Dean Etheridge
The Alabama Crimson Tide will be looking to strengthen their position at the top of the Southeastern when they take on the Florida Gators on Wednesday night. Here we look at their chances in our latest free NCAAB betting picks.
- What; NCAAB
- Who; Alabama Crimson Tide vs Florida Gators
- Where; Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
- When; Wednesday, February 8th, 2023
- Start Time; 9 pm ET
There seems to be a huge gulf in class between these two teams which is highlighted both in the table, and in the betting to win the 2023 NCAAB Championship. The Crimson Tide sits on top of the Southeastern. The Florida Gators are sixth. While in the betting, Alabama are amongst the favorites at +1200, with Florida at +15000.
2023 NCAAB Championship Betting
Alabama may well be amongst the favorites in the betting to win the NCAA Championship, but it’s still the Houston Cougars (+775) who are leading the way with the best college basketball betting sites. Although, the gap between the Cougars and the chasing pack is starting to close.
Just two weeks ago Houston was +650 to be the 2023 champions. They drifted to +750 last week, and now find themselves at +775. The big movers are the Purdue Boilermakers. Purdue now finds themselves at +850, close to challenging the Cougars for the position of favorites with the best March Madness betting sites.
The Boilermakers were joint second in the betting at +1000 this time last week. They then defeated Penn State by 80 points to 60, and a few days later lost a tight match away to Indiana (79-74).
Down goes No. 1!
Indiana takes down Purdue, 79-74
(via @BigTenNetwork) pic.twitter.com/t0IbolHd7I
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 4, 2023
But despite that, they still saw their odds to win the championship cut with BetOnline. You can read more about this bookmaker at our BetOnline sportsbook review. And for more NCAAB betting, please see our below odds table.
| NCAAB 2023 Championship Winner Betting |  |  |  |
| Houston Cougars | +775 | +775 | +775 |
| Purdue | +850 | +850 | +850 |
| Tennessee | +1000 | +1000 | +1000 |
| Kansas | +1200 | +1150 | +1200 |
| UCLA | +1200 | +1100 | +1200 |
| Alabama | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Arizona | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Baylor | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 |
| Connecticut | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Texas | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
| Virginia | +2800 | +3000 | +2800 |
| Xavier | +2800 | +2800 | +2800 |
| Gonzaga | +3300 | +3300 | +3300 |
Just over one week until the Southeastern showdown
There’s just over one week to go until we get to the long awaited showdown between Alabama and Tennessee. The two teams meet at the Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday week in what could be the defining moment of the conference.
But before that both teams still have business to take care of and neither team can afford to lose focus on what is immediately in front of them.
Alabama can’t lose focus of the job in hand
Next up for Alabama is a home match against the Florida Gators, and this is a match they need to win to keep daylight between themselves and Tennessee at the top of the Southeastern. And it’s also a match that Nate Oats will be expecting his Alabama team to be victorious in.
Alabama has won eleven of their last twelve
The Crimson Tide are one of the in-form teams in college basketball. They might only be on a winning streak of two, but they have won eleven of their last twelve fixtures. The defeat in that run was away to Oklahoma (93-69) at the end of January.
You have to go all the way back to mid-December to see their previous loss, a 100-90 defeat to Gonzago at the Legacy Arena.
Make no mistake though, the loss to Oklahoma was a crushing one. We all know the top sides will slip up occasionally. But this was a 24 points defeat. And not at the hands of one of the top sides in the NCAAB.
Alabama has bounced back in fairness. Vanderbilt were the unfortunate side to suffer the backlash, losing by 57 points (101-44) just a few days later. And then in their last match, Alabama defeated LSU 79-69.
Florida are still searching for consistency
The Florida Gators have a 6-4 record in the Southeastern and an overall record of 13-10 this season. In their last ten, they are 6-4, and in their last five they are 3-2. Those statistics pretty much sum up how their season has played out.
In their most recent outing they lost by five points to Kentucky (72-67). The Gators mounted a second period comeback after trailing 33-22 at the halfway point. As is usually the case in these sorts of matches, the chasing side left themselves with way too much to do to get back into the match.
🎥 Highlights: UK 72, Florida 67
Six straight SEC wins. pic.twitter.com/Cnm2Zk1Eby
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 5, 2023
They will certainly need a better first period if they are to have any chance against Alabama!
Alabama vs Florida Betting and Picks
As you would expect with Alabama being the number three ranked team in the NCAA, Florida is receiving a decent sized head start (+9.5 to be exact) in the handicap market.
Alabama are -110 starting from -9.5 on the handicap line. Florida is also -110, starting from a position of +9.5 points. The total points spread is set at 148, both over and under is -110.
For what it’s worth, on the moneyline Alabama is -500, and Florida is +395, but we’re not going near that as we can’t be backing Alabama at those odds, and we don’t see Florida winning either.
In their last five matches, Alabama has won four, and lost one. The totals they have won by were 21, 3, 57, and 10. Based on those stats and the inconsistent form of Florida, our NCAAB betting pick has to be for Alabama to beat the spread.
