UConn males, South Carolina females betting faves

• David Purdum, ESPN Personnel WriterMar 17, 2024, 09:36 PM ET

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  • Signed up with ESPN in 2014
  • Reporter covering betting industry since 2008

A safeguarding champion and the nation’s just unbeaten team sit atop the odds to win the guys’s and ladies’s basketball tournaments respectively, as March Insanity warms up this week at sportsbooks around the nation.UConn, which travelled through last season’s men’s bracket to win the nationwide title, is the consensus betting preferred to repeat. The Huskies, the top general seed, are +400 at ESPN BET, followed by fellow No. 1 seeds Houston(+550 )and Purdue (+700). No. 2 seed Arizona is next with 11-1 odds, ahead of the fourth No. 1 seed, North Carolina(15-1 ). UConn is looking to become the 5th guys’s team to win consecutive males’s nationwide titles and first given that the Florida Gators in 2007-08. Editor’s Picks 2 Associated

Undefeated and leading overall seed South Carolina is the consensus odds-on favorite to win the females’s tournament. The Gamecocks were listed at around -135 Sunday night. However, the betting public has actually been backing Caitlin Clark and No. 1 seed Iowa.At FanDuel, more bets have actually been put– and more money risked– on the Hawkeyes to win the national title than any other team this season. DraftKings and BetMGM likewise reported heavy betting action on Iowa. The Hawkeyes and protecting champ LSU Tigers are the second favorites, behind South Carolina.The Gamecocks open competition play against the Sacred Heart-Presbyterian winner. The Hawkeyes will face the winner of Holy Cross and UT Martin in the first round.UConn begins its NCAA guys’s tournament run Friday versus No. 16 seed Stetson. The Huskies opened as 26.5-point favorites, the biggest first-round spread for a reigning

champion because Duke in 2002. ESPN’s Doug Greenberg added to this report.