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Sports Betting Futures Odds:Tar Heels Cement Status as Title Favorites

by - 3/30/2016

Buddy Hield Oklahoma Sooners

It took pretty much the entire season to sort it out, but college basketball apparently has a dominant team-and it's North Carolina. Whereas the rest of the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 seeds fell by the wayside, UNC mostly coasted through the East Region to punch its ticket to Houston. The Tar Heels are joined there by a couple of No. 2 seeds (Oklahoma and Villanova) and a hard-to-believe No. 10 (Syracuse).

All odds provided by Bovada Sportsbook .

National Championship

North Carolina Tar Heels (+105) -All four top seeds advanced to the Elite Eight; only one managed to cut down some nets. Carolina got minor scares from Providence and Notre Dame along the way, but it still won all of its games in the regional by double-digits (at least 14 points, in fact).

Villanova Wildcats (+275) - Villanova completely clobbered a trio of opponents before upsetting No. 1 overall seed Kansas 64-59 in the final of the South Region. The Wildcats are 33-5 and feature four players scoring in double-figures, including senior leader Ryan Arcidiacono.

Oklahoma Sooners (+350) - What would this Final Four be without Buddy Hield? While it is somewhat of a shame that a wildly-talented Kansas squad is not a part of the festivities, Hield being left out would have been borderline disastrous. But he would not let that happen-much to the chagrin of Oregon.

Syracuse Orange (+750) -Many thought Syracuse should not been in the tournament. But Jim Boeheim's squad now finds itself in Houston, where it is a 9.5-point underdog against UNC. The Orange are effectively playing with house money, having staged an improbably comeback from 16 down against Virginia.

Shell Houston Open

Jordan Spieth (+600) - Spieth has not finished better than 17th at any of his last four stroke-play events. He advanced out of pool play in last week's Match Play Championship but lost to Louis Oosthuizen in the last 16. The world No. 2 generally does a good job of peaking for slams and with the Masters beginning next week, now would be a good time to do just that.

Rickie Fowler (+1200) - Whereas Spieth finished runner-up (lost in a three-man playoff) to J.B. Holmes last year in Houston, Fowler found himself in last place among players who made the cut following closing rounds of 77 and 76. But the charismatic American is fine form at the moment, with three consecutive top-eight performances in stroke-play tournaments.

Dustin Johnson (+1200) - Johnson is coming off a quarterfinal performance in match play, which continued the solid but unspectacular trend of his 2016 season. The 31-year-old is still in search of his first title, but he has not yet missed a cut. Johnson has a trio of top-10 finishes to his credit (match play included), highlighted by a fourth-place showing at Riviera.

Henrik Stenson (+1200) - Like Johnson, Stenson has been quietly consistent this year. The Swede will also be well-rested heading into Houston because he did not play in the Match Play Championship. For Stenson, March has included a T11 at the Valspar and a third-place finish two weeks ago at Bay Hill. He placed runner-up at this Houston event in 2013.

English Premier League

Leicester City (-200) - The Premier League resumes this weekend following a one-week hiatus, with first-place Leicester City going up against seventh-place Southampton. Leicester is five points ahead of Tottenham Hotspur and 11 points clear of every other club with no more than eight matches remaining for anyone.

Tottenham Hotspur (+250) - If the Spurs want to come from behind and lift the trophy, they need to extend their two-match winning streak to three, and then four, and then probably more. They started this month with a loss and a draw before shutting out Aston Villa and Bournemouth.

Arsenal (+575) - Arsenal has a double-digit deficit to make up on Leicester, but the only good news is that it has eight matches left while the Foxes have only seven. The Gunners have earned the full three points in only one of their last four outings, which obviously is not going to cut it.

Manchester City (+8000) - The EPL appears to be three-horse race, and even that is putting it generously for the Spurs and the Gunners. As for Man City, it is a whopping 15 points out of the lead while being mired in fourth place. The Sky Blues are 1-4-1 in their last six premiership matches.

World Series

Chicago Cubs (+500) -The Cubs earned a wild-card spot last year, got past Pittsburgh, and took out St. Louis before falling to the Mets in the NLCS. Star pitchers Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester are back, and Chicago heisted Jason Heyward from the Cardinals. Even Dexter Fowler unexpectedly returned to the club, so this team is absolutely loaded.

San Francisco Giants (+800) - Look no further than the recent World Series trends to see that San Francisco may be in line to win it all again. Even years have been the friend of the Giants, who triumphed in 2010, 2012, and 2014. San Francisco stumbled just a bit in 2015 to finish only six games over .500, but it will always have a chance with Madison Bumgarner and Buster Posey.

Toronto Blue Jays (+1000) - The most indelible postseason moment of 2015 came courtesy of the Blue Jays, even though they did not win-or even advance to-the World Series. Jose Bautista's three-run homer and accompanying bat flip sent his team past Texas and into the ALCS. It highlighted a year in which the Jays dominated the AL East with a 93-69 record.

Los Angeles Dodgers (+1200) - The NL West should be fun with two of the top four World Series favorites in the fray. L.A. owns Major League Baseball's highest payroll with room to spare, with three players making more than $21 million and four bringing in at least $10 million. Clayton Kershaw and Scott Kazmir lead the way on the mound. The Mets are also +1200.


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