Steve Starr
- BetOnline has Louisville (+800) as the new favorite to win the 2020 national title
- Duke (+900) and Michigan State (+1100) suffered losses during Feast Week
- Maryland (+1500), Michigan (+1800) and Memphis (+2000) all had fantastic tournament showings
While you and your relatives were gorging on turkey and watching The Irishman over Thanksgiving weekend, college basketball’s top teams were battling it out in a smorgasbord of out-of-conference tournaments.
With “Feast Week” offering a heaping helping of surprising results, there is a new national championship favorite at BetOnline. Let’s review the latest odds and recap all the action.
ODDS TO WIN 2020 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
| Team | Current Odds | Trending | Nov. 19/2019 |
| Louisville | +800 | ↑ | +1200 |
| Duke | +900 | ↑ | +1000 |
| Kansas | +1000 | ↑ | +1200 |
| Kentucky | +1100 | ↓ | +1000 |
| Michigan State | +1100 | ↓ | +800 |
| North Carolina | +1300 | ↑ | +1600 |
| Maryland | +1500 | ↑ | +2500 |
| Virginia | +1500 | ↑ | +2000 |
| Oregon | +1600 | ↔ | +1600 |
| Michigan | +1800 | ↑ | +2800 |
| Arizona | +2000 | ↑ | N/A |
| Gonzaga | +2000 | ↓ | +1600 |
| Memphis | +2000 | ↔ | +2000 |
| Ohio State | +2000 | ↑ | +2500 |
LOUISVILLE MOVES TO NO. 1
Despite not playing in a tournament over Feast Week, Louisville (+800) moved to No. 1 in the the Associated Press men’s college basketball poll on Monday thanks to losses by Michigan State and Duke.
Led by junior Jordan Nwora’s game-high 22 points, the Cardinals promptly justified their ranking on Tuesday with a convincing 58-43 thrashing of No. 4 Michigan.
Love my squad!!! Great TEAM win!! Couldn’t do it without CARDNATION I love the energy!! pic.twitter.com/xe2FwD8Vd1
— Jordan Nwora (@JordanNwora) December 4, 2019
Entering the game, the undefeated Wolverines were hot off a Battle for Atlantis tournament victory with wins over Iowa State, North Carolina and Gonzaga.
Even with the loss, however, the Juwan Howard era is off to a great start with Michigan’s national title odds shortening from +2800 to +1800 in the season’s first month.
OTHER RISERS AND FALLERS
Tom Izzo’s Spartans have had a rough couple of weeks. Favored to win the national championship at +800 when we last checked in, everybody’s preseason No. 1 lost to to Virginia Tech in the Maui Invitational on the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Things got even worse on Tuesday with a 87-75 loss to Duke where they trailed by as many as 22 points. Throw in a early-season defeat to Kentucky and you have a team that is probably overvalued at +1100.
Mike Krzyzewski improves to 10-2 vs Tom Izzo when both their teams are ranked.
That’s the 2nd-best win pct (.833) by any coach over another with at least 10 ranked meetings between them.
Only Bill Self vs Scott Drew has a better such win pct (.923) with a 12-1 record. pic.twitter.com/1jcW1w9zUV
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) December 4, 2019
Speaking of Coach K’s Blue Devils, they sit second on the board at +900 despite suffering a buzzer-beating overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin (a 27.5-point underdog entering the game) during Feast Week.
Maryland has surged from +2500 to +1500 following wins over Temple, Harvard and Marquette in the Orlando Invitational, but the Terrapins’ first real test won’t come until the New Year: a Jan. 7th contest vs. Ohio State (+2000).
The defending champion Virginia Cavaliers are also at +1500, which is kind of surprising after they were dominated by Purdue in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday.
Boogie Ellis scores 17 in the first half, Precious Achiuwa puts up a third straight double-double, and Memphis survives a late push by NC State. Takeaways from Thanksgiving at the Barclays Center ? https://t.co/ydsXTyNvHa
— Commercial Appeal (@memphisnews) November 28, 2019
Memphis is a much better bet at +2000. Penny Hardaway’s squad squeaked out a tight win over NC State on Thanksgiving night, and star freshman James Wiseman will be back from suspension by mid-January.
Fill your plate at +2000 while you still can.
