By Brent Warnken
The NCAA basketball season is getting more and more interesting as the conference portion of the schedule begins to take its toll. For instance, before the season began and up until a few weeks ago, North Carolina looked as though they might run the table, go wire to wire without a loss as the nation's No. 1 team. However, after falling to both Boston College and Wake Forrest in recent games, Pitt has moved into the No. 1 spot, and Wake looks like a title contender, still undefeated at 14-0. And yet, the Tar Heels still remain at the top of most futures betting lines. So who should you put your money on? Is North Carolina worth your investment? Is Wake Forest overrated? If you get some NCAA Tournament tickets you'll find out the answers to all of your questions as they happen. But if you want a little head start on the competition, read on to see who should still be standing by the end of the Dance.
The Top Contenders
North Carolina
The Heels are off their high horse, having dropped two of three in the month of January, as of the 12th. Right now, they're No. 5 in the AP, and the Coaches think they're the 6th best team in the country. But then why do the oddsmakers at http://Oddschecker.com have UNC ranked No. 1 in their betting lines? As of January 12, 2009, the Heels are taking 15/8 odds to win the national championship, the best odds in the country. Even though they're having a bad 2009 so far, it's easy to see why nobody's dropping them from their national title contention summit. Unlike other contenders to the throne, this UNC squad has been to the Final Four before. Experience will matter in the Tourney more than it will in a couple of rough ACC games in the regular season. So do you place a bet on UNC? I'd advise not. Although they're certainly worth looking at when the Tournament begins, the odds here (you wouldn't make more than double what you put up) are not advantageous. With a sport that has a championship tournament as unpredictable and finicky as the NCAA Basketball Tournament, you're going to want something a little more lucrative, especially if you're putting money down this far in advance. Unless the Heels drop even more games and the line on their title run goes down, only bet on this team if you are a recent graduate of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You'd be much safer dropping some money at http://www.stubhub.com/ncaa-tournament-tickets for NCAA Tournament tickets to the Championship Game, because no matter who's in the game you'll have a great time.
Pittsburgh
Oddschecker.com has Pitt at 5/1 odds to win the National Championship Game of the NCAA Tournament, as of January 12th, 2009. With a No. 1 ranking in all the major polls, an undefeated 15-0 record and outstanding wins versus Washington State, Belmont, Florida State and Georgetown (the latter was on the road versus the current No. 13 team, by a score of 70-54), Pitt is an attractive team right now. Pitt is getting a lot of media attention, but does that make them worth your betting dollar? Typically it's best not to bet with your gut, not to follow the media trends, but to go with the numbers. On both offense and defense the Panthers are outstanding, as they have adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency rankings in the top ten, according to http://kenpom.com. However, the one thing that's scaring me off right now is Pitt's atrocious free throw percentage. Currently they rank 272nd in the country in free throw efficiency and 240th in free throw percentage. If you want to bet on these guys, you're going to have to also bet that they massacre every team in the NCAA Tournament, because they certainly can't win it from the stripe. My prediction: Pitt is this year's Memphis. National runner-up gets sympathy. Payout? Not so much.
Brent Warnken wrote this article, which was sponsored by StubHub, one of the finest places in the entire world wide web to get NCAA Tournament tickets, concert tickets, theatre tickets, special events tickets, or almost any kind of sports ticket out there.
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