NCAA tournament odds 2018: Duke leads Villanova, Kentucky, Gonzaga on betting lines

The Duke Blue Devils are 9-2 straight up and against the spread over their last 11 games, breezing through the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament with two wins by at least 22 points. The Blue Devils enter the Sweet 16 as the favorites to win the championship.

Duke is now going off at +325 on the odds to win the NCAA tournament at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. While every other game in the Sweet 16 has a favorite of 5.5 points or less, the Blue Devils are the only heavy favorite to advance into the Elite Eight going off at -11.5 facing the 11-seed Syracuse Orange (+6600 to win the tournament).

The favorable matchup in the Sweet 16 likely plays a role in why Duke jumped the No. 1 seed Villanova Wildcats into the role as favorites to win the tournament. Villanova (+450) also had no trouble in the first two rounds, improving to 7-0 SU and 5-2 ATS over its last seven games with back-to-back wins by an average margin of victory of 24.5 points per game. The Wildcats face the No. 5 West Virginia Mountaineers (+1600) on Friday.

The Kansas Jayhawks were the only other one-seed to survive into the Sweet 16, but they are still not getting much respect on the betting board sitting as the sixth most likely team to win the tournament at +850. The Jayhawks are 10-1 SU and 7-4 ATS over their last 11 games per the OddsShark College Basketball Database and face No. 5 Clemson (+2500) in this round.

The best value play remaining on the board may be the No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky is 9-1 SU and ATS over its last 10 games and finds itself as a clear favorite to advance to the Final Four in a South Region that only has Nevada (+2500), Kansas State (+2800), and Loyola-Chicago (+5000) remaining. And with Duke, Villanova, and Kansas all on the other side of the bracket, Kentucky would only need to beat one of those teams to win the national title.

Rounding out the rest of the field are Gonzaga (+700), Michigan (+800), Purdue (+1600), Texas Tech (+2200), Texas A&M (+2500), and Florida State (+4000). Gonzaga is 16-0 SU over its last 16 games and Michigan is 11-0 SU over its last 11.

2018 NCAA Tournament Odds

Duke +325

Villanova +450

Kentucky +700

Gonzaga +700

Michigan +800

Kansas +850

West Virginia +1600

Purdue +1600

Texas Tech +2200

Texas A&M +2500

Clemson +2500

Nevada +2500

Kansas State +2800

Florida State +4000

Loyola-Chicago +5000

Syracuse +6600

For more odds information, betting picks, and a breakdown of this week’s top sports betting news check out the OddsShark podcast with Jon Campbell and Andrew Avery. Subscribe on iTunes or listen to it at OddsShark.libsyn.com.