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Villanova Is +1800 To Win The NCAAM Tournament Despite A 7-3 Start

Consistent programs get the benefit of the doubt from Vegas. While Villanova is off to an unexpected 7-3 start, oddsmakers still have them as one of the top NCAAM futures 💰 (3 minute read)

How are you suppose to guard this Tyreek Hill route? And Here’s Kelce for the win in OT 🏈. Let’s talk college hoops 👇

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Someone Stay At No. 1

For the fourth week in a row, we have a new No. 1 ranked team in the country. While many expected Gonzaga to run the table like they did during last year’s regular season, they’ve played a very challenging non-conference schedule, resulting in two early losses 👀

No. 1 Teams By Week

  • Weeks 1-3: Gonzaga

  • Week 4: Duke

  • Week 5: Purdue

  • Week 6 (current): Baylor

A month into the season, and we’re back where we left off at the end of last year — Baylor at the top đŸ». While the Bears play @ Oregon on Saturday, there’s two games we like better (and one that was cancelled) 👇

  • #9 Villanova @ Creighton

    • Friday, 8:00 PM EST on FS1

    • CHI Health Center Omaha, Nebraska

    • Spread: Villanova -6.5

  • #5 Gonzaga vs. #25 Texas Tech

    • Saturday, 1:00 PM EST on CBS

    • Footprint Center, Phoenix, AZ

    • Spread: Not out yet

  • #15 Ohio State vs. #21 Kentucky

    • Cancelled due to Covid đŸ˜·

Trivia question: of all the current NBA players who went to one of the schools above, who is averaging the most PPG this season? (answer below)

Big East Battle

In past year’s, this matchup has been must see TV. In their last seven meetings dating back to February of 2018, Villanova holds a 4-3 series lead over Creighton, with two of those games going to overtime

However, no one expected six total loses between these two teams at their first 2021 meeting. In fact, Creighton (8-3) currently sits in 7th in the Big East, while Villanova (7-3) is second-to-last at 10th

  • Nova, a preseason favorite, is still at +1800 to win the NCAAM Title, showing that Vegas isn’t worried about the shaky start

  • Those are the best odds behind Gonzaga, Purdue, Duke, Kansas, Baylor, UCLA and Arizona — more than half of these teams have been No. 1 this season


Creighton can play though, and believe it or not, their three best players are all named Ryan, and combine to average 40 PPG. This game is interesting, as Villanova is favored by 6 points on the road, likely because it’s Creighton’s first real test

  • But on the road is really on the road here, as Nova has to travel from Pennsylvania to Nebraska (1,221 miles) đŸ›©

  • I’m still trusting Jay Wright’s veteran club and taking Villanova moneyline

Underrated Rivals?

Right now, Gonzaga is 8-2 with both losses coming against ranked teams in #2 Duke and #6 Alabama. But as we mentioned, they’ve had an incredibly tough start, logging the third-toughest schedule so far this season

  • In addition, they have wins vs. then #5 Texas and #2 UCLA in their second and sixth games of the season

Texas Tech holds the final spot in the top-25 after beating #13 Tennessee in an overtime “thriller” (it was not a good game, this play sums it all up) at MSG

  • This was Tech’s first win vs. a ranked opponent this season

  • The Red Raiders also sport four double-digit scorers, the most prolific of which being Kevin McCullar. Their star Junior guard leads the team in points, rebounds, and is second in assists

This will be the two teams’ fourth time ever facing each other, with Tech shockingly up 3-0 in the all-time series. The last time they faced off? Oh, just the Elite 8 of the 2019 NCAAM Tournament. Watch the last five minutes of that game here đŸ“ș

  • While we don’t know the exact lines of the game yet, both teams are hovering around .500 against the spread this year

  • I’m taking Gonzaga spread, whatever it is. Mark Few holds grudges

No parlay today, as we don’t have exact lines out yet. Enjoy the weekend and good luck to anyone playing in their Fantasy playoffs. It’s 🏆 season

Trivia answer: Karl-Anthony Towns leads all Nova, Creighton, Kentucky, Ohio State, Gonzaga and Texas Tech alumni in scoring this season, averaging 24.3 PPG. KAT narrowly beat out AD and Booker, who both average slightly under 24 PPG