Dean Etheridge
The Tennessee Volunteers clash with their big rivals, the Alabama Crimson Tide, at the Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday night. A few weeks ago this looked likely to be the match that was going to decide the Southeastern Conference. But thanks to a recent slump in form for the Volunteers, they are now way behind the eightball and desperately need to win this just to get back in with the slightest of chances. Can they do it against an in-form Alabama side? Let’s take a look with our latest NCAAB betting picks.
- What; NCAAB
- Who; Tennessee Volunteers vs Alabama Crimson Tide
- Where; Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
- When; Wednesday, February 15th, 2023
- Start Time; 7 pm ET
In the latest betting to win the SEC regular season, Alabama is -2000, with Texas A&M next at +1000, and Tennessee are out at -4000. Tennessee has also seen their odds to win the 2023 National Championship plummet to +2200, while Alabama are into +800.
Betting to win the 2023 College Basketball National Championship
The current favorites to win the 2023 National Championship is still the Houston Cougars. The best college basketball betting sites have Houston at +750, just ahead of Purdue and Alabama, who are both at +800. After the top three in the betting comes UCLA at +1200, and Kansas at +1400.
The Tennessee Volunteers aren’t totally out of the equation. As you can see from our odds table below, they are +2200. This puts them in a group with the likes of Creighton, and Connecticut, just outside of the main favorites. All the above odds are taken from Bovada. You can read more about them in our Bovada sportsbook review, where you will also find details of their new customer bonus, and more great betting advice in general.
| 2023 Latest NCAAB National Championship Winner Betting |  |  |  |
| Houston Cougars | +750 | +750 | +750 |
| Purdue | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| Alabama | +800 | +800 | +800 |
| UCLA | +1200 | +1150 | +1200 |
| Kansas | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Arizona | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Baylor | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Tennessee | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 |
| Connecticut | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Texas | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Virginia | +2800 | +3000 | +2800 |
| Xavier | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Gonzaga | +3300 | +3300 | +3300 |
Volunteers seem to running out of form at the wrong time
The Volunteers are on a losing streak of two, and sit third in the Southeastern Conference with an overall record of 19-6, and a conference record of 8-4. This puts them behind Texas A&M who are 10-2 in the conference, and Alabama who sit top with a 12-0 record.
On closer inspection of the Volunteers’ form, we can see that they’ve lost four of their last nine, and three of their last four. The losing streak of two has seen them lose 66-65 away to struggling Vanderbilt, and then in their most recent outing, they were defeated at home by Missouri (86-85) last Saturday night.
Final score. pic.twitter.com/UAeezPQRE2
— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 12, 2023
The season promised so much for Rick Barnes’ team, so the recent setback will have hit the team and coaching staff hard. After an early set back in the season (Tennessee lost 78-66 to Colorado in their second fixture), the Volunteers looked to have bounced back in sensational style by winning their next eight, giving them an overall record of 9-1 at the time.
Unfortunately for all concerned with the team, the wheels seem to have come off in recent weeks. And although Tennessee isn’t completely out of things yet, they will be if they don’t turn things around quickly. And that won’t be easy against an in-form Alabama Crimson Tide.
Alabama is going from strength to strength
Alabama is a team on a roll and they seem to be getting stronger and and better every week. As we’ve already mentioned, they sit top of the conference table, and are -2000 to win it. When it comes to the postseason, the best betting sites for March Madness make the Crimson Tide their joint second-favorites to win the National Championship this year. And a quick look at their recent form will tell you why.
The Alabama Crimson Tide has an overall record of 22-3, and a conference record of 12-0.
Since their 93-69 shock thrashing at the hands of Oklahoma, they are on a winning streak of four. The wins were all comfortable victories, with the Crimson Tide really proving a point since the loss. Starting with the first match after the defeat, they destroyed Vanderbilt by 57 points (101-44). They followed that up with wins over LSU (79-69), Florida (97-69), and most recently Auburn, by 77 points to 69.
Oh yes, and they’ve just gone to the number one ranking for the first time in 20 years!
POLL ALERT: Alabama jumps to No. 1 in the men’s AP Top 25 college basketball poll for first time in 20 years; Houston, Purdue, UCLA, Kansas next.
See the full rankings: https://t.co/ZJG5mgWZhI pic.twitter.com/CkIvjPvj6m
— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) February 13, 2023
So, is it possible for Tennessee to throw a spanner in the works of the new top dogs? Let’s take a look at what the top sportsbooks think.
Tennessee vs Alabama Betting and Picks
On the moneyline, it’s Tennessee with home advantage that are the favorites with the top sportsbooks. The Volunteers are -155, with Alabama at +135.
This means that Alabama is also receiving the start on the handicap line, which is +3. In this market, Alabama are -107, Tennessee are -113. The total points spread is set at 145.5 with BetOnline. Over is -113, under is -107.
It’s slightly surprising to see the Volunteers as favorites. But they are at home, and they were mighty close to winning the two games they’ve lost on their current streak. On different nights, they win both of those games by the one-score they lost them both by.
But for us, it’s incredibly hard to back against Alabama on current form. They’ve just turned into a winning machine recently. So we are making the Alabama Crimson Tide our betting pick to win on the handicap spread.
