March Madness title futures: Running with the Duke Blue Devils?
Scott Pianowski gives you two teams he sees plenty of value on in the futures market ahead of conference title week. Coach K and the Duke Blue Devils had their party crashed last weekend against the UNC Tar Heels. Should you buy the dip?
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Video Transcript
SCOTT PIANOWSKI: Welcome to Yahoo Sportsbook Daily. It's Monday, March 7. That's right, I said March. March Madness, NCAA basketball. I'm your betting guide, Scott Pianowski. And today, we're looking for value to win the national title. Maybe even just to go the Final Four, whatever it is. Conference tournament play is going to start this week. I think you want to look at some of these futures now. I'm gonna spotlight a couple of teams I think may offer decent prices, OK?
Villanova, let's start there. You can get them at 20-to-1 at BetMGM to win it all. You may be able to fish out something as good as 25-to-1 if you shop around. The odds will fluctuate. I don't think the Big East gets the same respect. The '80s Big East, the '90s Big East, the heyday of the conference. It's a different conference now. And I think sometimes, people look down on it a little bit, but there's still talent here.
What does Villanova do? They turn you over. They're very high in the offensive efficiency, the defensive efficiency. And KenPom is also good. They're the best free throw shooting team in the country, and they actually may end the season as the best free throw shooting team of all time. A huge part of winning games in March.
Very experienced roster. I swear, Collin Gillespie has been here for nine years. I'd like some evidence that he hasn't been. And they have Jay Wright, who's a perfect March coach. He can motivate his team he can work on the officials. Usually, Villanova has a foul disparity in their advantage. And they started off 7-4. They had some bad losses early. They're 16 and three cents. Again, I think the Big East is under-repped.
I'm going to punch Villanova to go to the Final Four. I've seen 5-to-1 on that. And you're going to get upwards of 20-to-1 and then they'll win the whole thing. I think they can do it. I like the cohesion. I like that they don't depend on one player to do all their scoring. A lot of things about Villanova peaking at the right time. I think they're a great value here.
It's Sunday right now when I'm taping this. You're listening on Monday. Duke just lost their final Cameron Indoor Stadium game with Mike Krzyzewski to UNC. And Twitter was just dunking on Duke. And I get it, if you're not a Duke fan, you probably root against Duke. It's just kind of like Duke against the world. They've won too much, I understand it. I want you to buy the dip on Duke, OK? They were 10-to-1 a few days ago to win it all. I've seen that percolate up to 12-to-1. You can even get plus 250 in some places for them to make the Final Four.
Krzyzewski picked this team to go out on. It's got NBA talent. He knows they can win it all. And I think Duke's almost like an anti-public team right now. It used to be that people just want to bet on Duke. I think now people want-- the Duke schadenfreude is such a thing, I think you're getting a little bit of value here. It sounds crazy, right? Because for years, Duke was the squarest thing in the world. Everybody who got your tournament pool who didn't know what they were doing would just write down Duke. I think this is a little bit of Duke fatigue out there, and I think the market has priced it in.
I'm going to look at some Duke futures, man. I think they're going to the Final Four again. I think Krzyzewski planned this exit for this team. I see talent. I see NBA talent on the roster. Of course, guys are going to be one and done. They actually have a great recruiting class coming in next year for Jon Scheyer. But don't let your emotions get into it. Doesn't matter if you root for Duke. They're going to cruise in the ACC tournament.
I think this loss to UNC came at a good time. You can refocus. Sometimes, I like teams that lose their conference tournament games. Just, you know, you don't have to play that extra game, you get a little bit more rest. It just reminds you that you're beatable. And maybe you get more streamlined when you get into the tournament.
So I'm buying the dip on Duke. And to recap, buy the Duke dip, I'm definitely going to punch Villanova, Final Four, and to win the whole thing. If you want to follow me and talk about these picks-- maybe you agree with them, maybe you don't-- Scott_Pianowski is how you get to me on Twitter. And of course, follow Yahoo Sportsbook over at Yahoo Sportsbook. Glad that we got in on that name before anybody else did.
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Ariel Epstein, the prop queen, she's been sizzling the last few weeks. She'll be back tomorrow on Yahoo Sportsbook Daily. Until then, good luck and good hands.
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