Of the nation’s top 14 college basketball teams listed at odds of +5000 (bet $100 to win $5000) or less to be the last one standing in the 2019 NCAA Tournament at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com, the ACC has the most of any conference with four.
The second-ranked Duke Blue Devils lead the way as the +170 favorites to win it all on the 2019 NCAA Tournament odds while the third-ranked Virginia Cavaliers currently are the fourth choice on the betting board at +800 heading into their second meeting of the season this Saturday.
The Blue Devils won the first meeting with the Cavaliers 72-70 at home Jan. 19, but they failed to cover the spread as 3.5-point favorites. Duke is riding a six-game winning streak (4-2 against the spread) into the rematch while Virginia has won four in a row straight up (2-2 ATS) since suffering its lone loss at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Two more ACC teams besides the Blue Devils and Cavaliers that also hope to be in strong contention for the national championship when the Big Dance tips off in March are the eighth-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels (+2400) and Syracuse Orange (+5000).
The Tar Heels keep moving up the polls thanks to a six-game winning streak, and they also have won 10 of their last 11 SU to go along with an impressive 9-2 ATS mark, according to the OddsShark College Basketball Database. North Carolina hosts Miami on Saturday before Virginia visits Chapel Hill in another huge matchup Monday.
Meanwhile, the unranked Orange returned all five starters from last year’s Sweet 16 team, but they have experienced a roller-coaster ride so far. Syracuse is coming off an embarrassing 80-62 home loss to the 22nd-ranked Florida State Seminoles on Tuesday as three-point favorites after winning nine of its previous 11 games both SU and ATS.
In addition, the SEC has the second-most teams among the top 14 on the college basketball futures board with three, including the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers (+750), fifth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats (+900) and unranked Auburn Tigers (+5000).
The Big Ten and Big 12 are next with two schools apiece, as the former has the seventh-ranked Michigan Wolverines (+750) and ninth-ranked Michigan State Spartans (+1000), and the latter has the 13th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks (+1600) and 18th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders (+5000).
