Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

NCAA Tournament opening lines and future odds: Kentucky hides overall parity

Kentucky SEC

Steve Helber / AP

Kentucky forward Willie Cauley-Stein holds the trophy after the NCAA college basketball Southeastern Conference tournament championship game against Arkansas on Sunday, March 15, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn. Kentucky won 78-63.

The betting windows have opened for the biggest weekend of the year in sports books.

Local bookmakers seem to post opening lines on the NCAA Tournament quicker every year. It took less than an hour Sunday after the selection show wrapped up for CG Technology to set the market

The sports book operator, which has nine Las Vegas locations including the Venetian and the M Resort, released point spreads on each of the 32 announced matchups beginning with Tuesday night’s First Four play-in games in Dayton, Ohio.

They showed that March Madness would feature plenty of competitive matchups. Nearly 70 percent of the opening games — 22 out of 32 — have a spread of less than 10 points.

Three points or less separated more than a third of the contests — 11 of 32 — on the betting line. That doesn’t mean there’s not an overwhelming favorite.

No. 1 overall seed Kentucky enters the tournament as the biggest favorite in at least 15 years. The undefeated Wildcats are offered at even money in the future odds at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, even chalkier than their 9-to-5 price to win the tournament in 2012.

But the high asking price won’t dissuade bettors from loading up on them anyway.

“Everyone thinks about Kentucky,” Sunset Station sports book director Chuck Esposito said earlier this week. “They’re perfect, but then again, we’ve seen it before.”

The last three teams to enter the tournament unbeaten failed to win the title, including Wichita State last year when Kentucky topped it in the round of 32 as a 4.5-point underdog. Kentucky will lay points in every game this year, but that’s about the only guarantee of betting the NCAA Tournament.

Check below for the opening lines and to the side for future odds. Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com for full coverage of betting throughout all of the NCAA Tournament.

First Four games

No. 16 seed Hampton plus-7.5 vs. No. 16 seed Manhattan

No. 11 seed Ole Miss plus-2.5 vs. No. 11 seed BYU

No. 16 seed Robert Morris plus-2 vs. No. 16 seed North Florida

No. 11 seed Boise State plus-2 vs. No. 11 seed Dayton

Midwest Region

No. 8 seed Purdue pick’em vs. No. 9 seed Cincinnati

No. 5 seed West Virginia minus-4 vs. No. 12 seed Buffalo

No. 4 seed Maryland minus-3.5 vs. No. 13 seed Valparaiso

No. 6 seed Butler pick’em vs. No. 11 seed Texas

No. 3 seed Notre Dame minus-12 vs. No. 14 seed Northeastern

No. 7 seed Wichita State minus-5 vs. No. 10 seed Indiana

No. 2 seed Kansas minus-12 vs. No. 15 seed New Mexico State

East Region

No. 1 seed Villanova minus-22 vs. No. 16 seed Lafayette

No. 8 seed North Carolina State minus-1.5 vs. No. 9 seed LSU

No. 5 seed Northern Iowa minus-7.5 vs. No. 12 seed Wyoming

No. 4 seed Louisville minus-9 vs. No. 13 seed UC-Irvine

No. 3 seed Oklahoma minus-12.5 vs. No. 14 seed Albany

No. 7 seed Michigan State minus-4.5 vs. No. 10 seed Georgia

No. 2 seed Virginia minus-16.5 vs. No. 15 seed Belmont

South Region

No. 8 seed San Diego State minus-2 vs. No. 9 seed Saint John’s

No. 5 seed Utah minus-6 vs. No. 12 seed Stephen F. Austin

No. 4 seed Georgetown minus-9 vs. No. 13 seed Eastern Washington

No. 6 seed SMU minus-2 vs. No. 11 seed UCLA

No. 3 seed Iowa State minus-12.5 vs. No. 14 seed UAB

No. 7 seed Iowa minus-1 vs. No. 10 seed Davidson

No. 2 seed Gonzaga minus-17 vs. No. 15 seed North Dakota State

West Region

No. 1 seed Wisconsin minus-19.5 vs. No. 16 seed Coastal Carolina

No. 8 seed Oregon minus-1.5 vs. No. 9 seed Oklahoma State

No. 5 seed Arkansas minus-7 vs. No. 12 seed Wofford

No. 4 seed North Carolina minus-9 vs. No. 13 seed Harvard

No. 3 seed Baylor minus-7.5 vs. No. 14 seed Georgia State

No. 7 seed VCU plus-2 vs. No. 10 seed Ohio State

No. 2 seed Arizona minus-23 vs. No. 15 seed Texas Southern

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.

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