Odds to Win the 2011 NCAA Basketball Tournament

Before filling out your NCAA Basketball Tournament pool, it's always a good idea to see who is favored to win the tournament. Not everybody will do so, meaning those who know the odds will have an advantage over those who do not.

By the same token, it doesn't hurt to look at the odds for the first round games before filling out your brackets, especially if you are looking for an upset or two.


While a lower seed being favored doesn't mean they are going to win, it's usually a good place to start looking for a team capable of knocking off a higher rated team.

The Odds

This year's tournament field can be broken into three groups: those with a decent chance of winning it all, those with a slight chance of winning it all and those with no chance of winning it all.

Naturally, the four No. seeds are given the best chance to win. Using the odds at Sports Interaction, their odds are: Ohio State +400
Duke +400
Kansas +450
Pittsburgh +600

There is a big drop-off in the odds when you get to the next group of teams:
San Diego State, Kentucky +1600
Texas, Notre Dame, North Carolina +1800
Purdue, Connecticut, Louisville, Syracuse, Florida +2500
BYU +2800
Kansas State +3300
Washington +4000
St. John's, Wisconsin +5000
Georgetown +6600
Cincinnati, Michigan State +8000

Every other team is at least 100-to-1 or greater and it would be a monumental upset for any of them to reach the Final Four, let alone win the entire tournament.

Hopefully, this will help a bit when it comes time to fill out your brackets and we'll look to pick the winner in a day or two. Good luck and have fun.