NCAA Championship Odds: Oklahoma Sooners
Written March 25, 2009 by Jordan Haimowitz
The Oklahoma Sooners received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament out of the Big-12 conference. They have the nations best player in F/C Blake Griffin, a sensational freshman in Willie Warren, a senior leader at point guard in Austin Johnson, Blake’s brother Taylor Griffin at power forward who seems to get better every game that goes on and small forward Tony Crocker. The Sooners bench is that not deep, however they have such high level talent that the lack of depth usually is not a factor. This team plays very well together and ever since Blake got a bit banged up in the ladder end of the year, many critics and most of the general public have been sleeping on this team. I most certainly am not. OU has the proper balance from freshman talent to senior leadership. They are all healthy and right now seem to be clicking on all cylinders. Austin Johnson will be a key part to this teams run. Tony Crocker is another player that if he his shooting well adds a big time third scorer which makes this team very hard to beat. Betting against this team right now is not advised. Right now the Sooners are showing as 15-to-1 to win the NCAA tournament.
Oklahoma picked apart their first round opponent Morgan State by a score of 82-54. Their second round opponent was Michigan, now, keep in mind that many analysts (Steve Lavin being the main one) had Oklahoma on upset alert due to the fact he was skeptical if they could handle a zone. Questions poured in such as…Do the Griffin boys have the patience not to take bad shots?, Will Oklahoma be able to hit outside shots? or, my personal favorite, will Oklahoma be able to handle Syracuse in transition? The answers are yes they will have the patience, yes they can hit outside shots and they most certainly can handle The Orange in transition. OU beat Michigan and their zone by the score of 73-63. Blake came through with his usual dominating stat line, 33 points, 17 rebounds while shooting an eye popping 14-20 from the field. Willie Warren continued his dangerous play with 16 points and 4 assists. If the Sooners get by Syracuse, they will face UNC (the most popular prediction to win it all). That would set up an instant classic Elite Eight game. Before that could happen, OU needs to focus on a very talented and extremely hot Syracuse team.
Coach Capel has this team believing they not only can win it all, but should win it all. They can match up against any team and I believe playing Michigan and their style zone was a great warm up for what they’ll see vs Cuse. right now we have a very even split of the betting public on this game. It can not be any closer with 51% taking Oklahoma and 49% taking Syracuse. Now, I have had many people question whether or not I was favoring OU to much and being biased. That is not the case at all, Oklahoma has perhaps the most dominating college player since Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse. He is a nightmare for every team he faces. Oklahoma has just faced off against a zone and had no problems, so before everybody goes and states Oklahoma’s past struggles verse the Big East, realize this is a different team with different caliber of talent. OU can match up well offensively and defensively against any team in the land. While any team could struggle with their shot on any given day, when you are looking for a team with good odds that has a real live shot to win it all, make sure you see the Oklahoma Sooners at +1500 currently. It will not be easy as Syracuse is tough and if they get by The Orange, we all know how good UNC is. That would be just to get to Detroit. However, the bang for your buck is there. Oklahoma 15-1. Not to shabby.
Win more when you bet on basketball with more of the best NCAA basketball picks at Betfirms. You should also check out our college basketball odds feed that streams the lines from several of the top online sportsbooks in the industry. You’ll always get the best line on all of your bets!
If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:
- NCAA Tournament Predictions: Oklahoma vs Michigan
- Odds to Win the NCAA Championship: Syracuse Orange
- Morgan State vs Oklahoma: NCAA Tournament Preview & Betting Odds
- Sweet Sixteen Picks & Predictions: Syracuse vs Oklahoma
- Oklahoma at Missouri: Basketball Odds & Predictions
Got something to say?
No comments yet, but your thoughts are welcome!