By Brent Warnken
In a championship tournament as wacky, a series of games so unpredictable, and a March so, well, maddening, picking the NCAA basketball national champion is a tough task. But if you can select the right team you're looking at some very, very good payouts- much better than the NBA in fact. Right now, Louisville, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Purdue and Tennessee are all fetching the same kinds of championship odds as NBA teams like Portland, Atlanta and Dallas. Which teams have the better shot of going all the way? Of course, your best bet is usually sticking with StubHub and purchasing some NCAA Tournament tickets from http://www.stubhub.com/ncaa-tournament-tickets, because no matter who wins you'll gain the experience of a lifetime. Here are some of the middle-of-the-pack title bets you could make. Odds were taken from oddschecker site as of January 13, 2009.
Louisville (20/1)
When you bet in Rick Pitino's Cardinals you're betting on the narrative of a team that starts out in a slump and finishes with a bang. So far this is plausible. Louisville lost a couple of atrocious games to Western Kentucky and UNLV, prompting a slide down the AP from No. 3 preseason to almost a spot in the "Others Receiving Votes." Recent wins over Villanova and Notre Dame in the Big East portend that the ship has righted itself after early struggles.
Michigan State (25/1)
Michigan State had a deceptively hard early season schedule, and they came out of it with only two losses, one to the then-No. 1 UNC Tar Heels and another to Maryland. The Spartans have racked up victories versus Oklahoma State, Texas, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State and Kansas. Their last five games look exactly like a five-game streak you need to... win the national championship! Delvon Roe single-handedly brings down their otherwise okay free throw percentage. This is a solid team with nice potential to go all the way, especially if you like the Big Ten.
Notre Dame (28/1)
Notre Dame has a lot of Irish fans very nervous. They look good according to their winning record, their home game streak and their high AP Poll ranking, but some of their stats have fans worried. Their defensive efficiency ranking is 165th, at 100.6. They have a turnover percentage of 17.0 (ranked No. 330 in the country). Will their No. 4-ranked offensive efficiency (119.4) make up for those weaknesses come Tourney time? My guess is no. But then, there's always the "luck of the Irish."
Syracuse (28/1)
Like Notre Dame, Syracuse is a solid overall team with a nice ranking...except that they play defense, too. With offensive (112.2) and defensive (91.8) efficiencies in the top 50 in the country, and wins over Florida, Kansas, and Memphis, and only one loss to a solid Cleveland State team, there's nothing too much to complain about with the Orange. They could use to take care of the ball better, and they need to shoot their free throws if they want to earn my betting dollar.
Purdue (33/1) and Tennessee (33/1)
Purdue and Tennessee seem to both have the same problems- too many losses to better-than-average teams. They have four losses each. You can't trust a team that fails to get wins versus quality opponents, because that's all they're going to see in the Tourney. When you get some NCAA Tournament tickets at StubHub, you're sure to see two excellent teams on the floor. So Tennessee and Purdue need to play well in their conference games to earn a closer look.
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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