With coach Hubert Davis, UNC joins Duke with solid odds to win 2022 NCAA tournament
It’s never too early to start talking about next year, right?
Even though Gonzaga was run out of the gym by Baylor during the national championship game Monday, the Bulldogs are already the favorites to cut down the nets next season.
The Bears dominated the title game from start to finish, winning 86-70, but it’s Gonzaga, not Baylor, as the early pick to win the title in 2022.
SportsBetter.ag put out its odds for the 2022 NCAA Tournament and the Zags have 9-1 odds to win their first title. Baylor was next with 12-1 odds. Rounding out the top three was UCLA, who made a miracle run from the First Four to the Final Four, with 21-1 odds.
Florida State was the only ACC team in the top four, with 14-1 odds.
SportsBetter.ag felt good enough about Duke rebounding next season, with the Blue Devils having 16-1 odds to win its sixth national championship. Duke missed the NCAA tournament last season for just the second time since the 1994-95 season, finishing 13-11 overall and 9-9 in the ACC. But Mike Krzyzewski is once again reloading his roster with five-star talent and the Blue Devils have the No. 3 recruiting class in the nation and plenty of talent returning in 2021-22.
The next ACC team on the list also comes from the Triangle and will have a new coach in 2021. The Hubert Davis-led North Carolina Tar Heels have 25-1 odds to win a seventh title. Davis, a former UNC player under Dean Smith and assistant under Roy Williams, was named the head coach Monday, four days after Williams retired.
North Carolina is coming off a first-round exit from the NCAA tournament after going 18-11 during the regular season. That was considered a bounce back from the 14-win, 2019-20 season. The Tar Heels’ last trip to the Final Four was the 2017 season when they won it all by defeating Gonzaga for the national championship.
N.C. State, on a 38-year championship drought, was given 100-1 odds to win a national title. The Wolfpack has two (1974, 1983) under its belt, but hasn’t been to a Final Four since that 1983 championship run. State’s deepest run recently was to the Sweet 16 in 2015.
Other Carolinas schools on the list include Clemson (66-1 odds), Davidson and South Carolina (150-1) and Wake Forest (200-1).
2022 NCAA Tournament Odds
- Gonzaga 9-1
- Baylor 12-1
- UCLA 12-1
- Florida State 14-1
- Michigan 14-1
- Ohio State 14-1
- Villanova 14-1
- Alabama 16-1
- Duke 16-1
- Purdue 16-1
- Kansas 18-1
- Kentucky 18-1
- Arkansas 20-1
- Houston 22-1
- Illinois 22-1
- Maryland 22-1
- Michigan State 22-1
- North Carolina 25-1
- Texas Tech 25-1
- Louisville 28-1
- Syracuse 28-1
- USC 28-1
- Virginia 28-1
- Virginia Tech 28-1
- Connecticut 33-1
- Creighton 33-1
- Oregon 33-1
- West Virginia 33-1
- Wisconsin 33-1
- Arizona 40-1
- Iowa 40-1
- Oklahoma 40-1
- Tennessee 40-1
- Texas 40-1
- Georgia Tech 50-1
- Indiana 50-1
- Memphis 50-1
- Missouri 50-1
- Oklahoma State 50-1
- San Diego State 50-1
- St. Bonaventure 50-1
- Auburn 66-1
- Clemson 66-1
- Colorado State 66-1
- Dayton 66-1
- Drake 66-1
- Florida 66-1
- LSU 66-1
- Notre Dame 66-1
- Oregon State 66-1
- Richmond 66-1
- Rutgers 66-1
- Seton Hall 66-1
- Stanford 66-1
- Wichita State 66-1
- Colorado 80-1
- UNLV 80-1
- Xavier 80-1
- Arizona State 100-1
- Belmont 100-1
- Boise State 100-1
- BYU 100-1
- Georgetown 100-1
- Marquette 100-1
- Miami 100-1
- NC State 100-1
- SMU 100-1
- St. Johns 100-1
- St. Louis 100-1
- Texas A&M 100-1
- VCU 100-1
- Butler 125-1
- Cincinnati 150-1
- Davidson 150-1
- Loyola Chicago 150-1
- Mississippi State 150-1
- Ole Miss 150-1
- Providence 150-1
- South Carolina 150-1
- Utah 150-1
- Utah State 150-1
- Georgia 200-1
- Iowa State 200-1
- Kansas State 200-1
- Minnesota 200-1
- Nebraska 200-1
- Nevada 200-1
- Penn State 200-1
- Pittsburgh 200-1
- St. Mary’s 200-1
- TCU 200-1
- Temple 200-1
- Wake Forest 200-1
- Northern Iowa 250-1
- California 300-1
- Rhode Island 300-1
- Vanderbilt 300-1
- Washington 300-1
- Boston College 500-1
- DePaul 500-1
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 11:59 AM.
