are the odds for the first 16 teams released in the East Region of NCAA Tournament
Odds coutresy of BetDSI.eu
#1 Villanova – +570
#2 Purdue – +1200
#3 Texas Tech – +6500
#4 Wichita State – +5400
#5 West Virginia – +4400
#6 Florida – +12000
#7 Arkansas – +35000
#8 Virginia Tech – +35000
#9 Alabama – +47500
#10 Butler – +16500
#11 St. Bonaventure (+110000)/UCLA (+55000)
#12 Murray State – +150000
#13 Marshall – +500000
#14 Stephen F. Austin – +999999
#15 Cal State Fullerton – +999999
#16 Long Island (+999999)/Radford (+999999)
Betting Tips
Texas Tech Red Raiders draws a bit of home court advantage by playing in the Lone Star State at American Airlines Arena in Dallas. That certainly can’t hurt for Chris Beard’s team.
Purdue is in Big Ten country in Detroit, so they should be fairly well-represented. It wouldn’t hurt to face Arkansas instead of Butler with a good fan base for the Bulldogs in the area.
We still can’t get over the four teams marooned in San Diego. And playing a 10:30 a.m. local time game, which again is a brutal draw, and ridiculous.
Keep an eye on the winner of that part of the bracket when things switch to Boston for the Sweet Sixteen. The winner of Tuesday’s play-in game gets to head to Dallas with the high of winning a game, but a very quick turnaround to face Florida.
Outlook and Picks
Even though the strength of the bottom of the bracket is impressive, Purdue doesn’t have a whole lot of experience in pushing into the Elite Eight or beyond, while Florida does.
Mike White took the Gators to the Elite Eight last year and they were a fixture deep into the tournament under Billy Donovan. Texas Tech is going to new heights under Chris Beard.
We believe Florida is a great bet to push to the Elite Eight and face Villanova. Villanova should win this region and Villanova should be the NCAA Tournament champion.
There isn’t much value at 6/1, but no other team in the country should be favored over a healthy Wildcats team on a neutral court. There is more value on the 6/1 than the +110 to win the East Region,
