March Madness betting could be all about parity this month. In fact, the chairman of the NCAA Tournament committee believes this will be the most wide open tournament in a long time.
That should make for exciting March Madness odds. March Madness betting will still have the power teams like Kansas and Kentucky but others you might not have paid much attention to like Cornell and Northern Iowa could surprise. Selection Sunday is just days away and then the brackets will be revealed. The Big East has the strongest conference but that doesn’t mean the ultimate winner will come from the Big East. Kansas and Kentucky are not in the Big East and they are the two favorites in March Madness odds.
If parity is indeed the theme this season it will make for exciting March Madness betting. You might be expecting to see some teams like North Carolina and St. Joseph’s as part of the field but that is unlikely to happen. Each team would have to win their conference tournament this week and that is simply not going to happen. Even a team like Southern Illinois who has become a tournament regular is probably not going to make it. Others like Oklahoma, Stanford and Indiana are going home after this week.
The power conferences are going to get a lot of attention this week. They may not get quite as many bids this season since the Atlantic 10 and Mountain West look to get multiple bids. You will still see a lot of teams from the Big East though and the other power conferences like the Big 10, Big 12, ACC and SEC are going to get multiple bids. The Pac-10 though may get just one. Many of the mid-major conferences always get one. The Big Sky is one of those but the teams in that conference can still get in if they win their conference tournament. “You can’t be thinking that you are two or three games or whatever from the NCAA Tournament,” Northern Colorado head coach Tad Boyle said, “If you do that, you’ll forget what you need to do to win. The most important game is your next game.”
A team that could do a lot of damage in this parity filled tournament could be Ohio State. They have the possible Player of the Year in Evan Turner who is leading the Big Ten Conference in scoring (19.5) and rebounding (9.4) and is second in assists (5.9) and steals (1.8).