Odds to Win the NCAA Championship for the Syracuse Orange

Written by Anthony Moretti

syracuse-odds-to-win-ncaa-tournament-032709 The Syracuse Orange return to the NCAA tournament this year after a two year absence from the event. 2009 marks the 32nd time that Syracuse has made the big dance and they’ve managed to make four Final Four appearances and one National Championship (2003) in their history. The overall record in the NCAA Tournament is 50-31 after two wins in 2009. The Orange are now in the Sweet 16 after victories over Stephen F. Austin and Arizona State. The Cuse entered the tourney as a 3 seed after an impressive run through the Big East Conference Tournament and are now poised to make a run at the Elite 8 as they face off against Oklahoma on Friday. Now that Syracuse has made the Sweet 16, their odds to win the championship have been updated. As of now the Orange are listed at 25-1 odds to win the Championship, those these NCAA basketball odds will no doubt be updated once Thursday’s games are final. Check BetUS for the latest odds to win the NCAA Tournament.

Everyone remembers the epic six-overtime showdown between Syracuse and UConn that sparked the Orange’s eventual Big East Conference Tournament Title. It also appears that their play in the conference tournament has given Syracuse plenty of confidence in the NCAA tournament. The Cuse cruised past Stephen F. Austin in the first round, eventually winning by 15 points, and probably could have done more damage than that had they wanted to. In their second round game, the Orange again looked impressive by beating a talented Arizona State team. Friday will be their biggest and most difficult NCAA Tournament test to date as they will face the #2 seed out of the South Region, the Oklahoma Sooners.

To win on Friday the Cuse have to contain Blake Griffin. They have beaten teams with good players before, even when allowing those players to get their numbers, but this Sooner team is different. Oklahoma has scoring ability beyond Griffin, and while the still need him to play an excellent game to beat Syracuse, if the Orange simply allow Blake to do his thing and try to focus on winning their other individual match ups, they could be in for a big surprise. At this point it would be hard to argue that Syracuse’s Jonny Flynn is anything but the best point guard in college basketball right now. Flynn makes everyone else on his team better right now, and that’s exactly what a great college point guard needs to do. Flynn helps Syracuse’s cause, but I still think finding a way to throw Griffin off his game is their best option to win this game. Easier said than done, I know. As of this post, Syrause is at +2500 to win the NCAA Championship in 2009.

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