2009 NCAA Tournament Odds: South Region

Written March 17, 2009 by Jack Jones

ncaa-basketball-tournament-odds-south-region-031709 The NCAA basketball futures odds are now posted for the South Region in the 2009 NCAA tournament. The overwhelming favorite is North Carolina, but teams like Oklahoma, Syracuse, and Gonzaga are certainly given their fair shot according to the odds. Here is a look at the odds to win the South Region in this year’s tournament.

North Carolina -160 – The Tar Heels are the only team in the field that you actually would have to lay more on than you would win if you bet on them to win their region. Right now you’d need to bet $160 just to win $100 on North Carolina. The sportsbooks are giving the Heels a ton of respect, and with good reason. Looking at the overall scope of their season and the talent on this team I think they have to be the favorite to win not only the South Region, but the tournament overall.

Oklahoma +400 – With Blake Griffin back in full effect for the Sooners, Oklahoma is a scary team for anyone to play. My one concern with them is that most of their impressive wins came early in the year while they stumbled without Griffin at times near the end of the year. In my opinion the Sooners have one of the best forward-guard combos in the nation in Blake Griffin and Willie Warren. When they are both on the court this is a hard team to stop on the offensive end of the court.

Gonzaga +650 – The Zags not only destroyed their competition in the West Coast Conference they also notched a win over Tennessee in the regular season and played Connecticut within 5 points. The Bulldogs play Akron in the first round, a game I do think they will win, but on they should not overlook.

Clemson +1000 – It was an up and down year for Clemson, who started off red hot, but cooled off against the stronger opponents in the ACC. Their one impressive win was the oddball upset of Duke by a score of 74-47, but they lost to Wake Forest (twice), UNC, Florida State, Virginia, and then to Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament. If the regular season is any indication of how the Tigers will play against difficult opponents, you may want to take a pass on them going very deep in the South.

Arizona State +1200 – A great player can really lift a team in the NCAA tournament and the Sun Devils have just that in James Harden. Harden averaged over 20 points per game during the season and I expect him to be an impact player in the tournament. They should get past Temple with ease, but a possible second round match up against Syracuse is concerning.

LSU +1500 – LSU was the best team in the SEC during the regular season, but they come into the tournament cold after losing their final two regular season games to Vanderbilt and Auburn, then getting knocked out of the SEC tournament by Mississippi State. The Tigers did not face very stiff competition outside of the SEC this year, and that could very well hurt their tournament success this year.

Middle Tier: Illinois (+2500), Butler (+3500)

Long Shots: Michigan (+5000), Temple (+7000), Western Kentucky (+8000), Akron (+10000), S.F. Austin (+15000), Morgan State (+15000), Radford (+15000)

This college basketball betting season give yourself the best possible chance to beat the college basketball odds with the best NCAA basketball picks on the planet.

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