Gators Headline the NCAA Tournament Field

The 2014 NCAA Tournament gets underway this Tuesday and Wednesday with the First Four play-in games in Dayton, but things really heat up this Thursday and Friday with a full set of 16 games on each day’s slate.

The top four seeds for this year’s tournament start with the No. 1 ranked team in the nation, the Florida Gators, holding down the top spot in the South Region. They had already laid claim to the SEC regular season title with a perfect 18-0 straight-up record in conference play, and this past Sunday they squeezed by Kentucky 61-60 as 6.5-point favorites on the Bovada closing betting line to complete a three-game run to the SEC Tournament title. Florida has been opened as the +525 favorite on Bovada's basketball betting odds to win the NCAA Tournament and complete what would be an impressive season of basketball to say the least.

Arizona has remained at or near the top of the national rankings all season long and the Wildcats will begin the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the West Region. They have been opened as +650 third-favorites to win this year’s national title after going 30-4 SU on the year. Arizona won the Pac-12’s regular season title with a 15-3 run through conference play, but it could not get past UCLA in the conference tournament’s title game in a 75-71 loss as a 5-point favorite on the Bovada closing basketball betting line.

Nobody has been able to beat Wichita State in any of the 34 games the Shockers have played so far this season. That performance was good enough to nail down the top seed in the Midwest Region, but as far as their chances to win it all, Bovada has opened them at +1150 betting odds. Playing out of the Missouri Valley Conference, Wichita State followed-up an 18-0 SU run through the conference with three additional lopsided romps both SU and against the spread to claim the MVC Tournament title as well.

The final No. 1 seed for this year’s NCAA Tournament was awarded to the Virginia Cavaliers. They followed up their unexpected 16-2 SU run through the ACC regular season with a surprising 72-63 victory over Duke in the ACC Tournament’s title game as 1.5-point underdogs to complete the sweep in that power conference. They will now try and continue that run all the way through the East Region to earn a spot in this year’s Final Four. The betting odds that the Cavaliers go on and win a national title have been set at +1225.

And along with all the basketball betting odds for this year’s NCAA Tournament, Bovada is also offering a chance to win $25 million in their March Madness Bracket Contest.