March Madness - Most Backed Teams

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March Madness is the tournament where anything can happen. The favorite teams will seek to storm their way to a Final Four place, and the underdogs will give everything in an attempt to stop their more favored opponents. The competition will move thick and fast for the next 18 days until only one team remains. Let’s divulge into whom bettors have placed their money on to be the 2019 National College Champions.

The Notable Favorites

Duke come into the tournament as +240 favorites (Best Price), implying they will win the tournament 41.7% of the time. With their probability of winning vs. a 63 team field at a near coin-flip, it should come as no surprise that the Blue Devils are the most backed team, recording almost 18% of all bets for them to be these year’s March Madness victors.

Sitting just behind Duke as the most backed team is that of Virginia. The Cavaliers are the No.1 seed in the South and currently hold 12% of the bets placed as the third overall favorite team (+650) to take home the championship.

Taking the third and fourth most backed places is that of the fourth and fifth favored teams of the tournament – N.C Tar Heels (9%) and Michigan State Spartans (7%) respectively. Rather surprisingly, the oddsmakers’ second favorites – Gonzaga (+600) currently sit as the sixth most backed team, with a 5.5% share of bets placed.

The Backed Underdogs

The most backed long-shots all hold an around-about figure of 2% of bets. Florida State Seminoles are the shortest of these, who currently sit at +5,000, which is representative of a 2% chance they will be the last team standing.  Buffalo and Mississippi State Bulldogs are priced as +10,000 and +12,000 respectively. If either were to go the distance and capture the title, that would reward their brave bettors with a huge payday. A win that would see them multiply their money by 100 or 120 times their initial stake.

Whether or not your money is on one of the tournament’s front-runners, or a dream underdog story waiting to happen, we will all be watching and waiting to see the Madness unfold.  

By Christian Broughton