NCA A Tournament by the odds: A Vegas view of the Final Four
Bettors are forced to act relatively fast on the first two weekends of the NCA A Tournament, with only a few days separating matchups being set and the games playing out. There’s less urgency heading into the Final Four. With five days between the final pair of quarterfinals and the start of the semifinals, gamblers have more time to gather their thoughts and examine the four teams vying for the national championship.
Let’s take stock of how each team reached the right to go to San Antonio this weekend from a betting perspective.
Loyola-chicago
Four tournament wins and covers have clinched it for the Ramblers: They’ve now been the most profitable college basketball team to bet on the point spread all season. They’re 23-9-1 against the spread, including six straight victories versus the number. It’s just too bad more bettors didn’t benefit off of them. The Missouri Valley Conference is never an action-driver during the season, and even in Loyola’s marquee non-conference game at Florida, the money came in against it. The Ramblers closed a 16.5point underdog after opening as low as plus-15 ahead of their 65-59 win at the O’connell Center.
That victory has often been cited during their tournament run but rarely heeded. Loyola drew the majority of the action as closing 1-point underdogs in the first run against Miami, but has seen the bulk of the money come against it in the next three games. Both their 69-68 win over UNR as 1-point underdogs and their 78-62 blowout of Kansas State as 1-point underdogs were favorable results for the house.
Loyola is built like the perfect bracket-buster. They’ve used experience, slow pace and, yes, a little luck to reach the Final Four. With four upperclassmen starters including Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Clayton Custer, Loyola is the oldest team remaining. And it’s played like it, with a shrewd strategy of bearing down on defense and draining the shot clock on offense. The